Research Trends of Japanese Public Administration: Statistical content
analyses of the titles of “Public Administration Review Quarterly”
(1978 to 2019)
Abstract
This paper quantitatively explains research trends in postwar
administrative studies in Japan using statistical analyses of nearly 40
years of article titles from Public Administration Review
Quarterly, from its first issue (1978) to the 165th issue (2019).
Co-occurrence network analysis and correspondence analysis revealed
changes in research interests. There was substantially more research on
administrative reforms through the post-war Showa and
Heisei eras.
The configuration figures of correspondence analysis can be interpreted
to mean that the first dimension concerns administrative reforms; the
second dimension concerns historical events/administrative systems; and
the third dimension concerns evaluations and Kaizen.
Co-occurrence network analysis showed that the studies during the
Showa era (1978-1988) could be partly characterized by the two
extracted compound words: the United States and the United Kingdom.
Japan became a feature of studies of public administration during the
Heisei era (1989–2018). These features are basically consistent
with the previous quantitative studies.