The Development Research Center of the State Council was ranked China's best think tank in 2014, according to a report on Chinese think tanks.

The "2014 Chinese Think Tank Influence Report" is the first think tank ranking based on objective influence indicators including professional influence, government influence, social influence and international influence, according to a press conference for the report's release in Beijing on Thursday.

The Development Research Center of the State Council, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences take the top spots on the list in terms of comprehensive influence.

In addition to compiling comprehensive rankings, the report also issues rankings on category and influence. The Development Research Center of the State Council crowns the list of government think tanks, the National School of Development of Peking University leads the list of university think tanks, and the Horizon Research Consultancy Group is ranked the best non-governmental think tank. Other think tanks ranked among the top 20 in terms of comprehensive influence include the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC and China Institute of International Studies.

The project team interviewed over 100 experts in the think tank industry and gathered data on 300 major think tanks in China, according to a press release.

Prior to this report, the University of Pennsylvania and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences each published think tank rankings, both of which rely on nominations and scoring by experts in the field. The "2014 Chinese Think Tank Influence Report" combines objective indicators with rankings determined by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences to create the final rankings.

The report was jointly issued by the Horizon Institute of Global Development Power, the Horizon Research Consulting Group, and state-run news website China.org.cn.