The Research Institute for Social Sciences was established in 1969 to contribute to new developments in this field through collaborative research with other disciplines. The institute, consisting of research, business, and reference divisions, invites guest researchers from private companies and foreign universities to promote international research projects, in addition to producing various publications, including over forty research reports such as the Ryukoku University Research Institute for Social Sciences series and the Annual Report of the Research for Social Sciences. The Institute also makes over 70,000 sources, which have been collected by the research division, available on the internet.