About RIKEN RESEARCH

RIKEN is one of Japan's largest research organizations with institutes and centers in locations throughout Japan. RIKEN's 3000+ researchers publish several hundred research articles in top scientific and technical journals every year across a broad spectrum of disciplines in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, earth science and in many areas of technology, and the number of articles is growing year on year.

Primary papers published by RIKEN researchers and status of citations (Thomson ISI Expanded Citation Index, November 2008)

We at RIKEN want to bring a part of our best research to the world's attention in a timely and prompt manner. Until now there has been no central resource where up-to-date information on key achievements by our numerous institutes and research centers can be found. We have created RIKEN RESEARCH to help fill this gap, by reporting some of our research widely both in print and online. RIKEN RESEARCH forms one key part of an overall strategy to make RIKEN more visible to the world as a whole.

The core component of RIKEN RESEARCH is short, easy-to-understand 'Research Highlight' articles explaining for a broad scientific audience some of the latest research articles published by RIKEN researchers. Our intended audience includes researchers worldwide and all those who have a strong interest in science and technology.

We hope you find RIKEN RESEARCH informative, useful and timely and that it gives you a better understanding of some of the best research being carried out at RIKEN as well as a sense of the environment and culture of our organization.

Please enjoy RIKEN RESEARCH !

NOYORI Ryoji
President, RIKEN
August 2009