Featured Resources: Japanese Literature Databases JP-NETe AND J-STAGE
Posted on Thu, Jul 28, 2011
Today, we’re profiling two resources that specialize in Japanese literature. JP-NETe and J-STAGE specialize in Japanese patents and academic documents, available in both Japanese and in English. This makes them extremely valuable in opening up vast quantities of potentially helpful documents that might otherwise be off-limits due to the language barrier.
Japan’s patent office is, along with the U.S. and European offices, one of the major patent offices in the world. The JPO grants a large number of patents every year, as Japan has long been a birthplace for innovation. This means that Japanese patents and publications are a great place to discover previously uncovered prior art. These two resources make that discovery much easier for non-Japanese speakers.
JP-NETe
JP-NETe is a standalone program that is downloaded and run offline. It covers unexamined patent documents from Japan. It works in conjunction with the Patent Abstracts of Japan collection (PAJ), which is run by the Japan Patent Information Organization. The PAJ provides unexamined Japanese patent documents, meaning this program is continually updating with the most recent advances in Japanese technology. It also has an extensive historical database, allowing users to search for prior art in abandoned or rejected patent applications. While every document is machine-translated into English, many of the older documents have also been hand-translated, allowing for an even more in-depth analysis of the contents.
JP-NETe does have some drawbacks. It does not have complete texts for its documents, which can be a limiting factor in many cases. However, it does include a complete set of drawings for the patents, which can be a huge boon in many cases for identifying prior art. While the full texts are not given, JP-NETe does return abstracts, bibliographies, and the current legal status. In addition, the search results pages are very well presented and organized, making it easy to use and understand. The lack of full text documents is definitely limiting, but the use of pictures and drawings helps this resource shine when used to narrow the focus of a search.
J-STAGE
J-STAGE was developed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. It is an aggregator of Japanese academic journals and research papers. Its goal is to increase the efficiency of releasing Japanese publications on the internet. Most of the documents are only abstracts, but like JP-NETe, this makes it a valuable way-point between a general and a more detailed search.
J-STAGE is relatively young, having been founded 15 years ago, but continues to grow at a rapid pace. It consistently adds new journals, with a recent average of four to five a month. This shows the database’s commitment to digitizing as much information as possible. J-STAGE has many top science and technology journals available in English, making it easier for researchers from all across the globe to access these important publications.
JP-NETe requires a subscription to download and use the program, while J-STAGE is free to use. J-STAGE is also experiencing reduced speeds until at least October, 2011, due to the power shortages after the earthquake in Japan.
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