FG Science Journals Hamper Japanese Research

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Research clout in foreign hands
...[T]he number of times an academic paper has been quoted by other researchers often becomes a standard of assessment of the worth of a piece of research...A government source said: "Most bureaucrats in Kasumigaseki [are] not good at assessing the contents of research. So they have a strong tendency to rely on an indicator called the Impact Factor value."...The IF value is an indicator of how many times an essay published in an academic journal has been quoted by other researchers within a set period of publication...European and U.S. journals have high IF values, while those of Japan are extremely low...Masaaki Tanaka, a professor...Tokyo University's graduate school, said: "In an age of intellectual competitiveness, Japan is at a disadvantage as it doesn't have its own academic journals...It means that Japan has no ability to assess research itself." Meanwhile, researchers contributing essays to foreign journals run the danger of leaking details of their research to rival countries through foreign scientists who assess the papers on the behalf of the journals...more...

[Scott]

Soon Japan won't have anyone left to read scientific journals, regardless of who they profile, ha!

[Socratesabroad]

One thing the article neglected to mention was the quality of some Japanese research. A substantial number of papers in medicine, for instance, are 'reviews of the literature'- i.e. merely a cataloging of what research has been done rather than anything outstanding or ground-breaking.

Meanwhile, researchers contributing essays to foreign journals run the danger of leaking details of their research to rival countries through foreign scientists who assess the papers on the behalf of the journals.

Umm, possibly, but publishing overseas means peer review - seems everyone has forgotten Shinichi Fujimura, the find-faking archaeologist.

The Institute of Pure and Applied Physics (IPAP) and the Chemical Society of Japan have introduced online versions of their English journals and have improved online archives of past publications.

Sounds great, but wait... access has improved - only for current subscribers to the print copy.

Dec. 1, 2004
As we have announced previously, CSJ has started access limitation to CSJ e-journals, CL and BCSJ, from 2005. From 2005, CSJ e-journals can only be accessed from the REGISTERED IP addresses of the print subscribers.

[Emphasis in orig]

[Taro Toporific]

Japanese research money at work!

Ancient China Cared about Female Sexual Pleasure: [JAPANESE] Researcher
BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhuanet)-- The ancient Chinese regarded sexual satisfaction as crucial for both men and women, revealed a Japanese researcher here Tuesday.
In ancient China, men played a dominant role in social issues, politics, families, and sexual affairs. Women were regarded as passive service providers in sex and their role was to satisfy men.
However, for more than 1,000 years, "The Art of the Bedchamber" underlined the pleasure, sensitivity and desires of both men and women, said Sumiyo Umekawa, a professor with the Otsuma Women's College. ..."The Art of the Bedchamber" in ancient Chinese recorded little-known sexual skills and fitness exercises.....
"It was very important to increase female sexual pleasure and bring her to an ecstatic state, for the sake of both men's and women's health and joy," she quoted the manuals as saying....
...."Those aphrodisiacs which cured gynecological and obstetrical illness like irregular menstruation reflected the attention and care of the health and feelings of females in sex," she said

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Japanese scientists use English or get the silent treatment
On a summer day with the outside temperature rising to nearly 33 degrees, Koji Nagasawa, 26, was getting hot under the collar even in the air-conditioned confines of the University of Kyoto's Institute for Frontier Medical Science. "Cells, er, cannot live. Uhh, these cells, uhh, go to apoptosis," he says, struggling to explain his research results in English...To help Japanese scientists develop the language skills needed to discuss their research with counterparts from other countries, the society introduced a rule last year that requires members to give their presentations in English at the society's annual meeting regardless of the nationality of the audience...Toshihide Masukawa, 65, a professor at Kyoto Sangyo University, is famous for his research into elementary particles. But he is also known for his dislike of English. "My dream was to write outstanding research papers in Japanese and to make all the researchers in the world read them. But it seems impossible," he says...more...

[gkanai]

"My dream was to write outstanding research papers in Japanese and to make all the researchers in the world read them. But it seems impossible," he says...more...

That is a BRILLIANT quote. Holy shit! Has that guy never left Japan and gone to an international scientific convention?

Wow...talk about an island mentality....

[Socratesabroad]

That is a BRILLIANT quote. Holy shit! Has that guy never left Japan and gone to an international scientific convention?

Wow...talk about an island mentality....

My thoughts exactly.
From the same source:

Nobody argues with the fact that English is the standard language in the world of science. But equally, nobody knows whether this will be the case in 100 years' time.

"If we have a research environment special to Japan," Tonomura says, "competitive researchers will be sure to come here."

Oh, and Japanese - spoken in exactly one country with a rapidly shrinking population - is just poised to take its place

J-scientists better get used to writing papers in a language besides Japanese, whether it be English, Spanish, or Chinese.

Even in Tianjin, where foreigners account for a tiny minority of the population, English is still used regularly on campus, and especially in tech/med fields. This just illustrates how well prepared China is to render Japan completely irrelevant.

[Greji]

[Mulboyne]

AFP via Yahoo: Japan devotes 215 billion dollars to keeping edge in science
Japan will budget 215 billion dollars over five years to maintain its reputation as a scientific powerhouse amid fears it is losing its technological edge, officials said. Japan, once vigorous in promoting science, has recently been seen as falling behind China, which has an ambitious space program, and IT giant India. "We believe the path Japan should take is to provide a good research environment here for scientists from across the world rather than competing against other countries," science ministry official Koki Uchimaru said...more...

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

Continued

Brian Budgell is a Canadian scientist, resident in Japan for the past 15 years and currently an associate professor at the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at Kyoto University. Here he recalls his introduction to the university five years ago. "On my first meeting with the head of school and the head of my division, I was informed that I was 'not a doctor in Japan' and that I would be assigned to teaching English. I was told to forget about research. This was quite different from the position that I had been led to believe I would hold. However, for the sake of my children, I could not suddenly resign.

"In the intervening years, every request to the school for research support, and every request for 'kakenhi' (government grants) has been denied. "Fortunately, most years I have been successful in getting grants from overseas bodies. I usually travel to Australia during school breaks to do research with my colleagues there. It actually works out very well for me, but my students in Japan are denied the benefit of exposure to this research. Also, I am not allowed to teach professional courses, such as diagnosis and treatment, in which I am highly qualified. "I feel as if my students are being victimized by the archaic attitudes of the elderly Japanese professors. However, it is a Japanese problem that Japanese people have to solve. "Now that my youngest son has graduated from Japanese high school, I am looking for positions outside of Japan. "The institutionalized obstacles to integration are just too pervasive. I would be happy to stay here, but with this atmosphere I can do better science elsewhere."