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Part Promotion of Scientific Research

According to the Survey of Research Achievements, researchers are generally inclined to think that, at present, in basic research, Japan stands in second place next to the United States in both physical sciences and chemical sciences, but stands in third place in biological sciences after the United States and the United Kingdom. However, researchers expect that in biological sciences, too, Japan will surpass the United Kingdom within the next ten years. In applied research Japan holds second place after the United States in all the specific fields, but in ten years Japan will most probably rank even with the United States, especially in physical sciences.

This subjective evaluation as a whole seems to be backed by the objective indicators obtained from comparing the total number of papers appearing in scientific journals, in which Japan holds third place after the United States and the United Kingdom. In the comparison by specific fields in 1986, Japan stands in second place in chemical sciences, physical sciences, and engineering and technology, but in third place in clinical medicine, biomedicine, and biological sciences. In comparing citation frequencies, Japan as a whole holds third place after the United States and the United Kingdom. In specific fields for 1983 Japan stands second in chemical sciences and engineering and technology and third in clinical medicine, biomedicine, biological sciences and physical sciences. In the comparison of citation index numbers, Japan's level at large cannot be said to be very high, but it indicates that in some fields Japanese scientific papers are of high quality. In 1983, for example, in engineering and technology Japan was surpassed by the United States in both the total number of papers and the citation frequencies, but in the case or citation index numbers Japan had surpassed the European nations considerably and even surpassed the level of the United States. In comparing the total number of speakers at international scientific meetings Japan is approaching the level of the European nations.

Under these circumstances, it can be said that, although surpassed by the United States, Japan compares favorably with European nations in the level of research achievements in almost all the fields of natural sciences. The Government of Japan should endeavor further to strengthen the bases of scientific research, so that the research level of Japan may be further heightened.