Academic Research in Japan

Background
Used SCImago to compare the three major East Asian economic powers: Japan, China, South Korea.

What is SCImago ?
The SCImago Journal & Country Rank is a portal that includes the journals and country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Scopus database (Elsevier B.V.). These indicators can be used to assess and analyze scientific domains. This platform takes its name from the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator, developed by SCImago from the widely known algorithm Google PageRank . This indicator shows the visibility of the journals contained in the Scopus database from 1996. SCImago is a research group from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientficas (CSIC), University of Granada, Extremadura, Carlos III (Madrid) and Alcal de Henares, dedicated to information analysis, representation and retrieval by means of visualisation techniques.

Graph 1: Number of Internationally Cited Communications Papers by Each Country (Source: SCImago)

Graph 2: Number of Internationally Cited Soc. Sci. Papers by Each Country (Source: SCImago)

Discussions (All Disciplines)

Under-performance?? Arimoto (2009)
the problem with imported education models the gap between research and non-research universities incentive applications the pressure of globalization and knowledge based society on the universities

Templin (2001)
De-emphasis on literature review and predictive validity in academic papers in Japan

Discussions
Are Japanese Scholars Underperforming? Perhaps not because -Among the Top 10 in all disciplines -A number of Nobel Prize winners BUT - Korea's population is 1/3 (Approx.) of Japan and the total academic research budget is about 1/3 of Japan (Approx.). So Japan should have 3 times more publications??? - # of liberal arts schools in Korea compared to J apan???

Discussions
Might There be some other reasons? Cultural
-Japan is one of the most risk avoiding countries. (Hofstede, 1980) Japanese are known to have higher levels of fear of negative appraisal (Keaton et al., 2009) fear of losing the face (Morisaki and Gudykunst, 1994)
-Fear of making a mistake in English (Japan is the only country where English classes are taught in Japanese???) -Fear of making a mistake when writing a paper -Fear of rejection ( this is not good do MANOVA") -Not feeling confident in research methods

Japanese culture values harmony (

-Not good to challenge the ideas of your advisor, your sempai

Discussions
Might There be some other reasons? Behavioural Factors (Related with long term orientation) Sticking with traditional methods
-More than 50 % of the books sold on Amazon are ebooks -Most of my colleagues' research in the states involve online data collection -There are professors who are unable to use a computer in Japan, most of my colleagues in Japan do not know how online data collection works (which is way more effective, faster, cheaper, accurate)

Discussions
Might There be some other reasons? Behavioural Factors (Related with long term orientation) Sticking with traditional methods
-More than 50 % of the books sold on Amazon are ebooks -Most of my colleagues' research in the states involve online data collection -There are professors who are unable to use a computer in Japan, most of my colleagues in Japan do not know how online data collection works (which is way more effective, faster, cheaper, accurate)

Discussions
Might There be some other reasons? Behavioural Factors (long term orientation) Sticking with traditional methods
-8% of American use Twitter vs. 27% of Japanese. Number of Twitter related publications in academic journals 3000+. Number of Twitter related papers from Japan 0 -About 20 million users have been using Mixi for years. Number of Mixi related papers in academic journals 20-30. Number of Social network related papers in Academic Journals (10,000+)

Discussions
Might There be some other reasons? Situational factors (Power Distance, )
-Top journal and in-house journal publications are equal? -Tenureship awarded right a way -Professors are allowed to teach at other institutions -Research budget not based on performance -Publishing a book is more valuable than publishing a paper -Publishing in English (which takes more time) does not have much value

Discussions
Myths
-Myth #1 It s difficult to do research in Japan
No IRB in Japan, No religious regulations in Japan, No heavy regulations about human subject use and the use of minors in studies, Compact Cities, 200 universities in 50 mile sq. area in Kansai, higher respect to and compliance with the academia in Japan

-Myth #2 Researchers do not get enough funding

Automatically receive $5000 budget regardless of performance (Overseas only $1000/year). Kaken hi application (up to 100,000) only a few pages where grant proposals can be 50 pages or more overseas. A huge number of private and public funds)

-Myth #3 Researchers do not study/travel to overseas

Collected data in 6 countries in 1 week while in Japan, social scientists do not need laboratories (except EEG, FMRI which are already available in Japan), all books and publications are available electronically past research shows that most of proximity is not so important to conduct a joint study (Affolter-Caine, 2008)