As an issue was raised with respect to the following paper published in the Journal of Disaster Research (JDR), we conducted an investigation.

A) Paper published in the JDR
Yasuki Iizuka, Katsuya Kinoshita, and Kayo Iizuka, “A Distributed Autonomous Approach to Developing a Disaster Evacuation Assist System,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.10, No.6, pp. 1081-1090, 2015. (Received: July 31, 2015, Accepted: October 21, 2015, Published: December 1, 2015)

B) Paper compared
Yasuki IIZUKA, Katsuya KINOSHITA, Kayo IIZUKA, “Agent Based Disaster Evacuation Assistance System,” Information Engineering Express International Journal, Vol.1, No.2, pp. 41-50 (2015). (Published: June 30, 2015)

1. Results of Investigation
- The texts of the two papers were compared, whereupon a percentage match exceeding 47 percent was found in terms of the number of words. When the comparison was made with the initially submitted manuscript, that is, the manuscript before it was revised based on peer reviews, the percentage match with paper B was 58 percent.
- When the conclusions of the two papers were compared, they were found to be nearly identical, from which we conclude that paper A does not display sufficient novelty.
- Paper B is not cited as a reference in paper A, and when the same figure appears in the two documents, its source is not cited.
- It was found that, during the period from manuscript submission to publication, the authors failed to submit paper B as a previously published paper, as stipulated in Article 11.2 of the JDR Instructions to Authors (Japanese version), or otherwise submit any documentation that refers to the existence of paper B.

2. Decision
As a result of the above investigation, the JDR editorial board concludes that paper A constitutes a duplicate submission and is in violation of the JDR Instructions to Authors (Japanese version). Its acceptance is thereby revoked, and it has been duly removed from the JDR official website.

Any inquiries regarding this matter should be made to this office:

JDR Editorial Office, Fuji Technology Press Ltd.
  Unizo Uchikanda 1-Chome Bldg. 2F
  1-15-7 Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0047, Japan
  TEL: 03-5577-3851 FAX: 03-5577-3861
  E-mail: disaster@fujipress.jp