Organizational Profile and History

    The Japan Society of Nursing Research (JSNR) was inaugurated with the mission of organizing researchers in the nursing profession and making contributions to nursing education and research as well as advances in the nursing field. It endeavors to fulfill that mission through a range of core activities including the sponsorship of academic conferences and seminars, the publication of a scientific journal, the provision of scholarships, an outstanding thesis award program, undertakings in research ethics education, the promotion of international activities, public seminars and other social contributions, and communication and alliances with interested academic organizations in related fields.

    The JSNR's forerunner, the Four-Universities Nursing Research Council, was a consortium of four national universities with special undergraduate education programs for teacher training in the field of nursing - Kumamoto University, Tokushima University, Chiba University, and Hirosaki University. That council had been launched with the objective of fostering education and research in the nursing field. To explore the need for the creation of an academic society that would help build on the foundations of the science of nursing, the Four-Universities Nursing Research Council held its first nursing workshop in the format of an academic conference at Tokushima University in 1975.

    In 1981, the council changed its name to the Japan Society of Nursing Research. In the years since, the JSNR has continued to provide settings for the activities of nursing researchers, the release of research findings, and opportunities for researcher exchange through an annual academic conference, the publication of a journal with five issues each year, and the sponsorship of research activities through five regional chapters. Additionally, it has focused more energy and resources into the provision of research scholarships (an activity in which it has been engaged since its early days as a research council), continues to provide research grants to young researchers, and has launched a program of commendations for research papers that demonstrate excellence.

    In 2009, the JSNR achieved status as a general incorporated association and was thus reborn as a socially accepted academic organization with a mandate to conduct its operations on a steady basis in keeping with principles of fairness and transparency. It has accordingly harnessed this change as an opportunity to further develop the environment for its operations, and to that end, has taken steps to place its journal archives on CD-ROM media, build a web-based peer- review system, publish a yearbook, and include more English-language research papers in its journal.

    As a measure aimed at providing assistance to victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster of 2011, the JSNR launched a large-scale disaster assistance program and began extending assistance to nursing students, etc. in the earthquake-affected areas.

    In 2014, the JSNR took a step to improve its member services by relocating its secretariat offices from the City of Chiba -- a municipality with which it had enjoyed supportive ties over many years -- to the Galileo, Inc. in Tokyo.

Organizational History

	1970	Inauguration of liaison council by four national universities (Kumamoto University, Tokushima University, Chiba University, Hirosaki University) with special undergraduate teacher education programs in nursing
	1975	First academic workshop held by Four-Universities Nursing Council (at Tokushima University)
	1978	Inaugural issue of the Journal of Four-Universities' Nursing Research
	1980	Creation of new research scholarship fund
	1981	Council name change, to Japan Society of Nursing Research
	1982	Transition from sponsor-based to executive- and councilor-based structure
	1986	Inauguration of Kinki-Shikoku chapter
Katsuko Kanagawa (1st president, 1992)	1992	Launch of new president-based structure Split of Kinki-Shikoku chapter into the Kinki-Hokuriku and Shikoku-Chugoku chapters; Inauguration of new Hokkaido chapter
	1993	Registration as scientific research organization with the Science Council of Japan
Akiko Itoh (2nd president, 1995)	1996	Inauguration of Tokai and Kyushu chapters
	1997	Publication of a special 20th anniversary issue of the journal
Junko Kusakari (3rd president, 1998)
Sawako Kawamura (4th president, 2001)	2001	Launch of new outstanding thesis award program
	2003	Launch of JSNR website
Keiko Yamaguchi (5th president, 2004)	2004	30th anniversary commemorative project: Design of JSNR logo
Keiko Yamaguchi (6th president, 2007)
Keiko Yamaguchi (7th president, 2009)	2009	Establishment as general incorporated association
Keiko Yamaguchi (8th president, 2010)	2011	Launch of large-scale disaster assistance program
Yuko Kuroda (9th president, 2012)	2013	Placement of journal archives on CD-ROM media, release of yearbook on JSNR website
Yuko Kuroda (10th president, 2014)
	2014	Development of web-based peer-review system, start of research ethics-based screenings
Takayasu Kawaguchi (11th president, 2016)	2016	Website reconstruction/smartphone support, Registration of member's email address
Yukiko Miyakoshi (12th president, 2018)	2018	Completely electronic admission procedure
Kiyoko Fukai (13th president, 2020)	2020	Publication of Journal of International Nursing Research, Introduction of student membership system
Midori Asano (14th president, 2022)	2022