Library and Information Science

The purpose of the present paper is to elucidate the trends of the articles published in the Western languages by Japanese economists in the years of 1956, 1966, 1971 and 1976. Data is taken from Keizaigaku Bunken Kiho (Quarterly Bibliography of Economics).

Major findings from this study are as follows;

1. the total number of Japanese economists who published the articles in the Western languages increased from 89 in 1956, 120 in 1966, 162 in 1971, to 203 in 1976. And the total number of articles published in the Western languages increased from 106, 142, 180, to 229 respectively.
2. the ratio of articles contributed to foreign journals, to Japanese journals published in the Western languages, and to Japanese journals published in Japanese and the Western languages in 1956, was 15.1%: 76.4%: 8.5%, and, in 1976 33.2%: 31.0%: 35.8%.
3. the Western language most frequently used was overwhelmingly English.
4. the major fields contributed by Japanese economists were “Economic Theory,” “International Economics,” “Statistics,” and “Industry.”
5. the nationalities of foreign journals publishers were predominantly USA.
6. the foreign journals which published the articles by Japanese economists most frequently were Econometrica, International Economic Review, International Labor Review, and Review of Economic Studies.
7. the analysis of institutional affiliations of Japanese contributors to foreign journals showed that universities in Japan and abroad were the most dominant institutions.