| Indicator | University Z-score | Average country Z-score |
|---|---|---|
|
Multi-affiliation
|
-0.361 | -0.119 |
|
Retracted Output
|
-0.371 | -0.208 |
|
Institutional Self-Citation
|
1.560 | 0.208 |
|
Discontinued Journals Output
|
-0.312 | -0.328 |
|
Hyperauthored Output
|
0.101 | 0.881 |
|
Leadership Impact Gap
|
-0.320 | 0.809 |
|
Hyperprolific Authors
|
-0.930 | 0.288 |
|
Institutional Journal Output
|
-0.268 | -0.139 |
|
Redundant Output
|
3.210 | 0.778 |
Yokohama National University (YNU) presents a robust scientific integrity profile, with an overall risk score of -0.102 indicating performance that is well-aligned with international standards. The institution demonstrates exceptional strengths in areas of authorial practice and publication channels, particularly with a near-total absence of hyperprolific authorship and minimal use of institutional journals. These results reflect a culture that prioritizes quality and external validation. However, this strong foundation is contrasted by two significant vulnerabilities: a significant rate of redundant output (Salami Slicing) and a high exposure to institutional self-citation. According to SCImago Institutions Rankings data, YNU's academic excellence is most prominent in thematic areas such as Arts and Humanities, Business, Management and Accounting, and Physics and Astronomy. The identified risks, especially the practice of fragmenting research, directly challenge the university's mission to "Be Active" in solving real-world problems and to "Be Innovative" by promoting new endeavors, as they prioritize publication volume over substantive contribution. To fully realize its vision, YNU is encouraged to implement targeted strategies that address these specific vulnerabilities, thereby ensuring its operational practices are in complete harmony with its stated principles of openness, innovation, and global engagement.
With a Z-score of -0.361, the institution demonstrates a more rigorous approach to affiliation management compared to the national average of -0.119. This prudent profile suggests that Yokohama National University's policies effectively govern collaborative and researcher mobility frameworks. While multiple affiliations are often a legitimate result of partnerships, the university's lower-than-average rate indicates strong control over practices that could lead to strategic attempts to inflate institutional credit or "affiliation shopping," ensuring that credit is assigned transparently and accurately.
The institution's Z-score of -0.371 is notably lower than the national average of -0.208, indicating a prudent and effective approach to quality control. This superior performance suggests that the university's pre-publication review and supervision mechanisms are more rigorous than the national standard. Retractions are complex events, but a rate this low signals that systemic failures in methodological rigor or integrity are successfully being prevented, safeguarding the institution's reputation and contributing to a culture of responsible science.
Yokohama National University shows a high exposure to this risk, with a Z-score of 1.560 that significantly exceeds the national average of 0.208. Although both the institution and the country fall within a medium-risk category, the university's value is substantially higher, indicating a greater propensity for internal citation dynamics. A certain level of self-citation is natural, reflecting the continuity of research lines. However, this disproportionately high rate signals a concerning risk of scientific isolation or 'echo chambers' where work is validated internally without sufficient external scrutiny, potentially leading to an endogamous inflation of impact that is not reflective of recognition by the global community.
The institution's Z-score of -0.312 is statistically normal and aligns closely with the national average of -0.328. This alignment indicates that the university's risk level in this area is as expected for its context. The data suggests that researchers at Yokohama National University exercise appropriate due diligence in selecting dissemination channels, effectively avoiding the reputational and resource-wasting risks associated with publishing in media that do not meet international ethical or quality standards, such as 'predatory' journals.
With a Z-score of 0.101, the institution demonstrates differentiated management of authorship practices, moderating a risk that appears more common nationally (country Z-score of 0.881). While both fall into a medium-risk category, the university's significantly lower score suggests more effective controls. In fields outside of 'Big Science,' high rates of hyper-authorship can indicate author list inflation. Yokohama National University's contained profile suggests a healthier environment that better distinguishes between necessary massive collaboration and 'honorary' authorship, thereby promoting individual accountability.
Yokohama National University demonstrates notable institutional resilience, with a low-risk Z-score of -0.320 that contrasts sharply with the medium-risk national trend (Z-score of 0.809). This result indicates that the university's control mechanisms successfully mitigate the systemic risk of impact dependency observed in the country. A wide positive gap often signals that scientific prestige is reliant on external partners rather than internal capacity. The university's strong performance here suggests that its excellence metrics are the result of genuine internal capabilities and intellectual leadership, ensuring a sustainable and structural foundation for its scientific prestige.
The institution exhibits a state of preventive isolation from national risk dynamics, with a Z-score of -0.930 placing it in the very low-risk category, while the country shows a medium-risk level (Z-score of 0.288). This stark difference highlights an exemplary institutional culture that does not replicate the pressures for extreme publication volumes seen elsewhere. This absence of risk signals a healthy balance between quantity and quality, indicating that authorship is awarded for meaningful intellectual contribution rather than being driven by dynamics like coercive authorship or metric-chasing, thus protecting the integrity of the scientific record.
The university's performance shows total operational silence on this indicator, with a Z-score of -0.268 that is even lower than the already minimal national average of -0.139. This complete absence of risk signals an exceptionally strong commitment to independent, external peer review. By avoiding reliance on in-house journals, the institution effectively eliminates potential conflicts of interest and the risk of academic endogamy. This practice ensures that its scientific production is validated through standard competitive channels, maximizing its global visibility and credibility.
This indicator represents a critical alert for the institution. With a significant-risk Z-score of 3.210, Yokohama National University accentuates a vulnerability that is already present at a medium level in the national system (country Z-score of 0.778). This high value points to a systemic practice of fragmenting coherent studies into minimal publishable units to artificially inflate productivity metrics. Such a pattern of massive bibliographic overlap, known as 'salami slicing,' not only distorts the available scientific evidence and overburdens the peer-review system but also prioritizes volume over the generation of significant new knowledge, requiring urgent review and intervention by management.
