The principal ongoing publication of the RIFIAS is the Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, of which over 170 volumes have appeared. The series includes important grammars, dictionaries, and text editions, as well as scholarly monographs and handbooks on Inner Asia, and has enjoyed an international reputation since the 1960s.

Since 1987 the RIFIAS has published an occasional series, entitled Papers on Inner Asia, designed to facilitate the prompt publication of scholarly papers without the lengthy delays associated with publication in heavily backlogged scholarly journals. Each paper is published and bound separately, and may be produced as quickly as within one month after receipt from an author of the camera-ready text of his accepted article. The series covers the history, philology, linguistics, anthropology, archeology, economics, and contemporary problems of the Inner Asian world, and is divided (for the convenience of subscribers) into several subseries: (1) General; (2) Ancient Inner Asia; (3) Central Asia; (4) Mongolia, Manchuria, and Tibet; and (5) Altaic linguistics. Over 35 titles have been published, including a Special Supplement, Historical Maps of Central Asia, 9th–19th Centuries (11 color maps; 2000).

Several other series have been produced under the auspices of the RIFIAS since its formation, and the RIFIAS continues to manage sales and distribution for these and other series. Series available through the RIFIAS include the Indiana University-RIFIAS Oriental Series (nine titles, including Helmut Hoffmann's landmark Tibet: A Handbook), the RIFIAS Occasional Papers series, and the RIFIAS Reprint Series (over 40 of articles by IU faculty reprinted separately to facilitate wider availability). The RIFIAS has also acquired rights to a number of other minor series from their previous publishers. Among these is the Diplomatic Press series, consisting of thirteen monographs dealing with East Asia and the Soviet Union's role there, bequeathed to the RIFIAS by Diplomatic Press founder George Lensen.

In keeping with its mission to further teaching devoted to Inner Asia, the RIFIAS also produced the RIFIAS Inner Asian Teaching Aids series, originally intended to help non-specialized college and high school teachers integrate material relating to Inner Asia in their courses; in the mid-1980s, the focus of this series was changed to more specialized materials, including, for example, a language manual and chrestomathy for students of Kazakh.