A hollow cylindrical ceramic sintered body having high density, a process for producing the sintered boy, and a cylindrical ceramic sputtering target having high quality without cracks or breakage, are disclosed. The hollow cylindrical ceramic sintered body is obtained by placing a cylindrical ceramic molding to be sintered on a plate-like ceramic molding having a coefficient of sintering shrinkage similar to that of the cylindrical ceramic molding, and then sintering the resulting assembly, thereby obtaining a hollow cylindrical ceramic sintered body having a relative density of 95% or higher. The cylindrical ceramic sputtering target is prepared using the hollow cylindrical ceramic sintered body.