Chronology of Some Developments in Forest Engineering Research in Japan
Authors
Masami Shiba
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Abstract
The forests and forestry industries within Japan are in a period of uncertainty and change. It must be the responsibility of not only government and industry but also research to identify problems and set the priorities solving these problems.
This paper presents the role of forest engineering research in forestry-oriented technology, and how our approach to research is changing with societal needs through a brief history of plantation forestry in Japan. This review of the research "movement" is based on the assumption that the quantity of published papers would be directly a function of their contributions to related technological development, but indirectly would be influenced by public understanding of research effort with the result of the performance of technology transfer.
Six different journals dealing with forestry-related research papers were surveyed. Almost thirty-eight thousand pertinent papers issued in the period from 1955 to 1995 were captured through bibliographical information services available in university libraries and government research institutes. A considerable difference in structure and trend of changes in the number of papers issued has been observed among them. Particularly, forest engineering research within about 10 years between 1970s and 1980s has fairly altered in structure, function and orientation. The increased social concerns for various environmental issues propelled researchers toward making major changes in research-oriented activities. One of the notable trends in this research movement was the growing diversification in research areas and related subjects through active introduction of associated disciplines. The tendency has more steadily continued with increasing competition through the entry of associated and/or cross disciplines, organizational and educational reform, and priorities for research objectives.
