The publishing activities of the institute include Ethnological Studies (issued since 2006) that contain articles on farming culture, socio-cultural transformation of villages, archaic phenomena of traditional folk culture in Moravia, ornament, clothing and jewellery, iconographic sources for the study of traditional culture and folk dances. The studies also address ethnic issues in the Czech lands and abroad and the theory of science. Apart from this series, the institute also publishes Ethnological Materials and is currently preparing the Ethnological Manuals series intended for students.

The institute workers are editors and members of editorial boards and circles of specialist ethnological journals such as Národopisná revue, Národopisný věstník, Český lid, Folia Ethnographica, Studia Ethnologica Pragensia, Prameny a studia.

The institute is a collective member of the Czech Ethnographic Society which is the top-level ethnographic institution in the CR and is a member of the Advisory Board of the UNESCO Inter-governmental Committee, the section of immovable cultural heritage. The institute workers regularly participate in national and international projects of the UNESCO and in their assessment.