This Department was founded in 1973 under the guidance of K. A. Lange on the basis of a group of researchers of Organization and Methodics Department of the Division of Physiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Later, the Department was headed by Medical Sciences Doctor, Prof. V. B. Zakharzhevsky, Medical Sciences Candidate N. I. Fomichev, and Biological Sciences Candidate (PhD) G. A. Mikhailov, Biological Sciences Candidate (PhD) A.E.Tchuikin (until 2016 year)

Since the moment of its foundation, the task of the Department was a complex solution of scientific-organizational problems connected with the main activity of the Institute: organization and performance of current and perspective planning of research, formation of the complex plan of the social and economical development, organization and planning of international research connections, creation of the reference-informational foundation.

In 1979 the Department obtained status of the scientific unit. It was added by I. P. Pavlov Museum-Apartment, I. P. Pavlov museum in Koltushi, and the patent-license group. The principal tasks of the Department became studies on regularities of interrelations of fundamental and applied aspects of physiological investigations both at the current stage and at the period of appearance of physiology in Russia, studies on history of physiology and development of a complex of scientific-organizational and methodical measures on application of results of physiological investigations to various fields of the country economy.

In the frame of this problem, studies on effectiveness of the program-goal planning and prognosis in the field of physiology were carried out. The patent-license group provided for methodical assistance in composition of applications for discoveries, inventions, and rationalization proposals, performance of the patent search for applications and planned topics.

At present, the Department is simultaneously both the scientific and the scientific-organizational unit of the Institute. Its staff performs research in the field of history of physiology, including study of effects of I. P. Pavlov's ideas on formation and development of some research, research-teaching, and clinical institutions of Leningrad?–?St. Petersburg. Information is systematized about the main stages of organization and development of the research institution that appear in Petersburg on I.P. Pavlov's initiative. They include Department of pathophysiology of the higher nervous activity at Institute of Experimental Medicine, with two clinics founded: the neurological one on the basis of Psychotherapeutic Health Center and the psychiatric one on the basis of I. M. Balinsky Hospital (1931); clinics of Institute of Experimental Medicine on the basis of Obukhov Hospital (1932); Department of physiology and pathology of the higher nervous activity at the State Institute of Advanced Physicians Training (1935). In 1925, owing to I. P. Pavlov's petition, the Physiological Laboratory of the Academy of Sciences was given status of Institute. The new institutions increased essentially possibilities of realization of many ideas of the Pavlovian physiological school and of development on their basis of new scientific directions. Results of these investigations allowed presenting more completely history of development of physiological science in Leningrad?–?St. Petersburg.

Another important direction of activity of the Department is to provide for complex approach to solution of organization problem of the Institute research: planning and coordination of research, including works on realization of results of research, planning and coordination of activity of dissertational councils, planning and organization of international scientific connections, registration and control of the scientific-technical cooperation with research institutes, high education institutions, and other Russian federation organizations, informational activity, publishing work, organization of the work of I. P. Pavlov's Museum-Apartment and I. P. Pavlov Museum in Koltushi, performance of organizational-technical works, preparation of reference materials on various aspects of activity of the Institute, participation in organization conferences and exhibitions performed by the Institute.

Since 1998, the staff of the Department, with support of the network group of the Institute and in cooperation with Institute Library (Head - L.A. Sosnovskaya) perform constant work on search for and distribution of information about activities of foundations, programs, and projects in which researchers of the Institute can take part on a competition basis.