From the level, provincial projects are one level higher than departmental projects. The general project of humanities and social sciences research of the Ministry of Education, the provincial social sciences fund and the project of the Ministry of Culture in the national art science planning project all belong to provincial projects. The general discipline of provincial education science planning, the research discipline of humanities and social sciences of provincial education department and the general discipline of provincial art science planning belong to departmental disciplines.

In terms of requirements, provincial projects usually have higher requirements for applicants than departmental projects. Because the research difficulty of departmental projects is less than that of provincial projects, the requirements for applicants will be lower. That is, a person can't declare a provincial topic, which doesn't mean that he is not qualified to declare a departmental topic.