National Institute of Informatics
Japanese research institute
The National Institute of Informatics (国立情報学研究所, Kokuritsu Jōhōgaku Kenkyūjo; NII) is a Japanese research institute located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. NII was established in April 2000 for the purpose of advancing the study of informatics. This institute also works on creating systems to facilitate the spread of scientific information to the general public. It oversees and maintains a large, searchable information database on a variety of scientific and non-scientific topics called Webcat. NII is the only comprehensive research institute in informatics in Japan. It is a major part of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, and since 2002 has offered a Ph.D. program in informatics.
History
NII had its inception in a proposition from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture presented to the Science Council in October 1973, entitled "Improved Circulation System for Academic Information." In 1976 the Research Center for Library and Information Science was established at the University of Tokyo, paving the way for the institute that was to become the National Institute of Informatics. In 1983 the research center was reorganized and transformed into the Center for Bibliographic Information, but continued to operate under the aegis of the University of Tokyo. This center was then further restructured in 1986 and renamed the National Center for Science Information Systems (NACSIS).
The NACSIS was the first incarnation of the institute to be independent of the University of Tokyo.
“National Institute of Informatics” enters the record as japanese research institute. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what National, Institute and Informatics can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“National Institute of Informatics” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, National, Institute and Informatics provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4346622. VIAF identifies the subject as 156212082. The Library of Congress control number is no00079149. Authority coordinates are 35.692, 139.758. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000, 2002, 1973 and 1976.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “National Institute of Informatics” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.