Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

Japanese government's proposed Society 5.0 aims to ensure sustainability and achieve economic and qualitative prosperity. To this end, it states that it is necessary to promote not only technological innovation through science, but also the integrated promotion of humanities & social sciences and science & technology (6th Science & Technology Innovation Basic Plan 2021). However, there are criticisms that academic research performance evaluations tend to rely heavily on the number of papers published and citations, thereby undervaluing the diverse contributions of the humanities and social sciences, such as policy recommendations, international rule-making, and regional collaboration.

One effective means of addressing this lack of visibility is to launch peer-reviewed open access (OA) academic journals. In fact, OA papers are cited 18% more on average than non-OA papers, and double-digit increases in citations have been confirmed even in the humanities and social sciences. The philosophy behind the launch of these academic journals is to focus on solving various social issues in Japan. Social issues such as declining birthrates and ageing populations, disaster resilience, and mental health are becoming increasingly evident in Japan, with other countries expected to follow suit. Collaboration between natural science and humanities and social science researchers to discuss these issues in academic journals holds universal value and has the potential to attract international attention.

The purpose of this research is to promote interdisciplinary research, including humanities and social sciences, and to visualise its results by launching a peer-reviewed open access academic journal. The significance of this research lies in three points: (1) establishing a foundation for the international dissemination of Japanese social issue research, (2) visualising interdisciplinary research and social impact in FRIS, and (3) forming a network centred on alumni. The aim is to build a platform that balances the creation of interdisciplinary knowledge with social implementation that goes beyond technological innovation. The goal is also to summarize the entire process as an empirical study that includes effectiveness measurement.