Ye Jiyuan
[Purpose/significance] Against the backdrop of rapidly increasing but unevenly quality academic research output in China's philosophy and social sciences, the issue of value alienation in the academic evaluation system re⁃mains prominent. Tendencies such as "papers-only, titles-only, degrees-only, awards-only" and "titles-only", along with one-sided and absolutist evaluation practices, severely constrain the accumulation, innovation, and healthy devel⁃opment of academia. The "classic literature" selection initiative launched by Renmin University of China, as a novel ac⁃ademic evaluation and knowledge management approach, seeks to restore the intrinsic value of academic evaluation and reshape the academic ecosystem. [Method/process] Using the "comprehensive evaluation" theory as an analytical framework and combining case study methods, this paper systematically analyzes the problems of the current academic evaluation system, then elaborates on the conceptual origins, operational mechanisms, and six evaluation elements of the "classic literature" selection (purpose, subject, object, method, standards, and system). [Result/conclusion] The "classic literature" selection promotes the value reconstruction of academic evaluation across three dimensions: at the value rationality level, it emphasizes the quality and innovation of academic content itself; at the content comprehen⁃sion level, it advocates qualitative judgments based on expert in-depth reading; and at the ecosystem construction lev⁃el, it guides the academic community to return to a pragmatic and truth-seeking scholarly ethos. To improve the "clas⁃sic literature" system, it is necessary to strengthen meta-evaluation mechanisms, refine core concepts, enhance manda⁃tory reading attributes, promote mainstream integration, and establish dynamic update mechanisms, thereby better le⁃veraging its positive role in facilitating effective knowledge accumulation, stimulating academic innovation, and advanc⁃ing the construction of discipline systems and discourse frameworks in Chinese-characteristic philosophy and social
sciences.