— Messages from STAM 02 NIMS NOW International 2013 October Expanding Scientifi C Communication — Messages from STAM

2013 No. 8 October

Expanding Scientific Communication — Messages from STAM 02 NIMS NOW International 2013 October Expanding Scientifi c Communication — Messages from STAM

About 2.4 million scientific articles are published every year, and this number keeps growing. Amid the fi erce competition toward a higher impact factor, which now even affects national policy, the situation surrounding science and article publication is changing at an ever-increasing pace. Scientists, readers and publishers are being asked about the reasons for writing an article and selecting a journal for publication.

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM), a materials science open-access journal supported by NIMS, is in the middle of this trend. How can science reach people? How should STAM select articles for publication? We aim to communicate our answers to these questions through our editing and publishing activities.

NIMS NOW International 2013 October 03 Expanding Scientific Communication — Messages from STAM

Special Discussion: Future of academic journals and STAM

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM) is increasing its presence as a materials science journal not only in Japan, but also abroad. How is STAM received at materials science research sites? What kind of journal does STAM aim to become in the future? These and other topics are discussed below by Masakazu Aono, Director-General of the International Center for Materi- als Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), Toyonobu Yoshida, Editor-in-Chief of STAM, and Mikiko Tanifuji, publisher of STAM and Head of the Scientific Information Office at NIMS.

Importance of having a Japanese important new research on elementary parti- the citation number (CN) of each of the enor- materials science journal cles into the spotlight. Readers around the mous number of articles published in the thou- world were astonished to learn that excellent sands of journals around the world. Thomson research was blooming in war-shattered Japan. Reuters also developed an index called the “im- NIMS NOW: First, I would like to ask Dr. Aono. However, such times soon passed, and by the pact factor” (IF) to show which journals have From your experiences at research sites around time I became a researcher, there were many published articles with larger CNs, and created a the world, what kind of journal do you find international journals to which I could submit ranking of journals as a result. I find this ranking STAM to be? articles to have my research exposed to the to be fair in a sense, but it has two risks. One is world, and I did not feel any inconvenience. Af- that a journal with a high IF tends to attract Aono: After World War II, Prof. Hideki Yukawa ter a number of years, a surprising change oc- higher quality submissions and eventually launched an English-language journal, Progress curred with the advancement of the Internet. comes to dominate its field of publishing. The of Theoretical Physics, in order to bring Japan’s Thomson Reuters began to count and publish other is that young researchers new to this

Masakazu Aono × Toyonobu Yoshida × Mikiko Tanifuji

04 NIMS NOW International 2013 October Future of academic journals and STAM

world mistakenly believe that articles published science such as condensed matter physics and STAM spread through word of mouth in every- in high-IF journals are of higher quality. To come molecular chemistry, as Dr. Yoshida said, the is- day conversation. At the same time, I worked to to the point as to your question about how I see sue of practical application is extremely impor- supplement what was missing in it as a journal, STAM, while recognizing that IF has its pros and tant. One of the future directions of STAM would and to extract and strengthen factors that char- cons, I think eff orts to raise IF would be impera- be to clarify its approach to bridging basic and acterize the journal. For example, displaying the tive for achieving continuous development of applied materials research. Conventionally, NIMS logo on STAM’s cover page shows that a STAM. It is a fact that high-quality articles are many Japanese journals in English had been leading research institute guarantees the quality rarely submitted to low-IF journals. In that sense, published by academic societies, mainly for the of the content. I publicized the message that I off er my heartiest congratulations and respect purpose of supporting the members’ activities. NIMS is serious about STAM through all kinds of to the editorial staff of STAM for their eff orts However, we cannot create a truly international channels to make it visible. I explained it not which has raised its IF to 3.75. The real challenge journal by merely pursuing such local objec- only to researchers, but also to academic socie- lies ahead. There is a need to send out a clearer tives. I think STAM can increase its relevance by ties and libraries in and outside Japan. I wrote message on the position of STAM, or, why STAM clarifying its global objectives as a distinctive reports and articles about it in various media is a must. Let me discuss that later.... Japanese journal in English published by an or- and gave lectures at research meetings, aca- ganization other than an academic society. demic conferences, libraries, and publishers’ Yoshida: Competition among journals is inten- gatherings when I had the chance. I think an- sifying, and IF has come to aff ect even national Yoshida: If there was an academic society in Ja- other role of NIMS as a national research insti- policy. Considering the future of the research pan which encompassed all materials-related tute is to communicate with academic societies fi elds and the national interest, the presence of fi elds, that society could have created a new in Japan and to share the spirit of improving a journal with guaranteed fairness and a hub journal. However, academic societies, which all each other’s journals. function will be a strong advantage for the have histories, cannot undergo organizational country. If Japan develops a leading materials changes easily. We also had an idea to create a science journal, that would be a benefi t for the virtual group from the top layers of academic so- country. STAM is characterized by the aware- cieties and have that group publish a materials ness of “the true value of materials is in their use” science journal. This idea, however, gained little which it shares with NIMS. When we review arti- support, and was diffi cult to put into practice. cles, we sometimes ask the authors to write a little more about possible applications. Since NIMS NOW: I see. So, the process of actualizing there are many other journals that handle arti- STAM was very diffi cult. I believe Ms. Tanifuji has cles on physics or chemistry alone, we focus on gone through much trouble as a publishing di- something extra when editing materials science rector. articles. Then, authors start submitting such articles. Even if we reject an article, pointing out that it does not suggest any applications, the Diffi culty of publishing a journal author sometimes resubmits the article after adding the requested section. Tanifuji: To be honest, I did not know the jour- Aono: If we ask researchers around the world nal STAM when I fi rst received an off er of a posi- about the research fi elds in which Japan excels, tion at NIMS. I had been working as a publisher they always mention materials, in addition to for 17 years at that time, and had known many physics and chemistry. Nanotechnology is also a academic journals in science. I thought about a strong fi eld related to these. For such fi elds in number of aspects before making a decision as which Japan has an edge, Japan should fi rmly to whether or not to take the off er: the status of establish leading English-language journals. the journal and its future potential; how seri- Some people say that we can simply use the ously NIMS planned to raise the value of the many international journals that already exist, journal; what were the journal’s objectives; and and I thought so too until ten years ago. How- how those objectives could be achieved. First, I Masakazu Aono Doctor of Engineering. Completed the doctoral course at the ever, the traditional function of journals as a thought STAM should pursue two goals: fi nd an School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo in 1972. He place for researchers to help each other ad- edge based on what academic societies cannot served as researcher at the National Institute for Research in vance through fair competition is collapsing to- do; and do what academic societies can do, Inorganic Materials (NIRIM), senior researcher at NIRIM, chief day. Dr. Yoshida referred to it earlier as “guaran- while taking advantage of being a research in- scientist at the Institute for Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), professor at the Graduate School of Engineering, teed fairness.” STAM aims to be a fair and stitute. During the fi rst few years, I focused on Osaka University, and Director-General of the Nanomaterials world-class Japanese journal. In the meantime, making STAM known at NIMS. NIMS is a leading Laboratory, NIMS. In April 2004 he became NIMS Fellow, and while materials science is inseparable from basic research institute, and the fi rst point was to have since 2007 the Director-General of MANA, NIMS.

NIMS NOW International 2013 October 05 Expanding Scientifi c Communication — Messages from STAM

Masakazu Aono × Toyonobu Yoshida × Mikiko Tanifuji

Aono: I have been watching Ms. Tanifuji tread a should clarify its stance to actively bridge basic sues every year, as we do now. thorny path (laughing) from the sidelines. We can and applied materials research, as I mentioned say in general that when a new journal grows earlier, and, at the same time, I believe that STAM Tanifuji: Today, the annual number of articles into a leading journal in a short period of time, can also have the function of guiding research on published around the world exceeds 2.4 million. there is always a dedicated key person. It must fusion between materials and other fi elds. The Since there is a limit to the volume of informa- have been diffi cult for Ms. Tanifuji to decide most important among such other fi elds is bio- tion that can be processed by the human brain, where STAM should be positioned. In my opin- technology. Fusion between the two will be cat- the time we can spend reading an article is nat- ion, I think we must, as a premise, have a fi rm re- alyzed by nanotechnology, so it would be won- urally limited, so we want to be selective about solve to create a prestigious Japanese interna- derful if STAM could provide an arena for what we read. No matter how smart and fast the tional journal in the materials research fi eld in presenting new “materials-nanotechnology-bio- Internet becomes, it will not select and deliver which Japan has an edge. To achieve that pur- technology” fusion research. to you only the important articles to meet your pose, we cannot escape from the must-do of in- interests. Review articles can include those that creasing the IF. One of my cherished mottos is to give an overview of specifi c research over a long “better clarify your own position if competition Attracting good articles span, short explanatory reviews, and proposal intensifi es.” In the fi eld of materials research, there reviews that give a broad future outlook. It is are already many good international journals (Ad- very important that reviews appear in due time. vanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Yoshida: In fact, Dr. Aono was a doctor at the It is quality, rather than volume; the editor’s skill Nature Materials, and so on). It is necessary to same laboratory when I was a fourth-year under- and vision in picking up on the research trends show how STAM diff ers from them, or, to clarify graduate student. At the time, the annual volume that shapes the journal’s character. I also think STAM’s position. In my view, I think that STAM of JAP (Journal of Applied Physics) was about the philosophy of NIMS as a research institute 5,000 pages, and it contained articles of very high explains the passion it has for STAM. Since NIMS quality. Its annual volume today exceeds 20,000 has many institutional networks and researcher pages. We need a whole bookshelf to keep a one- networks in and outside Japan, it is capable of year stock of the journal. Since there is an enor- selecting good referees and gaining good un- mous amount of information today, you are in the derstanding of the research trends. In addition, habit of trying to fi nd good articles in journals it has a broad range of research and literature which are more frequently cited than others. databases as a specialized institute. I think NIMS However, frequently cited information is not nec- is in a great position to support the publication essarily the information we truly need. Citation of review papers which cover various time spans does not tell which journals are good for under- and off er diff erent points of view. standing not only the subject of research, but the trend of the entire fi eld encompassing the subject. Yoshida: The IF value is also extremely eff ective In that sense, it is important for journals to attract when we ask authors to write reviews. It is only good articles and good reviews. A materials sci- natural that writers want their articles to be read ence journal that provides good reviews on the and try to write better articles for a larger audi- materials fi eld or provides articles that give future ence. outlooks can become a journal with a brand. Then, the journal can gain a strong foothold. Aono: The IF tends to be higher for journals with sharp objectives, setting aside the long- Aono: Good review articles are very eff ective for established Nature and Science. In that sense, presenting information in a concentrated man- there must have been a lot of eff ort to reach the ner. When I myself am carrying out research and current IF level for a Japanese journal that deals feel that I have entered a new domain, I search for with a broad domain of materials. The journal review articles on that domain and read through title, Science and Technology of Advanced Ma- them quickly to learn about the domain. If I read terials, is also a very general one (laughing). Still, them thoroughly, my research can end up being the IF reached 3.75. That is wonderful. We would less original, so I always only skim through them want to push the IF up even further by adding Toyonobu Yoshida (laughing); I browse through the article, quickly new characteristics as we discussed earlier. Doctor of Engineering. Completed the doctoral course at the School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo in 1977. After looking at chapter titles and drawings, to gain a serving as research assistant, lecturer and associate professor feeling of understanding. Anyway, journals that Yoshida: As I mentioned earlier, awareness that at the Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, publish or are capable of publishing good review “the true value of materials is in their use” already promoted to full professor at the Faculty of Engineering, the articles are fi ne journals. runs through STAM. In addition to this, we must University of Tokyo, in 1989. He is a member of the Science Council of Japan, and NIMS Fellow since January 2012. continue to anticipate the future needs of readers Appointed as Editor-in-Chief of STAM in January 2013. Yoshida: For such purpose, too, we would like and authors. This is only possible with continuous to keep on releasing about six topical focus is- support for the people who can engage in edit-

06 NIMS NOW International 2013 October Future of academic journals and STAM

ing for a long term with devotion. For instance, ence? Just as scientists have a vision for the future read? Although IF has its pros and cons, we STAM is now an open access journal (free to read), of science, I also have a vision for the future of inevitably have to attach weight to it at present. and I think it started to become well known after academic publishing. I don’t mean publishing a We want to raise IF, attract good articles, and it changed to the open access model. high-tech journal in the technical sense. Rather, I also, as a whole, increase the brand value. am thinking everyday about what would be re- Tanifuji: The plan to shift to an open access quired from the science communication aspect. Aono: Richard P. Feynman wrote a famous article model (from the conventional subscription Yet, I believe nothing can be changed from the in 1959 titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bot- model) was rejected by the editorial board at publishing side only. Fifteen years ago, STAM was tom” (there is room for great development even fi rst in 2006. In order to make articles free to read, inaugurated “to make substantial contribution to in the microscopic world). This article, which pre- it is indispensable to minimize expenses, pursue the development of the materials science fi eld by dicts the development of nanotechnology, is economic effi ciency of the journal by consider- clearly indicating the major trends of the fi eld.” It read by many people and is one of my favorite ing which parts should be cut and streamlined is important to bring this goal to readers and writ- articles, but its citation number is not very large. and, in return, which parts should be reinforced, ers. I think that can be considered as one form of Since it is more like an essay rather than an aca- and to create a stable publishing base. The fi rst science; communication from those making a demic article, I have never cited that article when step is to go paperless. Yet, an online-only jour- journal to researchers in the materials science writing my own articles. I hope STAM will be a nal would lose a tangible form, which is why the fi eld. Because the role of journals has become journal that can publish such articles, too. open access model was initially rejected. It took more complex, a publisher’s responsibility is no me more than a year to reach a consensus at the longer to simply publish a journal; it must also act Tanifuji: In the future, we would very much like editorial board and to decide changing to open for the benefi t of science. to publish such articles which may not be cited access model, while seeking opinions of experts frequently but are truly interesting. In fact, that at times. If it were a journal of an academic soci- Yoshida: At least we want people to recognize is what an academic journal should be like. ety, the journal would have a solid objective of STAM as a major materials science journal pub- benefi ting the society members, so if members lished in Japan. We have yet to gain such level of want a printed version, it must be published, and recognition worldwide, but I think IF “3” is a a compromise plan would be adopted, refl ect- threshold level. The next threshold would be ing the various opinions of the members. As a “5.” So, in the short term, we will think about result, diff erent conditions pile up, hindering how we can achieve “5”. A long-term concept progressive steps. Also, the use of an objective would be how we should consider materials improvement method, such as seeking opinions within science. Japan has been considered to of external experts, was relatively unpopular in have an edge in materials for decades, but origi- Japan as compared to Europe and the United nally, Japan had an edge in iron and steel. That is States. Even so, I think we were able to move for- not the case today. If we could show the areas in ward at a good pace because the management which Japan really has an edge at present, we team had a clear intention to make STAM a dis- would be more than happy as journal editors. tinguished world-class journal. Aono: When I write an article, I have two objectives. One is to write an article that lasts long in Future of STAM and academic journals history. That is, to make a mark in history. The other is to tell as many people as possible about my great fi nding as soon as possible. That is, ad- NIMS NOW: Lastly, please tell us your ideas of vertising activity. If I only had the former objec- the future from your respective standpoints? tive, I would submit my article to any journal, just as Dr. Yukawa’s fi rst article on mesons was Tanifuji: I think the practice of writing scientifi c published in Japanese. However, to achieve the articles will not change. Because of national poli- latter objective, it is undoubtedly more eff ective Mikiko Tanifuji cies, large amounts of money have been invest- to submit the article to a high-IF journal. I hope Master of International Studies. After serving as Associate ed in various research fi elds, and this has gener- STAM will grow into a journal which young re- Executive Director of the then Institute of Pure and Applied ated very large volumes of articles. This, in turn searchers would want to select as a place for Physics, in 2005 she joined NIMS. Throughout 17 years of experience as an editor and publisher of academic association has caused both authors and referees to become presentation when they achieve wonderful re- journals in physics, applied physics, and optics, she engaged excessively busy. However, we must keep in mind search results after hard work. in article editing, electronic publishing, XML databases, that the true value of scientifi c publishing is to secondary services of bibliographic information, and make a contribution to the development of sci- Yoshida: A signifi cant advertising eff ect is also development of the initial version of J-Stage, in line with the diffusion of the Internet. She is a member of the Japan Society ence. If things continue as they are, what will jour- important as a benefi t for the contributor or as a of Applied Physics and the Society for Scholarly Publishing. As nals be like in twenty or thirty years? Will they end motive for contribution. And, of course, how can a special appointed member of the Science Council of Japan their role as tools for the communication of sci- we make STAM a journal that readers want to she is part of a subcommittee on scientific journals in Japan.

NIMS NOW International 2013 October 07 Expanding Scientific Communication — Messages from STAM

Aiming to Become a Comprehensive Academic Journal in Materials Science

Editor-in-Chief Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM) Toyonobu Yoshida

Significance of an Academic Journal their specialized fields while placing emphasis rect expenses. Furthermore, the wide disper- on profitability. Accordingly, editors take a stra- sion of significant research results for a given For researchers, organizing their research re- tegic and flexible approach when choosing and research field creates a very serious risk. Broadly sults into articles and presenting these articles arranging articles so as to have a great impact speaking, it can erode a sense of discipline to the public is the final and critically important on, and attract the attention of a wide range of among researchers and threaten their identity. phase in the cycle of their research activities. readers. The contents typically cover over multi- In fact, this is the primary reason for STAM’s ex- The primary raison d’être of academic journals ple fields, something which cannot be achieved istence. STAM has taken on the mission of mak- can be described as providing researchers with by individual academic societies. Although ing a great contribution to the development of forums for such presentation. However, for us these publishers have been striving to survive the field of materials science, by preventing the academic journal editors, the imperative mis- by upgrading their information services for au- dispersion of information in this field, and by sion is to aim for the advancement and develop- thors and readers, such as providing online jour- looking across the entire field and clarifying the ment of science through collaboration with re- nals, they are struggling with extreme competi- trends occurring there. According to this princi- searchers, by publishing their research results in tion, except for a few high-class journals. ple and while flexibly incorporating publishing accordance with the status of the journal as well know-how and strategy in our editorial policy, as its editorial policy and principles. Academic Journals Benefiting Both we demonstrate STAM’s merits that may appeal In general, academic journals are divided into Authors and Readers to contributors, such as its publicity power and those issued by academic societies and those its IF. We also provide additional services that issued by commercial publishers. Academic so- The situation surrounding academic journals may arouse the interest of readers. More specifi- cieties publish journals with the objective of may appear not to pose a problem for research- cally, as a service for authors, we focus on ensur- maintaining and improving the academic level ers who wish to submit articles, but rather gives ing that the contribution of their articles to of their members through discussions of their them an advantage, in the sense that it provides STAM will greatly benefit them both on a short- research results. Academic societies also aim to them with more publication options. On the term and long-term basis, whereas for readers, establish their presence as entities with a public other hand, this situation is a problem for re- we are committed to helping them easily grasp nature by publishing journals periodically. As searchers who read journals, because it forces the trends in the field of materials science as a they are not profit-oriented, their journals are them to search for the information they need whole, and quickly discover new seeds of inno- often inferior in terms of design attractiveness, from an enormous quantity of publications. This vation. Through these activities, STAM is aiming readability, and user-friendliness. On the other forces them to spend a great deal of time to become a unique and comprehensive jour- hand, commercial publishers issue journals in searching for information and also imposes indi- nal in materials science.

< History of STAM > 1999 Recognizing the need for world-level Japanese academic journals, the Ministry of Educa- improving the peer review process and creating a referee database. In addition, Creative tion, Science, Sports and Culture created a special grant category of Grants-in-Aid for Sci- Commons Licenses were adopted for protecting the copyright on articles. entific Research (KAKENHI) designated for publication of specific international journals. To 2009 A Regional Editorial Board was set up with editors from eight countries taking the lead in apply for this grant, 18 academic societies came together to establish the Japan Federa- the materials science research community. Also, the network for communicating information of Materials (JFM) with Tsuyoshi Masumoto as its representative. The JFM’s grant ap- tion in and outside Japan was strengthened. plication for publication of a new international academic journal was accepted.

2000 STAM was inaugurated with Tsuyoshi Masumoto as its editor-in-chief. STAM, edited and 2011 The annual article downloads reached 290,000 with an average of 250 views per article. managed by the Department of Materials Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the The editing effort to raise the quality of the journal and the publishing strategy adopted University of Tokyo, is published by the Elsevier KK. upon the shift to open access succeeded in dramatically increasing the visibility of articles. Such improvement efforts included the release of an application for easy viewing articles 2005 Teruo Kishi took over the role as editor-in-chief. With an ethos of “support, in the field of on iPhones and other mobile Internet devices. materials science in which Japan has an edge, the functions of a journal that can counter the dominance and oligopoly of Western academic journals,” NIMS took over the editing 2012 STAM was introduced in overseas scientific news media, blogs and journals. It recorded an and management of STAM. NIMS exerted efforts to strengthen the journal by solidifying annual average of 600 views per article. An article published in STAM won an award in the the publication base: internationalizing the editorial board, establishing a peer review sys- ACerS Awards 2013 from the American Ceramic Society. tem, attaining a higher impact factor, and introducing advanced publishing technology. 2013 Toyonobu Yoshida was appointed as editor-in-chief. STAM achieved an impact factor of 2008 STAM was converted into a “gold” open access journal (free to publish and free to read). 3.752 (ranked first among the journals published in Japan in the category of Materials Sci- The publisher was changed to IOP Publishing, a U.K. publisher experienced in open access ence & Multidisciplinary). An article processing charge (APC) was introduced in July to journals. In shifting to open access, the publication was overhauled by reviewing the ex- cover a part of the publishing expenses. NIMS will continue to provide financial support to penses and employing a new editing strategy for raising the quality of the journal, such as STAM.

Profile Toyonobu Yoshida (for his profile, see page 6.)

08 NIMS NOW International 2013 October Recent news from STAM 400,000

300,000

200,000

June 2013 100,000 The impact factor (IF) of STAM for 2012 reached 3.752, rising further from 3.513 in the previous year. This ranks STAM 35th among 239 journals 0 worldwide in the Materials Science & Multidisci- 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 plinary category, and 1st among materials science journals that have been published ■STAM downloads periodically for more than 10 years in Japan. Article downloads reached 310,000 in 2012 (600 per article), and continues to After shifting to an open access model in 2008, increase. STAM’s IF has increased remarkably, rising above 2.5 in 2009 and continuing to grow further. Owing to this IF increase, STAM is attracting attention from various quarters at home and abroad. STAM’s high IF value is a result of the North America 16% ceaseless eff orts of editors and referees who UK 3% have screened the articles to be published based on world-level standards. It suggests that Western Europe 16% the selected articles have a signifi cant infl uence Rest of Asia 16% on the international materials science community. China 15% STAM is published by NIMS, which supports the Japan 6% strengthening of materials science in Japan and wide dissemination of academic research re- Rest of the World 28% sults. Percentage of readers in the world March 2012 ■ STAM has high access rates and its readers are evenly spread around the The article “Phase relationships in the quasi- world. ternary LaO1.5-SiO2-MgO system at 1773 K” by Kiyoshi Kobayashi and Yoshio Sakka from Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater., Vol.13 (2013) p. 045006 won the ACerS Spriggs Phase Equilibria Award from the American Ceramic Society. Dr. Kiyoshi 4.000 Kobayashi is a senior researcher at the Materials Processing Unit of NIMS and Dr. Yoshio Sakka is the Unit Director of NIMS. 3.000

December 2011 2.000 The annual article downloads reached 290,000, with 250 views per article on average. 1.000 February 2011 STAM supports reader application for mobile Internet devices such as iPhones and iPads. 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

January 2011 Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM) The article “Nanomaterials Science” from Sci. Applied Physics Express Technol. Adv. Mater. Vol. 11 (2011) 050301 by the Japanese Journal of Applied Physics Nobel laureate Heinrich Rohrer was introduced as Journal of the Physical Society of Japan “Forward thinking on advanced nanomaterials” on the “IN DEPTH” page of nanotechweb.org, a ■ STAM IF trends nanotechnology portal site accessed by more The IF of STAM is comparable to those of well-established materials sci- than 55,000 readers per month. ence journals worldwide, and is the highest in Japan.

NIMS NOW International 2013 October 09 Expanding Scientific Communication — Messages from STAM

STAM’s Objectives: The Past, Present, and Future of Academic Communication

Scientific Information Office Mikiko Tanifuji

Academic Journals in Transition amount of research activity and the growing NIMS, being the only research institute in materi- number of readers. The net revenue reached als science in Japan, decided to support the pub- In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented the first $9.4 billion in 2011 and the total number of peer- lication of STAM in 2005. By using its institutional technology to enable printing of portable repro- review journals reached 28,000 in mid 2012. Ar- knowledge and its network of experts, NIMS ductions of texts. 110 years later, the world’s first ticles that can enhance the value of journals are aimed to create a leading academic journal academic society, the Academia Secretorum now an important element of academic com- which could survive in the global marketplace. Naturae, was founded in 1560, and 105 years after munication. STAM, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary in that, the world’s first periodical, Philosophical However, in reality, the time available for an 2014, currently ranks at the top among journals Transactions, was launched. Since that time, the individual researcher to read articles has not published by Japanese organizations in materials number of academic journals has increased dra- increased in proportion to the growth in the science. Along with its claim to be a “world-class matically in line with scientific advances. As a number of articles published each year. As a journal originating in Japan”, STAM has intro- result of progress in digitizing academic journals result, many articles are published but never duced pioneering measures in Japan, such as in the 1990s, researchers today no longer need to read, journals are launched to fall into obscurity, shifting from a subscription-based to an open- visit a library to read academic literature, and can and most researchers simply cannot afford access model. With the emphasis on constantly easily access journals on their laboratory comput- either the time or the money to read all the jour- enhancing the quality and improving the eco- ers. With a computer, a researcher can do almost nals available in their field. This reality raises the nomic efficiency of STAM, together with its ability anything; from collecting and reading articles, to question as to whether academic journals are to disseminate materials globally, NIMS is striving writing, posting submissions and making presen- fulfilling their primary role of providing new to make a significant contribution to the future tations of his work. information to the scientific community. development of materials science in Japan. The transformation of academic communica- Journals were expected to serve as forums for (i) By presenting excellent research results in reader- tion over the last 450 years has been so rapid discussions and refereeing (peer review) on new friendly articles, STAM aims to make useful infor- that it is hardly sufficient to simply characterize findings in particular research fields, and (ii) pres- mation accessible to everyone, not only in the it as the process of modernization. As national entation and sharing of such findings through field of materials science, but also in related and private funding has increased for large publishing. Today, more emphasis may be placed fields, such as biomaterials and next-generation research projects, the number of articles on other roles of journals, namely, (iii) recording, energy materials. produced by researchers has surged accordingly. registration and preservation of findings, and (iv) Through these efforts, NIMS is endeavoring to In 2012, nearly 230,000 articles in the field of increasing the scientist’s reputation for the pur- make STAM the first choice as a forum for pre- materials science alone—and 2.4 million articles pose of employment or promotion. senting advanced and unique articles, with the in all fields—were published worldwide. Publi- goal of establishing STAM as a pre-eminent cation in academic journals has now become an STAM’s Aims in Academic journal in the development of materials science. attractive investment opportunity, affected by Communication diverse factors, such as the ever-increasing

Changes in the number of articles published worldwide, in all fields and in the field of materials science 3,000,000 World average IF of 2,500,000 materials science field

2,000,000

All fields 1,500,000

1,000,000 IF of STAM

500,000 Materials science 0 Source: SCOPUS

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Data as of October 18, 2013 Average IF of materials science field in the world and IF of STAM.

Profile Seiji Kuroda See profile on page 4. Mikiko Tanifuji (for her profile, see page 7.)

10 NIMS NOW International 2013 October Providing and Receiving Scientific Information The Unique Role of the NIMS Scientific Information Office

NIMS Plannning Division, Scientific Information Office

The Scientific Information Office was estab- Taking advantage of electronic publishing, the can coordinate with external systems through a lished in 2008. It combined the library function of NIMS Monographs series provides not only web API, and it can be used on mobile electronic the Administration Division with a publishing information in static text, but also dynamic links devices such as smartphones. function as a new core activity, aiming to both to illustrations, photographs, videos and analysis Since NIMS’s development results are released receive (library) and provide (publishing) scientif- software as reference data, thereby making full within the open-source model, they can be ic information. In general, libraries and publishers use of the modern publishing technology. used by other institutions as well. are known to be incompatible entities. We have a unique office in which the library operations and Library service: Next-generation Information service: The Use of digital the publishing functions support each other. By library catalog service, OPAC for library NIMS eSciDoc as an outreach using the expert knowledge of both libraries and e-resource management publishers, we have developed and provided Institutional repository systems have an in- new Internet information services, such as a web NIMS offers library facilities where both internal creasing importance in society and a substantial portal; a novel infrastructure innovation in pro- and external users can read and borrow books. effect on research. Accordingly, NIMS has rede- viding scientific information. In addition, NIMS has developed and operates veloped its long-accumulated research result a library portal site (library.nims.go.jp) which al- database into a digital library system, NIMS eSci- Publishing service: High international lows users to cross-search e-resources (online Doc, based on international specifications, communication ability journals, e-books, databases, etc.) scattered equipped with a self-archiving function and a across the Internet, reserve library books, and library collection function for promoting the In addition to editing and publishing the journal request photocopies of documents (Fig.2). outreach of the archived information. introduced earlier in this special issue, NIMS has “Next-L Enju,” the core database of the portal The NIMS Researchers Directory “SAMURAI” started a new service of publishing e-books in site, is highly customizable and scalable soft- makes such accumulated, consolidated and English about its field of expertise, materials sci- ware that can be installed at low cost. The entire structured information on NIMS researchers ence, as NIMS Monographs series (Fig.1; http:// system, including the self-checkout terminal available to outside users (Fig.3). This informa- www.springer.com/series/11599). The series was interface, supports both Japanese and English tion can be used for a literature list, or for a CV launched in April 2013 in collaboration with for the convenience of foreign users who consti- attachment when applying for research funds, Springer. NIMS Monographs is a specialized tute 20% of all NIMS researchers. It is a next-gen- or be processed with a software gadget for a series of books written by NIMS researchers to eration navigation system that allows cross- webpage introducing the research results of a provide graduate students and other experts search of not only paper materials, but also research group. with the specialized research experience and online journals, e-books and institutional repos- knowledge of NIMS, Japan’s leading research itories as NIMS’ library resources. institute. The series covers a wide range of sub- Users can also search through external data- jects from principles and theories to examples bases via a link resolver, or retrieve the search of the latest applications. results in the form of an RSS feed. The system

increase by time and a half from 2010

Fig. 1 NIMS Monograph series Fig. 2 Library portal site (library.nims.go.jp) Fig. 3 SAMURAI annual page views and sample page. Series Ed.: Naoki OHASHI, ISSN: 2197-8891

NIMS NOW International 2013 October 11 2013 No.8

NIMS Forum 2013 researchers. The oral presentation session trial Science at the University of Tokyo spoke 1 Held in Tokyo featured special presentations by two guest on “Trends in High Efficiency Thermal Power speakers: Ms. Makiko Ono, Chief Researcher Generation and the Importance of Materi- On October 24, 2013, NIMS held its 13th fo- of the Industry Research Division of Mizuho als.” NIMS also demonstrated its research re- rum in the Tokyo International Forum (Yur- Bank Ltd., spoke on “Achievement of Clean sults in relation to these presentations. The akucho). NIMS has been holding this event and Economical Energy,” and Project Profes- event as a whole was greatly appreciated by annually in the hope of more widely pub- sor Shozo Kaneko from the Institute of Indus- the approximately 600 attendees. licizing its research results. This year, under the main theme “Gathering New Materials and Substances for the Future of Energy,” an oral presentation session focused on energy materials and a poster viewing session ex- hibiting selected research results were held. As has been the case every year, the event site was filled with the excitement of attend- Opening address by Special presentation by Special presentation by ees eager to directly exchange views with NIMS President Prof. Ushioda. Ms. Makiko Ono. Prof. Shozo Kaneko. The event site, filled with attendees.

2 French Minister of High Education and that Minister Fioraso’s visit was an excellent Research visits NIMS opportunity to promote ever further the collaboration with French universities, pub- On October 7, 2013, her Excellency Genev- in Society forum) in Kyoto, she then visited lic research institutions, and industries. iève Fioraso, Minister of High Education and several research institutions in Tsukuba in- Research, the Government of France, ac- cluding NIMS. The Minister met the Execu- companied by Prof. Manuel Tunon de Lara, tive Vice Presidents of NIMS and listened to President of Bordeaux University, and high- the overview presentation, with emphasis ranking officials made a visit to NIMS. Minis- on the collaboration with industries, and to ter Fioraso attended the Annual Meeting the special collaboration with Saint-Gobain 2013 of STS forum (Science and Technology and CNRS of France. We earnestly believe Delegation and NIMS attendants.

3 NIMS Signed a Comprehensive Collaborative Agreement bilities envisaged in the agreed collaboration. with NanoNextNL, Netherlands

On October 9, 2013, a Comprehensive Col- hundred Dutch companies, universities, knowl- laborative Agreement (CCA: Memorandum of edge institutes and university medical centers, Understanding for a sister institute) was signed which is aimed at industry driven research into by President Prof. Dave Blank of NanoNextNL micro and nanotechnology. A comparison of Meeting at “nano tech 2013” (from left, Mr. Paul op den Brouw, and President Prof. Sukekatsu Ushioda of NIMS the NIMS and NanoNextNL research programs Innovatie Attaché from Dutch Embassy, Business Director Mr. to pursue collaboration in the fields of mutual has revealed “hot spots” in the available match- Dick Koster, Dr. Johsei Nagakawa, Deputy General Manager of Academic Collaboration Office, President Prof. Sukekatsu activity in the nanotechnology area. ing activities and interests, and both sides are Ushioda, Vice President Prof. Fred van Keulen, Dr. Masakazu Aono, Director General of MANA, and Executive Vice President NanoNextNL is a consortium of more than one now discussing pursuing the promising possi- Dr. Junichi Sone)

entific City which attracts researchers from Jacob Torrejon Diaz (Spanish) many different countries. My research ca- from November 2012- Hello NIMS Post-doctoral position at magnetic reer at NIMS is very fruitful. In addition, I am Material Unit (Spintronic group) Dear NIMS NOW readers, enjoying the advanced Before my arrival to Japan, my knowledge Japanese technologies and about this exotic country was only reduced facilities. I also visited many to the history of the samurai. In January sightseeing places: Nikko, 2008, I had my first experience with Japa- Yamagata-Zao, Sendai, Mat- nese culture during a very short internship sushima, etc. I really like at Tohoku University. After working in dif- Spring, in particular the ferent research laboratories in the period cherryblossoms (Hanami) in between 2008 and 2012 (Madrid, Sao Paulo the middle of March. My Japanese experience will be and Paris), I returned to Japan, to a different “Spintronic group party” in a Tsukuba At Nikko during Christmas time. city, Tsukuba. Tsukuba is a world-class Sci- unforgettable. restaurant.

NIMS NOW International 2013 vol.11 No.8

cover image: STAM articles can be freely accessed from tablets and smartphones