Although Japan has traditionally been a leading nation in its contributions to science, the country’s overall research output has dropped in recent years, settling at fifth place in Nature’s 2016 Nature Index. Along with Japan’s own economic difficulties, China’s significant increase in scientific research and research publications have also contributed to this. Between 2005 and 2015, China’s science publication output grew by 300%. By 2015, nearly 1 out of every 5 scientific research papers came from China, as opposed to 1 of 10 papers a decade earlier. Because of China’s high scientific output, Japan’s output has decreased in proportion, with the nation releasing 600 fewer papers in 2015 than in 2005. On a global scale, this indicates that Japan’s share of research publications dropped 38.1% to 5.2% during the same 10-year period. This information also correlates with data from the Nature Index, which indicates Japan’s contributions decreased 19.6% between 2012 and 2016. Since 2001, government spending on science has plateaued due to the country’s economic immobility, with a large portion of the spending now also going towards raising the international ranking of Japan’s top academic institutions.
Source: Nature