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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.

sean
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    Did you Google it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihito#Ichthyological_research – Azor Ahai -him- Oct 03 '18 at 18:03
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    @AzorAhai my question is: did he really contribute anything to that paper? – sean Oct 03 '18 at 18:06
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    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 Oct 03 '18 at 18:08
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    He has a whole bunch of papers, so he probably did have something to contribute to that specific paper, but only its authors will know the full story on that. – Anyon Oct 03 '18 at 18:10
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    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? –  Oct 03 '18 at 19:00
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    This reminds me of the question about Obama's paper. – Laurel Oct 04 '18 at 01:40
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    Re: "immense power", it's worth nothing that modern-day Japanese emperors are essentially symbolic figureheads with very limited political power. – lambshaanxy Oct 04 '18 at 04:43
  • I knew that his father published papers in marine biology; news to me that the son does too. – Anton Sherwood Oct 04 '18 at 05:11
  • The members of the Imperial family do make an effort to educate themselves and they generally do research (often in biology) as tradition. Off course, generally in private settings, but they actually do the legwork. I know a European zoologist who hosted one of them for a week or so on a research visit. – Greg Oct 04 '18 at 13:17
  • I suggest you discuss specific papers on Pubpeer.com instead of SE communities. – Scientist Oct 04 '18 at 14:19

1 Answers1

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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.

lukeg
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