An analysis for estimating the short-term effects of Japan's triple disaster on progress in materials science

Suppose there is a scientist that writes a paper for a peer-reviewed journal. How likely is it that a natural disaster will terminate, change, suspend or discontinue some aspect of this editorial process? To answer this question, the aim of present study was to determine the effects of a natural disaster on progress in materials science research. The Tsunami event in Japan and materials science are well suited to serve as a case study for both the development and application of a system to evaluate the Academic Research Output immediately after a natural disaster. In particular, the analysis focused on the short-term impacts of Japan's triple disaster – earthquake, Tsunami, and nuclear accident (11 March, 2011) – on the Academic Research Output in materials science subject from three different areas: Sendai (Miyagi Prefecture), Tsukuba (Ibaraki Prefecture) and Kyoto (Kyoto Prefecture). The last one has been used as an internal reference standard (normal/non-disaster situation) for the comparison. A geographical cluster-based study was conducted between 09 February and 10 April 2011. Consistent with the hypothesis that a disaster might slow down knowledge production, the conclusion showed that the Japan's triple disaster strongly influenced the Academic Research Output of papers in the selected field of science. Using statistical data, these findings show that the number of submitted papers and the cumulative number of authors contributing to the field of materials science decreased immediately after the March 11th events in the areas affected by disaster.