purpose: china academic library & information system (calis) planned to launch an institutional repository (ir) project to promote ir development and open access at colleges and universities in china. in order to get to know the current state of irs in academic institutions, with the help of peking university library, calis administrative center conducted this survey.

design/methodology/approach: we conducted an online survey of calis member libraries.

findings: firstly, the development of irs at china's colleges and universities is still in its infancy. secondly, the chinese colleges and universities have reached a consensus on the objective for having an ir. thirdly, they are having high expectations of ir functions. fourthly, they prefer to establish a centralized ir system at a minimum cost. finally, there are both similarities and differences between the chinese academic institutions and their counterparts in other countries in the state of ir development.

research limitations: the questionnaire needs to be improved because there is a lack of enough questions for those who do not plan to build an ir. comparatively lower rate of valid questionnaire return can affect the accuracy of the results. it is hard to go into an in-depth discussion only based on the data collected from this questionnaire survey, and consequently, the findings from the survey can hardly present an accurate and comprehensive picture of the current state of ir development in the academic sector in china.

practical implications: the survey results provide essential foundation for calis ir project, and meanwhile the research can serve as a reference source for the future studies of the development of irs at china's colleges and universities.

originality/value: it is the first national survey focused on the development of irs in academic institutions in china.