Abstract

This study worked on the qualitative analysis about nomenclature East Sea by the record type in researches related to East Sea shown in the scientific journals. Here in this study, the way of marking is classified as three: ‘sole notation of East Sea’, ‘sole notation of Sea of Japan’, and ‘simultaneous notation of both’. Based on a total of 4,192 selections from Web of Science DB, the analysis was followed up for change in time series by the notation type, notation type according to the nation that authors belong to, difference in research topic, impact factor, collaboration in research, and co-authorship network. The result turned out in this work that the sole notation of Sea of Japan accounted for the largest portion. It also showed that the rates of sole notation of East Sea and simultaneous notation have kept increasing continuously since the 1990s. Hub nations regarding the research of East Sea is five including Japan, Russia, Korea, USA, and China. In the case of sole notation of Sea of Japan, active collaboration studies are performed in USA, Russia, and China with a focus in Japan. In the case of sole notation of East Sea and simultaneous use, the research rate is relatively high in USA and Japan with a focus in Korea. As to the co-authorship network in the sole notation of Sea of Japan, sort of a “giant component” among different groups has been set up and through which the collaborative works are actively underway. However, it was found that the research of sole notation of East Sea is dispersed into small groups on the base of relevant individual institution.