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J-STAGE is the journal platform run by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for scholarly publications from Japan. It hosts journals, conference proceedings and reports in Japanese and English, and most of its articles are free to read. This guide explains what it holds, how its article search works, and where it sits next to other resources. Figures below were read from J-STAGE’s own pages on 8 November 2026 and change daily.
What J-STAGE is
J-STAGE describes itself as a platform for scholarly publications in Japan. Its stated aims are to speed up the circulation of research, widen international access to Japanese research and promote open access. It is developed and managed by JST. Publishers use it to put their titles online; readers use it to find and read them. It is a publishing and discovery platform, not a citation index or a quality rating.
Who runs it and what it covers
JST’s overview page says J-STAGE carries more than 4,000 journals, conference proceedings and other academic publications from more than 2,400 publishers, including academic societies, universities, research organisations and companies. Content types include journals, proceedings, research and technical reports, magazines and survey or statistical data. It states that over 90% of articles are free to read, and open-access articles display a Creative Commons licence. Subjects span natural sciences, life sciences, medical and health sciences, engineering, interdisciplinary fields, and humanities and social sciences.
The English home page showed these counts on 8 November 2026:
| Measure | Count shown |
|---|---|
| Articles | 6,090,470 (5,875,401 free or open) |
| Journal titles | 4,514 (3,971 free or open) |
| Subject areas | 25 |
The overview page rounds (“more than 4,000 journals”) while the home page shows live counts, so the two will not match exactly. Cite the date you read them.
How to search it
The sign-in, register and My J-STAGE links sit at the top of the site, alongside an EN / 日本語 language switch. Searching needs no account; a free My J-STAGE account lets you save queries and receive alerts for new articles. The article search screen has two modes, Guided search and Query search, and you can switch between them.
- Open Advanced search or Search articles under Browse on the home page.
- In Guided search, pick a field for each row: Publication title, Article title, Abstract, Full text, Keyword, ISSN, Reference, Author name, Author’s organization, ORCID, e-Rad Researcher Number, Fund/Funder ID, Funder name or Grant/Award number.
- Join rows with the AND/OR drop-downs, add or remove rows with the “+” and “-” buttons, and tick Exclude search terms to negate a row.
- Use the translation options (English to Japanese, Japanese to English) to search in both languages.
- Narrow results with the filters: Publication type, Article attribute (Advance publications, Full-text HTML, With supplementary materials, With cited-by links), Language (Japanese, English), Peer review (Peer-reviewed articles), Publication year, Subject area and License (CC).
- To find one known article, use the search by article DOI.
- Order results by Relevance, Published newest or oldest, Released newest or oldest, or A to Z.
Query search syntax
| Need | Syntax listed by J-STAGE |
|---|---|
| Boolean operators | AND (&&), OR (||), NOT (!), plus + and – |
| Grouping | Parentheses |
| Wildcards | ? and * |
| Fuzzy match | ~n |
| Proximity | “phrase”~n |
| Term weighting | ^n |
| Ranges | TO with [ ] or { } |
A “Check your syntax” option validates a query before it runs. Because the form has fields for ORCID, e-Rad number, funder ID and grant number, it is useful for research-office tasks such as listing the output of a named funder or grant. For the Japanese researcher number, see the e-Rad researcher number guide; for the identifier itself, ORCID iD.
Browsing, alerts and data access
Without a query you can browse by All titles, All subject areas or All publishers, or use Newly added titles, Newly released issues, Back issues, Most viewed articles and Featured Topics. J-STAGE also offers a WebAPI that returns metadata (title, ISSN, year, authors, keywords, DOI, volume and issue information, open-access status) as XML. Use requires agreeing to the Terms of Use, commercial use needs permission, attribution is required, and bulk download is not permitted under the Browsing Policy. A 26 March 2026 news item says a published-journals search was added to the WebAPI.
Strengths and limits
- Strength: one place for a large body of Japanese society and university journals, with an English interface and a language filter.
- Strength: search fields built around funder and grant identifiers, and a peer-review filter.
- Strength: most content is free to read, with licences shown on open-access articles.
- Limit: it is a host and discovery platform; it does not replace a citation index.
- Limit: reuse depends on the licence shown on each article.
- Limit: bulk harvesting is restricted by the Browsing Policy.
Alternatives and companions
| Resource | Role relative to J-STAGE |
|---|---|
| Publisher or journal site | The journal’s own pages state its policies; J-STAGE hosts the articles. |
| Crossref DOI | The DOI registry that resolves identifiers; J-STAGE lets you search by article DOI. |
| DOAJ | An independent directory of open-access journals, useful to cross-check a title’s open-access status. |
For how open-access routes differ, see gold, green, diamond and hybrid open access and the open access definition.
FAQ
What is J-STAGE?
J-STAGE is JST’s online platform for scholarly journals, proceedings and reports from Japan, with an English and Japanese interface.
Who runs J-STAGE?
The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) develops and manages it; the content comes from more than 2,400 publishers according to JST’s overview page.
Is J-STAGE free?
JST states that over 90% of articles are free to read. The home page on 8 November 2026 showed 5,875,401 of 6,090,470 articles as free or open. Individual articles show their licence.
Can I search by ORCID or grant number?
Yes. Guided search includes ORCID, e-Rad Researcher Number, Funder ID, Funder name and Grant/Award number fields.
Sources
- J-STAGE home page, jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/-char/en, read 8 November 2026.
- J-STAGE overview, JstageOverview, read 8 November 2026.
- Article search tools, ToolsOfSearchArticlesPage, read 8 November 2026.
- J-STAGE services and WebAPI, JstageServices, read 8 November 2026.
