He defended his PhD (Kandidat nauk) thesis titled “Systematic Structural Analysis of Scientific and Technological Progress in the USSR” in 1976.

After completing his postdoctoral research he defended a thesis titled “Logico-gnoseological issues of Scientific and Technological Progress” in 1989.

Khalilov established the international socio-political journal “Ipek Yolu” (The Silk Road) in 1997 and was its Editor-in-Chief until 2005.

In 2002, he was elected as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Azerbaijan Association of Philosophy and Socio-Political Sciences (AFSEA).

Since 2003, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Felsefe ve Sosial-siyasi Elmler” (Philosophy and Socio-Political Sciences).