Abstract
Recently, "setsumei-sekinin (responsibility for explanation)" in science and technology (S & T) has been drawing more attention in Japan. Although it is used in the various policy papers, official documents and media coverage, the concept of the word is not clear. The purpose of this paper is to propose a picture of "setsumei-sekinin" in S & T as the social responsibility based on the particularity of S & T. We firstly discuss it on the philosophy and development of accountability, political disclosure of information, and public right to know. We, then, introduce four S & T professional's phases to be obliged to explain to society based on the particularity of S & T between societies. At the end of this paper, we point to a discrepancy of the phases between which we extracted and which are presented in current Japanese S & T policy.
