Researcher Engagement in Research Communication in Japan: Surveying Practices, Awareness, and Challenges (Survey by Springer Nature)

The objective of this survey was to understand researchers' habits, objectives, motivations, and challenges in carrying out effective research communication to the wider community. Additionally, we aimed to deepen our understanding of the support researchers are currently receiving or are interested in receiving.

The survey was conducted in Japan between 13th January 2023 and 28th February 2023, and received 1063 responses that were deemed as completes

Our findings indicate that over 90% of researchers find research communication important and express interest in sharing their work with the wider community, and approximately 75% acknowledge the benefits and enjoy engaging with the wider community. While many researchers find research communication to be important and benefit themselves, 77% of researchers wish to receive more support in carrying out effective research communication. Specifically, 66% of the researchers found plain language writing for non-experts to be a challenge in research communication. In terms of support and training researchers, over 70% replied that any kind of additional support or training asked in the survey (Questions 20 and 21) would be helpful for their communication efforts.