17

I just ask this question out of curiosity.

I would like to hear opinions from researchers in Japan about this paper:
Speciation of two gobioid species, Pterogobius elapoides and Pterogobius zonoleucus revealed by multi-locus nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses

The first author is Akihito, unless there is another person with that single unique name at that unique address.

Did he really contribute anything to that paper? Note that he doesn't have any degree, and he was 82 years old when that paper was published.

Updated:

I'm asking this question because the author is an emperor, i.e. somebody with immense power.

An author with similar level of power was Elena Ceausescu. She only finished primary school. However, during the communist period, thanks to her dictator husband, she had a PhD, countless of papers and awards etc etc.

That's why I'm asking people in Japan. I do know how to use Google.

Improve this question
10
  • 4
    Did you Google it? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihito#Ichthyological_research
    – Azor Ahai -him-
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 18:03
  • 1
    @AzorAhai my question is: did he really contribute anything to that paper?
    – sean
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 18:06
  • 2
    This is probably better at Skeptics.SE, though the answer seems readily obtainable. Besides being listed as first author, though, it is likely to be difficult to know objectively his specific contribution to that one individual paper (as is true for any author, even when contributions are listed in the publication); however, it is consistent with his prior publishing history so I see no immediate reason to doubt it.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 18:08
  • 2
    I would like to hear opinions from researchers in Japan about this paper - this wording doesn't make the question objective. And you are not really asking about opinions on the paper (which I'd understand as the content of the paper, which would be off-topic), but to clarify the identity of the first author. How about editing the post?
    – user68958
    Commented Oct 3, 2018 at 19:00
  • 4
    Re: "immense power", it's worth nothing that modern-day Japanese emperors are essentially symbolic figureheads with very limited political power.
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Oct 4, 2018 at 4:43

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
16

According to the Indian embassy of Japan he did author a similarily titled paper in 2008: link (titled Evolution of Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan populations of the gobiid species, Pterogobius elapoides and Pterogobius zonoleucus, based on molecular and morphological analysis), so it is a safe bet that the paper you are asking about is authored by His Majesty as well.

The Internet also confirms he specializes in ichtyological research.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .