The Research Centre for Information and Statistics of Social Science (RCISSS) attached to the Institute of Economic Research (IER) was established to gather and manage social sciences-related information and statistics and, by making these widely available to researchers, to contribute to the advancement of research in the humanities and social sciences. Starting out as the Documentation Centre for the Japanese Economy attached to the Institute of Economic Research, which was set up in 1964 as a national resource center for the humanities and social sciences, it was subsequently expanded and reorganized, becoming the Japanese Economic Statistics and Information Centre, before taking its current name in 2002.
At present, there are four full-time academic staff (one professor, one associate professor, one assistant professor and one research associate) that are attached to the RCISSS and conduct research. Reflecting the division of the Institute itself into five major research departments (as well as a department for visiting researchers), the research and other activities of the RCISSS are organized into five corresponding units, and the academic staff of the RCISSS play an integral role in the large-scale research projects currently being undertaken by the Institute.