Photo shows a screenshot of China's National Center for Philosophy and Social Science Documentation (NCPSSD) website.

Recently, scholars, researchers and students in the humanities and social sciences were thrilled by news that China's National Center for Philosophy and Social Science Documentation (NCPSSD) will provide free article download services, Thepaper.cn reported.

Compared with databases like CNKI, the advantage of NCPSSD is that it is free of charge. The center has rich resources, offering access to almost all core journals in the humanities and social sciences. Registered users can search for articles, subscribe to resources, read online and download full texts after logging in.

NCPSSD was officially launched on Dec. 30, 2016. It was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a symposium on the country's work in philosophy and the social sciences on May 17, 2016. Led by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the construction of NCPSSD was carried out in September 2016 by China's Ministry of Education and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

At present, NCPSSD has four columns: news, resources, specials and services. Resources include Chinese journals, foreign journals, foreign-language books and ancient books. There are more than 10 million articles available in total, all related to philosophy and social science.

The website also boasts a collection of links to government organizations, universities, academic institutions and philosophy and social science databases. The unique platform connects to the National Social Science Database, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Research Achievement Database and the OA Journal.

As a state-funded project, NCPSSD provides academic resources free of charge to the public. The biggest advantage of the project is its open and complimentary nature, which will help to disseminate academic achievements far and wide.