The Country of Japan

United Nations Commission on Science and

Technology for Development (“UN CSTD”)
Fostering Reputable Research in the Face of the
Replication Crisis
Delegate: Erland Ilyasa Sutoyo

“The key (to the future) is the power of science and technology in enterprises.”
— Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga
The importance of scientific research emphasizes the need for articles that push the
boundaries of research to be reputable. Factors like publication bias and statistical manipulation
threaten the credibility of scientific research.1 Replication is one of the measures done to verify
articles by conducting studies to find consistent results.2 However, past decades have brought
concerns over the credibility of research from repeated failures to replicate significant
portions of scientific literature. In psychology, studies found only 23% to 62% of top psychology
articles in 2008 studies were replicable.3 Top medical publications have also reported a
replicability rate of 44%, with other sciences reporting similar issues with replicability.4 This is
far from the 80% standard for replicability the scientific community sets.5
There has been difficulty in implementing these checks and balances through two factors:
(1) The lack of incentives and (2) Difficulty in finding data necessary to conduct replicability
studies. First, publishing culture favors novel, non-replicable research which extends to funding
incentives. This causes a practice of collecting and presenting data that favors convenience over
accuracy.6 Second, researchers are unwilling to provide full information necessary to conduct
replication studies especially when the information is owned by private third parties protected
under Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).7 Despite numerous recommendations and solutions
circulated by the scientific community, there has yet to be a uniform scope or standard that is
mandated by these initiatives. Regardless of how valuable or effective these measures are, they
must be complemented by a unified and concrete policy initiative to be effective.8
There are two main priorities of Japan in this council. (1) Contributing to finding a
solution to replicability as a commitment to global research. Japan views science and technology
as an essential strategy for international diplomacy.9 In 2020, Japan dedicated 3.3% of its GDP to
research and development, with 83% of it conducted by private parties.10 Japan has improved its
research performance in the past 4 years by creating a variety of policies, one of which is by
collaborating with other leading countries, such as China and USA which have both contributed
to more than 50% of foreign research collaborations in the past year.11 This international effort
also extends to aiding developing countries as a means of soft-power diplomacy.12 (2) Promoting
international support for the Open Access (OA) movement. The 2022 Japan Science and
Technology Agency (JST) policy on OA aims to bolster Japanese research while combating
replicability issues by mandating OA for publicly funded articles by 2025. This approach is done
with consideration of the interests of universities and private researchers. In the same policy, JST
reaffirms the importance of data transparency through a data management plan before beginning
a project.13
 The country of Japan proposes the following measures with considerations of past
CSTD actions in the form of policy recommendations to the UN Economic & Social Council and
an overseeing role for the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society.14
A. Approved Research Replicability Standard (ARRS), aims to establish a voluntary
international certification for articles and institutions that have taken steps to encourage
scientific replicability. With the following guidelines:
1. Core Principle: Seeking to separate confirmatory studies and exploratory studies into
different categories to provide space for the former and to uphold research
transparency.
2. Implementing Structure: Articles and Publishers are given the right to publish with
an ARRS tag after undergoing a review from the UNCSTD. For developing countries,
selected university members will receive training to implement ARRS.
3. Requirements: For publishers and articles to obtain the ARRS, there are the following
conditions:
a) An article should have at least 1 replication studies done with 2 studies done by
two separate academic institutions for certain high-risk sectors. CSTD defines
high-risk as research that could directly endanger human life i.e. regarding medical
research;
b) A working paper is to be included in every article submission which includes:
original hypothesis submitted ahead of time, raw data collected without
processing, and other resources necessary for replication;
c) Working papers for OA articles will also be made OA mutatis mutandis;
d) For articles from private institutions, working papers are kept private with the
implementation of a Conditional-Access-Agreements (CAAR) for replicability
studies. Access will be granted to institutions that have signed a non-disclosure
and non-competition agreement for replication studies; and
e) Publishers should enact the following policies to receive an ARRS: pledge funding
commitment to replication research and affirm quality-based achievements rather
than quantity-based achievements in measuring productivity.
B. International Open Access Research Bank (International ORB), a commitment for
Governments to implement a step-by-step plan to enact international OA policies.
1. To make publicly funded articles OA and compiled in a directory managed by the UN
CSTD.
2. Create a Green standard and a Gold standard for OA articles. Green articles are
unfinalized versions that have been approved for release by the author. Gold articles
will be final polished versions. Allowing both OA and monetization of articles at the
same time.
3. Regulations on monetization are at the discretion of each contributing country’s
policies.
4. Gradual implementation from predominantly Green OA articles to Gold OA articles.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, And Medicine, “Reproducibility and
Replicability in Science,” (Washington DC: The National Academies Press, 2019),
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547524/, p. 90
2
Ibid, pp. 72-75.
3
Open Science Collaboration, “Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological
Science,” Science 349, no. 6251 (August 28, 2015): 943–52,
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4716, p. 47.
4
John P. A. Ioannidis, “Contradicted and Initially Stronger Effects in Highly Cited
Clinical Research,” JAMA 294, no. 2 (July 13, 2005): 218–28,
https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.294.2.218; Joel Achenbach, “No, Science’s Reproducibility
Problem Is Not Limited to Psychology,” Washington Post, August 28, 2015,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/08/28/no-sciences-
reproducibility-problem-is-not-limited-to-psychology/.
5
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, And Medicine, Reproducibility and
Replicability in Science, p. 152.
6
Jens B. Asendorpf et al., “Recommendations for Increasing Replicability in
Psychology,” European Journal of Personality 27, no. 2 (March 2013): 108–19,
https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1919, p. 109
7
Or Cohen-Sasson and Ofer Tur-Sinai, “The Replication Crisis and IP Law: A Novel
Policy Tool for Open Science,” SSRN Electronic Journal 55, no. 091 (December 8, 2022): 92–
146, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4274712, pp 102, 104-108.
8
Ibid, p. 113.
9
Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Diplomatic Bluebook,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Japan, 2022,
https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/other/bluebook/2022/en_html/chapter3/c030203.html, p 290-2.
10
The World Bank, “Research and Development Expenditure (% of GDP) | Data,”
Worldbank.org, 2019, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS; OECD,
“Gross domestic spending on R&D (indicator)”, 2024, doi: 10.1787/d8b068b4-en (Accessed on
20 June 2024);
11
Springer Nature Group, “Index Reveals Encouraging Signs of Recovery in Japan’s
Research Output | Springer Nature Group | Springer Nature,” group.springernature.com, March
9, 2023, https://group.springernature.com/gp/group/media/press-releases/nature-index-2023-
japan/24595278; The Nature Index, “Japan | Country/Territory Outputs | Nature Index,”
www.nature.com (Springer Nature, February 29, 2024), https://www.nature.com/nature-
index/country-outputs/Japan#collaboration.
12
Atsushi Sunami, Tomoko Hamachi, and Shigeru Kitaba, “The Rise of Science and
Technology Diplomacy in Japan,” Science & Diplomacy (American Association for the
Advancement of Science, March 14, 2013), https://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2013/rise-
science-and-technology-diplomacy-in-japan.
 13
Japan Science and Technology Agency, “JST Policy on Open Access to Research
Publications and Research Data Management,” April 1, 2022.
14
United Nations Trade & Development, “Mandate and Institutional Background |
CSTD,” unctad.org, n.d., https://unctad.org/topic/commission-on-science-and-technology-for-
development/mandate.