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Country

Science in Japan

Japan ranks #12 of 192 countries on research quality in 2022–2025 (#6 all time), with 558k research works and 10.7% of them in the world's top 10%.

World rank, 2022–2025
#12
of 192 · #6 all time
Works, 2022–2025
558k
◆ 0% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate
10.7%
record average 16.5%
In the world top 100
1
14 in the top 1,000
Open access
42%
world 63%

What is Japan strongest at in science?

On research quality in 2022–2025, Japan ranks highest in Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics (#4 of 59), Physics and Astronomy (#6 of 79) and Medicine (#12 of 155). Relative to its size it is most specialised in Condensed Matter Physics, Gastroenterology and Radiation.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorks
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsSubfield #4 of 59 12.0%7,906 Institutions
Physics and AstronomyField #6 of 79 17.4%22,311 Institutions
MedicineField #12 of 155 10.0%167,109 Institutions
Materials ScienceField #8 of 90 7.6%26,513 Institutions
SurgerySubfield #9 of 88 9.0%27,274 Institutions
GeophysicsSubfield #5 of 47 17.9%2,582 Institutions
EngineeringField #16 of 134 7.5%94,218 Institutions
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #13 of 108 11.9%40,837 Institutions
Materials ChemistrySubfield #9 of 74 8.1%15,209 Institutions
Organic ChemistrySubfield #8 of 65 9.1%6,582 Institutions
OncologySubfield #9 of 67 10.9%12,226 Institutions
RheumatologySubfield #7 of 52 9.7%4,886 Institutions

Where its research is concentrated

Location quotient: how much more — or less — of each node it does than its size predicts. Drawn around 1×, where “twice the world share” and “half of it” are the same distance apart in opposite directions. A volume reading, which on a country axis is largely population and industrial structure.

  1. Condensed Matter PhysicsSubfield · 2,782.5 works3.1×
  2. GastroenterologySubfield · 1,780.5 works2.7×
  3. RadiationSubfield · 2,076.3 works2.7×
  4. Structural BiologySubfield · 238.5 works2.7×
  5. MicrobiologySubfield · 76.7 works2.4×
  6. Pulmonary and Respiratory MedicineSubfield · 19,612.0 works2.3×
  7. Sensory SystemsSubfield · 972.7 works2.3×
  8. TransportationSubfield · 4,069.9 works2.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

The whole field profile

All 26 fields at once. A specialist and a generalist produce the same ranked list and a completely different shape.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.61× its world share, 16k worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.37× its world share, 41k worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.24× its world share, 6,977 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.58× its world share, 14k worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 1.31× its world share, 2,576 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 1.30× its world share, 2,532 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.41× its world share, 12k worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.85× its world share, 37k worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.99× its world share, 8,691 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.71× its world share, 3,648 worksEnergyEngineering: 1.13× its world share, 94k worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.75× its world share, 21k worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 1.36× its world share, 27k worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.05× its world share, 6,895 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.80× its world share, 22k worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 1.06× its world share, 2,862 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.61× its world share, 8,921 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.56× its world share, 167k worksMedicineNursing: 1.01× its world share, 2,754 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.02× its world share, 773 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.32× its world share, 5,229 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.29× its world share, 5,220 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.54× its world share, 2,899 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.51× its world share, 6,064 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.80× its world share, 14k worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.38× its world share, 27k worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 1.8×. Every wedge is a field page.

Which keywords describe research in Japan?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Inflammation, Chemotherapy, Deep Learning, Treatment, Diagnosis, Immunotherapy and Clinical Practice Guidelines.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this country's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Epidemiology28k▲ 1.28×140 topics
  2. Inflammation18k▲ 1.55×83 topics
  3. Deep Learning17k◆ 0.87×85 topics
  4. Machine Learning12k▼ 0.68×97 topics
  5. Treatment11k▲ 1.58×52 topics
  6. Oxidative Stress11k◆ 1.15×63 topics
  7. Climate Change10k▼ 0.69×131 topics
  8. Chemotherapy10k▲ 2.6×25 topics
  9. Cancer9,379▲ 1.25×59 topics
  10. Quality of Life9,290▲ 1.16×61 topics
  11. Diagnosis9,258▲ 1.78×41 topics
  12. Nanoparticles8,093◆ 1.15×44 topics
  13. Biomedical Applications7,994▲ 1.21×36 topics
  14. Neural Networks7,856◆ 0.91×42 topics
  15. Immunotherapy7,795▲ 1.96×19 topics
  16. Cardiovascular Disease7,591▲ 1.22×39 topics
  17. Clinical Practice Guidelines7,028▲ 2.3×14 topics
  18. Risk Factors6,991◆ 1.14×37 topics
  19. Management6,632▲ 1.51×40 topics
  20. Mechanical Properties6,129◆ 1.13×39 topics
  21. Prognostic Factors6,030▲ 2.5×14 topics
  22. Surgical Management5,589▲ 2.4×20 topics
  23. Metabolic Syndrome5,266▲ 1.16×24 topics
  24. Neurological Disorders5,246▲ 1.66×20 topics
  25. Tumor Microenvironment4,987▲ 2.0×8 topics
  26. Clinical Trials4,977▲ 1.33×19 topics
  27. Genetic Mutations4,974▲ 2.1×23 topics
  28. Complications4,837▲ 1.73×17 topics
  29. Aging4,784▲ 1.60×19 topics
  30. Guidelines4,761▲ 1.83×13 topics
  31. Heart Failure4,540▲ 1.89×14 topics
  32. Radiotherapy4,480▲ 2.1×13 topics
  33. Neoadjuvant Therapy4,225▲ 3.2×5 topics
  34. Prognosis4,208▲ 2.3×9 topics
  35. Survival Analysis3,666▲ 2.4×7 topics
  36. Echocardiography3,472▲ 2.3×8 topics
  37. Modernization3,295▲ 3.2×5 topics
  38. Molecular Characterization3,266▲ 3.3×6 topics
  39. Adjuvant Therapy2,764▲ 3.9×2 topics
  40. Endoscopic Resection2,756▲ 5.0×2 topics

How many world-class institutions does Japan hold?

Average quality and elite capacity disagree by construction, and both are worth knowing: the first is decided by a country’s whole institution population, the second counts the institutions it holds at the top. One square per institution.

51st to 100th1101st to 500th5501st to 1,000th8

Bands are exclusive, so the squares add up to 14 — the institutions it holds in the world top 1,000 — and not to four times it.

Which universities in Japan lead research?

The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and Tohoku University rank highest in Japan on research quality in 2022–2025.

0%10%20%mean 12.8867%fractional works (log) →share in the world top 10% →The University of Tokyo: 25k, 15.7%Kyoto University: 15k, 15.1%Tohoku University: 13k, 13.9%National Institute for Materials Science: 3,342, 13.2%The University of Osaka: 13k, 12.4%Nagoya University: 9,716, 13.0%Kyushu University: 11k, 13.0%Hokkaido University: 8,637, 13.0%Keio University: 7,252, 12.0%University of Tsukuba: 8,213, 11.7%Tokyo Institute of Technology: 6,837, 11.6%National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology: 5,400, 10.0%Hiroshima University: 6,560, 13.6%Waseda University: 6,926, 12.5%Kobe University: 5,369, 12.6%The University of To…Kyoto UniversityTohoku UniversityNational Institute f…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per institution in the list below. The upper left is the interesting corner.

  1. 1The University of TokyoUniversity · Tokyo · #73 worldwide15.7% top 10% · 25k works
  2. 2Kyoto UniversityUniversity · Kyoto · #166 worldwide15.1% top 10% · 15k works
  3. 3Tohoku UniversityUniversity · Sendai · #239 worldwide13.9% top 10% · 13k works
  4. 4National Institute for Materials ScienceResearch facility · Tsukuba · #263 worldwide13.2% top 10% · 3.3k works
  5. 5The University of OsakaUniversity · Osaka · #305 worldwide12.4% top 10% · 13k works
  6. 6Nagoya UniversityUniversity · Nagoya · #422 worldwide13.0% top 10% · 9.7k works
  7. 7Kyushu UniversityUniversity · Fukuoka · #506 worldwide13.0% top 10% · 11k works
  8. 8Hokkaido UniversityUniversity · Sapporo · #509 worldwide13.0% top 10% · 8.6k works
  9. 9Keio UniversityUniversity · Tokyo · #743 worldwide12.0% top 10% · 7.3k works
  10. 10University of TsukubaUniversity · Tsukuba · #758 worldwide11.7% top 10% · 8.2k works
  11. 11Tokyo Institute of TechnologyUniversity · Tokyo · #801 worldwide11.6% top 10% · 6.8k works
  12. 12National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and TechnologyGovernment institution · Tsukuba · #908 worldwide10.0% top 10% · 5.4k works
  13. 13Hiroshima UniversityUniversity · Hiroshima · #927 worldwide13.6% top 10% · 6.6k works
  14. 14Waseda UniversityUniversity · Tokyo · #989 worldwide12.5% top 10% · 6.9k works
  15. 15Kobe UniversityUniversity · Kobe · #1,141 worldwide12.6% top 10% · 5.4k works

The track on each row is its top-10% rate; the tick is the world’s rate in this record, 16.5% — teal above it, red below.

All ranked institutions in Japan

Who are the top researchers in Japan?

Shizuo Akira, Hirofumi Akagi and Ken Takahashi rank highest among researchers based in Japan.

  1. 1 Shizuo Akira · #298 worldwide 3.6k citations · 192 works
  2. 2 Hirofumi Akagi · #505 worldwide 3.3k citations · 149 works
  3. 3 Ken Takahashi · #814 worldwide 2.6k citations · 98 works
  4. 4 Shimon Sakaguchi · #857 worldwide 1.8k citations · 126 works
  5. 5 Y. Makida · #885 worldwide 8.1k citations · 349 works
  6. 6 S. Fratina · #1,004 worldwide 4k citations · 116 works
  7. 7 S. Cole · #1,016 worldwide 3.7k citations · 104 works
  8. 8 Hiroshi Yamaguchi · #1,035 worldwide 2.9k citations · 98 works
  9. 9 Takehito Hayakawa · #1,046 worldwide 2.6k citations · 109 works
  10. 10 N. Sasao · #1,086 worldwide 3.3k citations · 103 works
Top researchers in Japan

Which cities in Japan are research hubs?

  1. 1 Tokyo Japan 1.5M works
  2. 2 Osaka Japan 340k works
  3. 3 Kyoto Japan 314k works
  4. 4 Nagoya Japan 204k works
  5. 5 Tsukuba Japan 193k works
  6. 6 Sendai Japan 183k works
  7. 7 Fukuoka Japan 170k works
  8. 8 Sapporo Japan 141k works
  9. 9 Kobe Japan 92k works
  10. 10 Yokohama Japan 81k works
  11. 11 Hiroshima Japan 81k works
  12. 12 Chiba Japan 74k works

How much of it is in the largest

The same cities as shares of everything these twelve account for.

Tokyo: 45.1%Osaka: 10.0%Kyoto: 9.2%Nagoya: 6.0%8 others listed: 29.8%45%largest
Tokyo1.5M · 45.1%Osaka340k · 10.0%Kyoto314k · 9.2%Nagoya204k · 6.0%8 others listed1.0M · 29.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

How open and international is Japan's research?

42% of its research is openly available (world: 40%), and 12% is written with international co-authors (world: 18%).

openly available42.3%not open57.7%

World: 63% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors12.1%domestic only87.9%

World: 22% is written across borders.

How has Japan's research grown?

Output in 2018–2022 was 0% higher than in 2013–2017.

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Research fields in Japan