【Purpose/significance】 To compare the disciplinary structure under different subject classification systems, and to study

the influence of subject classification system on the disciplinary structure profiling.【Method/process】 Taking 42 universities in China as examples, the consistency and difference of disciplinary balance and disciplinary structure similarity between institutions in the same year, and that in different years of the same institution under WOS, ESI, SCADC2 and C2 classification systems were compared.【Result/conclusion】 In terms of disciplinary balance, the disciplinary balance of institutions under different discipline classification systems has a certain consistency, among which WOS, ESI and CT2 classification systems have a high consistency. According to differ⁃ent classification systems, the disciplinary balance of universities may have the opposite trend of development. In the aspect of disci⁃plinary structure similarity, although the four classification systems have different granularity, the cluster results based on disciplinary structure similarity have high consistency, and can reflect the disciplinary structure characteristics of different types of universities.However, the fine-grained subject classification system can better reveal the disciplinary structure change.【Innovation/limitation】The study needs to use more indicators and carry out comparative analysis at more levels.