For many years, the Department of Oriental History has been one of the basic scientific structures of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In recent years, the activities of our employees were carried out within the framework of comprehensive academic programs: “Adaptation of peoples and cultures to environmental changes, social and technological transformations”, “General and particular in the evolution of various forms of economic, social, political and ideological life of ancient and medieval societies of the East and North Africa”, “Cultural, religious and ethnic factors in local and global processes of modernity”, “Patterns of the historical Development of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America", "East and Russia: history and perspectives of relations", as well as "Society of ancient and medieval East: typological features of social, political and cultural development".

For a number of projects, the staff of the Department provides international scientific cooperation.

The main periodical and serial publications, the preparation of which is carried out by the editorial boards, consisting mainly of employees of the Department, are the magazines "Oriental Archive"and "Epigraphics of the East".

The results of our work in recent years include numerous collective and individual monographic studies, thematic collections, lecture courses, articles and reports at international and domestic sectoral conferences, thematic seminars, contractual and grant projects, the preparation of graduate students, including foreigners. Most of the Department’s staff conduct teaching in Russian and foreign universities, of which MSU are the most famous in Russia. Moscow Lomonosov University, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russian State University for the Humanities, and the Institute of Eastern Countries.

Two long-term scientific missions of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences that have earned recognition in international scientific circles work on the basis of the Department: the Russian archaeological mission in Giza (Egypt) and the Epigraphic mission in South Siberia. Since 2008, the department has been participating in the work of the joint Italian-Russian mission to Abu Erteyle (Sudan).

The department carries out direct scientific and practical cooperation with the Society of Orientalists of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Department is charged with the preparation and publication of the Bulletin of the Society of Orientalists of the Russian Academy of Sciences and its Appendices, as well as the preparation and holding of All-Russian congresses of Orientalists.

The department’s research traditionally presents four main thematic areas:

1. Theoretical problems of the history of the East
   Leader: Doctor of History, prof. Alexey Leonidovich Ryabinin
2. Regional and civilizational studies
   Leader: Doctor of History Oleg Efimovich Nepomnin
3. Special historical studies
   Leader: Doctor of History, prof. Eleonora Efimovna Kormysheva
4. Archival oriental studies and publications
   Leader: Dr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Belyakov