Abstract
The authors of this article conducted research into the inducement to realize electronic libraries in Japan. The main targets were the production of machine readable texts of articles in academic journals and the distribution of those texts as on-line electronic journals.
It is pointed out that, 1. the number of copies of each issue of academic journals tends to grow, 2. the cost per copy of each issue of academic journals tends to increase，3. 75 percent of the articles in academic journals are produced by the authors using Japanese word processers, 4. the effort by academic societies to reduce the cost per issue of their academic journals leads to promote the production of machine readable texts, 5. nearly half of editorial staffs of academic societies are not familiar with the concept of electronic journals, 6. 87 percent of editorial staffs think it is not necessary to issue their journals as electronic journals, 7. some staffs point out several factors which prevent the achievement of electronic journals, and 8. some show their great interest in electronic journals as a means of reducing the cost of issuing of their journals.
Machine readable texts are existed at the level of authors with a high percentage, however, the academic societies are not ready to collect and store those texts, much less distribute them through on-line.
