[Internationalization of the English-language journals in Japan in life sciences]

The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the internationalization of four English-language journals in Japan in life sciences based on the papers published in each of journals during the period of 1992-1994. The journals were identified by impact factors (IFs) according to the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) for the 1994 volume. The mean IFs to the top 25 citing and cited journals were compared in order to evaluate their international contribution. The journals (Journal of Biochemistry, Japanese Journal of Cancer Research, Japanese Journal of Physiology) published in Japan did not have an international reputation except for international immunology in terms of IFs and geographic distribution of authors. The editorial policy and strategy have to be established in order to receive a large international readership.