"Theoretical Exploration," established in 1984, is a bimonthly academic theoretical journal supervised and hosted by the Party School of Shanxi Province of the Communist Party of China and the Shanxi Administration Institute. The journal adheres to the correct political direction, serves the reform and opening up as well as the modernization drive, and focuses on the research of theoretical and practical issues at the meso-level, emphasizing scientific, innovative, and cutting-edge aspects. It features sections on philosophical issues, party building, political science research, public administration, economic studies, and the construction of the rule of law.
Since 2012, "Theoretical Exploration" has been recognized as a CSSCI source journal and has been consecutively awarded as a Chinese core journal in the humanities and social sciences, a core academic journal in China, and a first-class journal in Shanxi Province since 1992.