In the field of industrial automation, a method and device are for determining a data reading period for determining a data reading period of data in an industrial control system, and are capable of automatically configuring the data reading period to obtain a better configuration result. In embodiments of the present invention, an industrial control system in different states is simulated by using simulation software to obtain a simulation model and simulation data. Data features of the industrial control system in different states that is simulated can be extracted respectively, and a data reading period is determined according to the extracted data features. Automatic configuring of a data reading period is implemented.