Introduction

Entomology, the scientific study of insects, is of general importance with both basic and applied aspects (Gullan and Cranston 2014). Although human interest in insects has a long history dating back to the prehistoric era, entomology as a scientific discipline emerged in the sixteenth century and was established by the eighteenth century (Smith 1973). Currently, a number of entomological journals are publishing numerous scientific articles of entomological and entomology-related research fields all over the world. For example, the Journal Citation Reports 2014 (http://about.jcr.incites.thomsonreuters.com) is indexing 92 journals under the category of “Entomology”, although the number no doubt represents merely the tip of an iceberg.

In Japan, although some pioneering descriptive studies have been conducted under the scheme of herbalism and pharmacognosy since the seventeenth century, entomology in a modern style was introduced as a part of zoology and launched after the opening of Japan to the world upon the Meiji Restoration from 1868 and after (Hayashi 2004). Here, it should also be noted that Japanese people have traditionally loved and highly appreciated insects, which are deeply interwoven into their cultural and mental backgrounds. Even in the twenty-first century, many Japanese people enjoy watching fireflies glittering over flowing streams in summer (Oba et al. 2011), listening to sweet notes of crickets, grasshoppers, and cicadas (Ryan 1996), and collecting, rearing, and trading spectacular rhino and stag beetles (Brock 2006; Goka et al. 2004). Concordantly, a number of entomological journals, proceedings, reports, newsletters, and books are published not only by academic societies but also by agricultural and other biological research institutes and local stations, natural history museums, amateur entomologist associations, etc.

Unfortunately, the wealth of entomological knowledge accumulated in Japan is not necessarily easily accessible by the world’s entomological researchers and scientific communities, primarily because the majority of the literature is written in Japanese, and secondarily because the majority of the articles are not indexed by major online searching platforms for scientific literature such as Web of Science and PubMed. However, I point out that, although not widely recognized outside Japan, some, if not all, contents of such journals are freely available via Japan’s public open-access platforms, J-stage or CiNii (see “Box 1”).

In this article, I introduce the principal entomological and entomology-related academic societies of Japan and their respective journals, URLs, and open-access availability, thereby providing a convenient portal to the valuable scientific resources for the world’s entomological researchers and scientific communities. Note that all the information described here is valid as of December 2015, which will be subject to change in the future.

Entomological and entomology-related journals in Japan

It is virtually impossible to cover all entomological journals, proceedings, reports, newsletters, and other literature published in Japan. Here I highlight 24 entomological and entomology-related academic societies, which are members of UJSIS, UJSSB, UJSNH and/or UJSBS (see “Box 2”) and publishing a total of 37 scientific journals. These societies are selected because of (1) continuous and active functioning as academic societies, (2) authorization by the esteemed academic unions, (3) publishing academic journals in English and/or in Japanese with an English summary, (4) online accessibility via the website of the societies, and (5) online searchability and/or open-accessibility of the journals’ contents. Furthermore, six proceedings/annual reports of local plant protection societies of Japan are listed, which publish many entomology-related papers that are open-access with an English title and/or summary. In addition, two entomology-specialized periodicals, Insecta Matsumurana from Hokkaido University and Esakia from Kyushu University, are introduced. In total, 32 entomological and entomology-related societies and their 45 journals are highlighted in this article (Table 1).

Table 1 Insect-related academic societies of Japan and their scientific journals (information is valid as of December 2015)
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Societies publishing English and Japanese journals

Many, if not all, of the academic societies in Japan are publishing two journals: one is English-based for the international audience while the other is Japanese-based for the domestic audience. The English-based journals range from those that accept papers in English only, journals that mainly publish papers in English but also accept papers in Japanese, and journals that are open to papers both in English and Japanese. In these journals, papers in Japanese almost always accompany English summary. The Japanese-based journals mostly publish papers in Japanese only and the availability of an English summary depends on the journals’ policy. As shown in Table 1, the Japanese Society of Applied Entomology and Zoology, the Entomological Society of Japan, the Japanese Society of Sericultural Science, the Japanese Society for Wild Silkmoths, the Lepidopterological Society of Japan, Coleopterological Society of Japan, the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology, the Biogeographical Society of Japan, the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry, and Pesticide Science Society of Japan represent this type of academic society.

The Ecological Society of Japan publishes an English-based journal, Ecological Research, and two Japanese-based journals, Japanese Journal of Ecology and Japanese Journal of Conservation Ecology, which reflect the importance of both basic and applied aspects of ecology in the contemporary world.

Societies publishing a single journal

Some academic societies in Japan are publishing a single journal. As shown in Table 1, the Japan Ethological Society, the Society of Population Ecology, and the Japanese Society of Systematic Entomology publish a journal fully in English; the Japan Society of Medical Entomology and Zoology, the Arachnological Society of Japan, the Acarological Society of Japan, and the Japanese Nematological Society have a journal publishing papers both in English and Japanese; the Japanese Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, the Society of Urban Pest Management, Japan, the Japanese Society of Environmental Entomology and Zoology, and the Japanese Society of Pestology have a journal publishing papers substantially in Japanese only and the availability of an English summary depends on the journals’ policy.

A society publishing dual English journals

Exceptionally, the Zoological Society of Japan is publishing two journals fully in English. In addition to Zoological Science that has been published for decades under the BioOne platform, the society launched Zoological Letters in 2015 as a new full open-access journal from BioMed Central, thereby intending the rapid handling and seamless publication of a variety of papers in the field of zoology. The new journal places emphasis on topical zoological issues such as the discovery of the sixth digit of frogs (Hayashi et al. 2015), incapability of smelling and tasting revealed by whale genomics (Kishida et al. 2015), description of enigmatic animal phyla (Nakano 2015; Yamasaki et al. 2015), etc., and also actively publishes entomological studies: eight of 35 articles published in 2015 are on insect-related topics including circadian rhythms and clocks (Komada et al. 2015; Numata et al. 2015), ecdysteroid fucntions (Uryu et al. 2015), neural mechanisms for learning (Mizunami et al. 2015), chemical and structural basis of body color (Stavenga et al. 2015), ecological impact of urbanization (Moriyama and Numata 2015), flight muscle structure (Iwamoto 2015), and symbiotic microorganisms (Hosokawa et al. 2015).

Proceedings/annual reports of local plant protection societies of Japan

In Japan, there are six major local plant protection societies that have been active for decades: the Society of Plant Protection of North Japan (northern part of Japan; Hokkaido and Tohoku regions), the Kanto-Tosan Plant Protection Society (central mainland areas around Kanto-Tokyo), the Association for Plant Protection of Hokuriku (northern coastal mainland Hokuriku areas), the Kansai Plant Protection Society (central mainland areas around Kansai-Osaka), the Association for Plant Protection of Shikoku (southwestern part of Japan; Shikoku region), and the Association for Plant Protection of Kyushu (southwestern part of Japan; Kyushu and Okinawa regions). These societies have been publishing proceedings or annual reports that compile numerous reports and case studies on agricultural pathogens and pest insects, all of which are published with an English title and some with an English summary. These articles are open-access either via J-stage or the website of the relevant society (Table 1).

Insecta Matsumurana and Esakia

Historically, introduction and establishment of modern entomology in Japan have been strongly promoted by Hokkaido University and Kyushu University, where the founding professors, Dr. Shonen Matsumura (1872–1960) at Hokkaido University and Dr. Teizo Esaki (1899–1957) at Kyushu University, played important roles (Kamito 1958; Uchida and Watanabe 1961). These universities are still the centers of systematic entomology in Japan and publishing their own entomological journals, Insecta Matsumurana and Esakia named after the founders. The contents are freely available via institutional repositories of the universities (Table 1). Regrettably, the publication of Esakia was suspended from 2015.

Open-accessibility of journal contents

Table 1 shows that, importantly, the majority of the entomological and entomology-related journals in Japan are completely or partially open-access: 14 journals via J-stage, 10 journals via CiNii, three journals via J-stage and CiNii, one journal via BioMed Central, one journal via BioOne, and four journals via their own institutional repositories. Some are completely open from the latest issue, while others place 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years of restricted period depending on the journals’ policy.

Indexing and impact factor

Of the 45 entomological and entomology-related journals, only nine journals are indexed by Web of Science and given an impact factor, and only three journals are indexed by PubMed (Table 2), highlighting that J-stage and CiNii are the essential portals for accessing the majority of the entomological and entomology-related papers published in Japan.

Table 2 Indexing by major databases and impact factor of insect-related scientific journals of Japan
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Concluding remark

Here I provide a convenient portal to entomological journals and literature published in Japan with their respective URL and open-access availability, which are valuable scientific resources for the world’s entomological researchers and scientific communities. I emphasize that many, if not all, of the journal contents are open-access via the public platforms, J-stage and CiNii, dedicated to scientific literature published in Japan. Notably, the journal archiving service of CiNii will be abolished and integrated into J-stage by March 2017 (http://www.nii.ac.jp/nels_soc/about/schedule/ in Japanese only), when the contents of this article should be updated. I hope that this article will help the world’s entomologists to recognize the wealth of scientific knowledge accumulated in Japan and to make use of it for their research and development.