- Strong Support As has been previously discussed, having an article title with both names is not an acceptable solution (ie. Dokdo/Takeshima or Dokdo or Takeshima). It has also been discussed that Google Ngram information on "Takeshima" is unreliable because of its use as a common Japanese name and also because of its use as the name of Takeshima (island) (not to mention that having parenthetical disambiguation is discouraged when not necessary). Two points that have not been brought up yet are:
- "What are the islands called outside of the context of the dispute?"
- "What is the island called in the most cited academic literature on the topic?"
I have gathered references on the two questions below:
All[1] English-language[2] academic sources[3] on the islands with 20 or more citations[4] found through Google Scholar[5]
Sorted from greatest to fewest citations
- Liancort Rocks/Tok-do/Takeshima Cited by 187 Charney, Jonathan I. (1999-10-01). "Rocks That Cannot Sustain Human Habitation". American Journal of International Law. 94 (3).
- Uses "Liancort [sic] Rocks/Tok-do/Takeshima Islands" once when referring to the islands, but no further mentions are made.
- Takeshima Cited by 107 Kimie, Hara (2001). "50 Years from San Francisco: Re-Examining the Peace Treaty and Japan's Territorial Problems". Pacific Affairs. 74 (3).
- Primarily uses "Takeshima" in conjunction with "Takeshima (Tokdo)" (for the contemporary situation) or "Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks)" (for the historical situation). The article discusses the historical background behind the Treaty of San Francisco with regards to Japan, as well as contemporary issues it raises in Japanese politics.
- Dokdo Cited by 82 Van Dyke, Jon M. (2007-01-31). "Legal Issues Related to Sovereignty over Dokdo and Its Maritime Boundary". Ocean Development & International Law. 38 (1–2).
- Primarily uses "Dokdo". Introduces the terms "Takeshima" and "Liancourt Rocks" by stating "These islets are called Dokdo by Korea, Takeshima by Japan, and the Liancourt Rocks by various Western explorers and colonial writers". The article discusses the islands from the perspective of international law, concluding that "Korea’s claim to sovereignty over Dokdo is substantially stronger than that of Japan".
- Dokdo Cited by 75 Mitchell, Douglas A.; Watts, David Randolph; Wimbush, Mark H.; Teague, William J.; Tracey, Karen L.; Book, Jeffrey W.; Chang, Kyungil; Suk, Moon-sik; Yoon, Jong-hwan (2005-06-01). "Upper circulation patterns in the Ulleung Basin". Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. 52 (11–13).
- Primarily uses "Dok Islands". Mentions the term "Takeshima" once as "Dok (Takeshima) Islands" with no further context. Article discusses findings regarding wind patterns in the area.
- Dokdo (Two articles written by the same authors in the same series of the same journal) Cited by 72 Yoon, Jung-Hoon; Kang, So-Jung; Lee, Soo-Young; Lee, Mi-Hwa; Oh, Tae-Kwang (2005-09-01). "'Virgibacillus dokdonensis' sp. nov., isolated from a Korean island, Dokdo, located at the edge of the East Sea in Korea". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 55 (5). and Cited by 50 Yoon, Jung-Hoon; Kang, So-Jung; Lee, Soo-Young; Lee, Mi-Hwa; Oh, Tae-Kwang (2005-09-01). "Maribacter dokdonensis sp. nov., isolated from sea water off a Korean island, Dokdo". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 55 (5).
- Solely uses "Dokdo". No other terms are mentioned. The two articles discuss varieties of bacteria collected off the islands.
- Takeshima Cited by 68 Oda, Shigeru (2017-03-28). "The Normalization of Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea". American Journal of International Law. 61 (1).
- Solely uses "Takeshima". No other terms are mentioned. The article discusses the islands in the context of Japanese normalization of relations with South Korea.
- Dokdo Cited 63 Sakamoto, Rumi (2011-03-07). "'Koreans, Go Home!' Internet Nationalism in Contemporary Japan as a Digitally Mediated Subculture". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 9 (10).
- Uses "Dokdo" to refer to the islands while using "Takeshima" (with quotes) in the context of Japanese colonial racism or "Dokdo/Takeshima" to refer to the conflict.
- Dokdo Cited by 58 Choi, Sung-jae (2016-03-24). "The Politics of the Dokdo Issue". Journal of East Asian Studies. 5 (3).
- Solely uses "Dokdo", with the exception of use of "Takeshima" in quotes or to refer to the "Takeshima Movement" The article discusses the political nature of the islands with respect to the historical and political backgrounds of both countries.
- Liancourt Rocks Cited by 51 Fern, Sean (1998). "Tokdo or Takeshima? The International Law of Territorial Acquisition in the Japan-Korea Island Dispute" (PDF). Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs. 5 (1).
- Primarily uses "Liancourt Rocks" to refer to the islands and is the article currently used to cite the claim that the island is called the "Liancourt Rocks" by neutral observers. It mentions "Tokdo" and "Takeshima" as the Korean and Japanese names respectively. The article concludes that South Korea has a stronger claim to the islands in every respect.
- Liancourt Rocks Cited by 43 Sibbett, Benjamin K. (1997). "Tokdo or Takeshima? The Territorial Dispute Between Japan and the Republic of Korea". Fordham International Law Journal. 21 (4–9).
- Primarily uses "Liancourt Rocks" to refer to the islands, does not use the terms "Tokdo" or "Takeshima" outside of in quotes, and provides very little contextualization for the two terms. The article discusses the islands with regards to international law, concluding in a judgement favoring South Korea.
- Takeshima (out of convenience) Cited by 45 Bukh, Alexander (2014-10-21). "Shimane Prefecture, Tokyo and the territorial dispute over Dokdo/Takeshima: regional and national identities in Japan". The Pacific Review. 28 (1).
- Primarily uses "Takeshima" to refer to the islands, while introducing "Dokdo" as the Korean name. The article states "Since this paper is devoted to analyzing the Japanese side of the dispute, the Japanese name will be used throughout the text. This is done, however, solely for purposes of convenience and should not be interpreted as an expression of support for Japan's claims." The article discusses the island with regards to the establishment of "Takeshima" in Japanese national identity, such as through "Takeshima Day".
- Dokdo Cited by 42 Hunter, William Cannon (2013-10-03). "The Visual Representation of Border Tourism: Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and Dokdo in South Korea". International Journal of Tourism Research. 17 (2).
- Primarily uses "Dokdo" to refer to the islands, while introducing "Takeshima" as the Japanese name. The article discusses the island in the context of tourism to the DMZ and the islands.
- Dokdo (out of convenience) Cited by 40 Wiegand, Krista E. (2015-02-26). "The South Korean–Japanese security relationship and the Dokdo/Takeshima islets dispute". The Pacific Review. 28 (3).
- Primarily uses "Dokdo" to refer to the islands, while using "Dokdo/Takeshima" when discussing the Korean and Japanese contexts. The article discusses the impact of the islands on South Korean domestic politics and states that its use of the name "Dokdo" "in no way suggests a political stand on the legitimate sovereignty of the islets and is purely for the sake of simplicity."
- Liancourt Rocks Cited by 39 Smith, Robert W.; Thomas, Bradford L. (1998). "Island Disputes and the Law of the Sea: An Examination of Sovereignty and Delimitation Disputes". International Boundaries Research Unit: Maritime Briefing. 2 (4).
- Primarily uses "Liancourt Rocks" with "Takeshima/Tok-do" in parentheses. It mentions the islands once in text and twice in maps. The article discusses sovereignty disputes regarding islands.
- Dokdo Cited by 37 Chang, Kyung-Il; Kim, Youn-Bae; Suk, Moon-Sik; Byun, Sang-Kyung (2002-12-31). "Hydrography around Dokdo". Ocean and Polar Research. 24 (4).
- Solely uses "Dokdo". No other terms are mentioned. The article uses measures of conductivity, temperature, and depth to analyze the hydrography around the islands.
- Takeshima/Tokdo Cited 34 McCormack, Gavan (2011-01-03). "Small Islands – Big Problem: Senkaku/Diaoyu and the Weight of History and Geography in China-Japan Relations". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 9 (1).
- The island uses both names in the two instances the islands are mentioned. The article discusses the Senkaku Islands dispute with regard to Japan's relationship to China, and brings up the islands to compare and contrast the two disputes.
- Dokdo Cited by 32 Lee, Seokwoo; Van Dyke, Jon M. (2010-12-01). "The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and Its Relevance to the Sovereignty over Dokdo". Chinese Journal of International Law. 9 (4).
- Primarily uses "Dokdo". The term "Takeshima" is introduced by stating "Japan's claim to Dokdo, which it calls 'Takeshima'". The article discusses the islands with regards to international law, particularly with regards to the Treaty of San Francisco. The article concludes that the treaty does not strengthen or weaken any claim and is irrelevant to the issue of the islands' sovereignty.
- Dokdo Cited by 31 Ryu, Shi-Hyun; Jang, Keum-Hee; Choi, Eun-Hwa; Kim, Sang-Ki; Song, Sung-Joon; Cho, Hyun-Jin; Ryu, Ju-Sun; Kim, Youn-Mi; Sagong, Jin; Lee, Jin-Hee; Yeo, Mi-Yeong; Bahn, So-Yeong; Kim, Hae-Min; Lee, Gil-Seong; Lee, Don-Hwa; Cho, Yeon-Sik; Pak, Jae-Hong; Park, Jin-Soon; Ryu, Jong-Seong; Khim, Jong-Seong; Hwang, Ui-Wook (2012). "Biodiversity of Marine Invertebrates on Rocky Shores of Dokdo, Korea" (PDF). Zoological Studies. 51 (5).
- Solely uses "Dokdo". No other terms are mentioned. The article examines the biodiversity of marine invertebrates on the island, as the article title succinctly states.
- Dokdo Cited by 30 Kang, Rae-Seon; Won, Ki-Sik; Hong, Kyung-Pyo; Kim, Jong-Man (2001). "Population Studies on the Kelp Ecklonia cava and Eisenia bicyclis in Dokdo, Korea". Algae. 16 (2).
- Solely uses "Dokdo". No other terms are mentioned. The article reports the results of two population studies on two varieties of kelp on the island.
- Dokdo Cited by 28 Lee, Moon-Hee; Kim, Yeon-Kye; Moon, Ho Sung; Kim, Kyoung-Duck; Kim, Gwan-Gyu; Cho, Hyeon-Ah; Yoon, Na Young; Sim, Kil Bo; Park, Hee-Yeon; Lee, Doo-Seog; Lim, Chi-Won; Yoon, Ho-Dong; Han, Sang-Kuk (2012-10-31). "Comparison on proximate composition and nutritional profile of red and black sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus) from Ulleungdo(Island) and Dokdo(Island), Korea". Food Science and Biotechnology. 21 (5).
- Solely uses "Dokdo". No other terms are mentioned. The article compares the characteristics of Sea Cucumbers on the island to those on Ulleung Island.
- Dok-do Cited by 28 Oh, Miyoung (2009-02-04). "'Eternal Other' Japan: South Koreans' Postcolonial Identity". The International Journal of the History of Sport. 26 (3).
- The article primarily uses "Dokdo", but includes in parenthesis "Liancourt Rocks" during the first mention of the islands. The article discusses the post-colonial and ethnic identities of South Korea by examining their relationships with Japan.
- Tokdo Cited by 27 Kajimura, Hideki (1977). "The Question of Takeshima/Tokdo" (PDF). Korea Observer. 28 (3).
- While the article primarily uses "Takeshima/Tokdo", it states that "Takeshima" is not an admissible name for the islands, preferring "Tokdo". The article is a discussion of the historical understanding of the islands in Japan, the etymologies of both words, the legal background over the islands, and a general discussion over the islands themselves. The article concludes that Korea has a stronger claim to the islands.
- Liancourt Rocks Cited by 26 Johnston, Douglas M. (1992). "Anticipating instability in the Asia‐pacific region". The Washington Quarterly. 15 (3).
- The name "Liancourt Rocks" is provided once and no further discussion of the islands outside of one mention of its existence as a territorial dispute. The article discusses potential instability in the Asia-pacific region from a U.S. foreign policy perspective.
- Dokdo Cited by 24 Selden, Mark (2011-04-25). "Small Islets, Enduring Conflict: Dokdo, Korea-Japan Colonial Legacy and the United States". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. 9 (17).
- The article primarily uses "Dokdo", but mentions Takeshima once in the second paragraph where it states "Dokdo/Takeshima/Liancourt Rocks (hereafter Dokdo)" and in the image captions which state "Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks)"
- Tok-do Cited by 24 Valencia, Mark J. (1989-01-01). "Northeast Asia: Petroleum potential, jurisdictional claims, and international relations". Ocean Development & International Law. 20 (1).
- The article generally uses "Tok-do", although it alternates frequently with "Take-shima", and less commonly with "Liancourt Rocks". The article discusses territorial disputes in Northeast Asia with regard to the potential petroleum found in those areas.
- Dokdo/Takeshima Cited by 24 Hiwatari, Nobuhiro (2006-02-01). "Japan in 2005: Koizumi's Finest Hour". Asian Survey. 46 (1).
- The article uses "Dokdo/Takeshima" in the two times that the islands are mentioned. The article discusses various of aspects of Prime Minister Koizumi's government up to the 2005 Japanese general election.
- Dokdo Cited by 22 Raman, Gurusamy; Choi, Kyoung Su; Park, SeonJoo (2016-12-02). "Phylogenetic Relationships of the Fern Cyrtomium falcatum (Dryopteridaceae) from Dokdo Island Based on Chloroplast Genome Sequencing". Genes. 7 (12).
- Solely uses "Dokdo". No other terms are mentioned. That article discusses the genome sequencing of the sole fern species on the islands.
- Liancourt Rocks Cited by 21 O'Shea, Paul (2012-03-19). "Playing the Sovereignty Game: Understanding Japan's Territorial Disputes". University of Sheffield (Doctoral Thesis).
- Primarily uses "Liancourt Rocks", while using "Dokdo" and "Takeshima" to refer to the islands in the context of history/politics in South Korea and Japan respectively. This section of the doctoral doctoral thesis primarily discusses the rise of the modern-day political significance of the islands.
- Dokdo/Takeshima Cited by 21 Bowman, Garret (2013). "Why Now Is the Time to Resolve the Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute". Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. 46 (1).
- Primarily uses "Dokdo/Takeshima", whilst noting that the islets were once referred to as the "Liancourt Rocks" by Western explorers and colonial writers. The article argues that Japan and Korea should resolve the dispute in order to resolve other disputes that the two countries have with China and Russia.
- Dokdo/Takeshima Cited by 21 Japan's Border Issues: Pitfalls and Prospects Akihiro Iwashita (2016)
- This was the only source I was not able to get access to, if anyone else has access, it would be much appreciated. From the search function on Google Books, it appears that the book primarily refers to the islands as "Dokdo/Takeshima", but mentions "Liancourt Rocks" once as an international name.
- Dokdo Cited by 21 Kim, Chang Hwan; Park, Jae Woo; Lee, Myoung Hoon; Park, Chan Hong (2013-01-02). "Detailed Bathymetry and Submarine Terraces in the Coastal Area of the Dokdo Volcano in the Ulleung Basin, the East Sea (Sea of Japan)". Journal of Coastal Research.
- Solely uses "Dokdo". No other terms are mentioned. The article is a discussion of measurements of the sea floor around the islands.
- Dokdo/Takeshima Cited by 21 Cho, Jinman; Kim, HeeMin; Choi, Jun Young (2009-12-01). "The Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute between Korea and Japan: Understanding the Whole Picture". Pacific Focus. 24 (3).
- The article primarily uses "Dokdo/Takeshima", while dismissing the "Liancourt Rocks" name as false neutrality. The article discusses the rise of the islands' political status in Japan since the early 2000s and various efforts by the Japanese government to gain international recognition.
- Dokdo Cited by 20 Bong, Youngshik D (2013-04-01). "Built to last: The Dokdo territorial controversy. The baseline conditions in domestic politics and international security of Japan and South Korea". Memory Studies. 6 (2).
- The article primarily uses the term "Dokdo", but does mention Takeshima, by stating "the islands of Dokdo (known as Takeshima in Japan)". The article discusses the persistence of the issue and concludes that there is little likelihood of the dispute being resolved without a "critical rupture".
- Dokdo Cited by 20 Baek, Seung Ho; Lee, Minji; Kim, Yun-Bae (2018-02-01). "Spring phytoplankton community response to an episodic windstorm event in oligotrophic waters offshore from the Ulleungdo and Dokdo islands, Korea". Journal of Sea Research. 132: 1–14. doi:10.1016/j.seares.2017.11.003. ISSN 1385-1101.
- Solely uses "Dokdo". No other terms are mentioned. The article discusses a phytoplankton community around the island and its response following a windstorm.
Special cases
- Cited by 136 Sumi, Robert; Yasseri, Taha; Rung, Andr´s; Kornai, Andr´s; Kertesz, J´nos (2011-10-09). "Edit Wars in Wikipedia". 2011 IEEE Third International Conference on Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust and 2011 IEEE Third International Conference on Social Computing.
- This article discusses edit wars on Wikipedia and mentions this article (and thus the islands) once in this context.
- Cited by 34 Ekstrand, Michael D.; Riedl, John T. (2009-10-25). "rv you're dumb: identifying discarded work in Wiki article history". WikiSym '09: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (4).
- The article discusses discarded revisions on Wikipedia and provides this article as a case study of an edit war.[6]
- Cited by 23 Lee, Choong-Ki; Kim, Tae-Kyun; Mjelde, James W. (2016-01-02). "Comparison of preservation values between Internet and interview survey modes: the case of Dokdo, South Korea". Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. 59 (1). This article discusses the results of a study on the effectiveness of internet surveys and uses questions on "Dokdo" to South Koreans on the internet.
Given this evidence, several conclusions can be drawn.
- "Dokdo" is by far the most common name used in the English-language academic literature on the islands. In addition, in articles examining the islands from an international relations perspective (as opposed to that of domestic politics), it is disproportionately the name of choice, and when discussing the islands outside of the context of the territory dispute, the term "Dokdo" is practically universally used.
- "Liancourt Rocks" is an uncommon name for the subject and several references use it solely as a dated historical name for the islands. The name has sometimes been used in academic literature, but its use is surpassed by "Dokdo" and "Takeshima" by large margins. Its neutrality has been disputed by a number of articles and the last publication which has seriously considered "Liancourt Rocks" as a name for the islands has been more than a decade ago. In general, most of the usage of "Liancourt Rocks" dates back to the 1980s and 1990s, with the only 21st century source that seriously considers the name being O'Shea (2012).
- There is also evidence that suggests that this Wikipedia article's name has influenced the popularity of the "Liancourt Rocks" as a name for these islands.
- (Ekstrand and Riedl 2009) and (Sumi, Yasseri, et al. 2011) both mention this article in highly cited conference proceedings analyzing Wikipedia edit wars. The articles both use the name "Liancourt Rocks", citing the title of this article, to refer to the islands. I find it highly believable based on this that it is not unlikely, that Wikipedia's use of this article title has played a minor, but significant role in supporting the usage of the term "Liancourt Rocks" in recent years.
- I would also go further to argue, as expressed in (Cho, Kim, et al. 2009), Wikipedia's usage of "Liancourt Rocks" does not provide a neutral POV,[7] as this name provides legitimacy to far-right (a)historical scholarship that would count under WP:FRINGE. In addition (Cho, Kim, et al. 2009) further states, "Furthermore, since 2000, Japan has taken active measures to list the islet as Liancourt Rocks in the publications of foreign governments, and international organizations. As a result, currently the US CIA World Factbook, Wikipedia, and the Netsaber site all use the term, Liancourt Rocks, to refer to Dokdo/Takeshima."
Sorry for the long message. Cheers! :3 F4U (they/it) 15:22, 19 March 2023 (UTC)
Notes
- ^ For a total of 35 articles and 3 special cases outside of the scope of this move.
- ^ One Indonesian-language source and a number of Korean-language sources were disqualified under this criteria. (1: I had originally set the threshold of citations to be 10, but quickly realized that there would be too many sources for me to reasonably go through, thus I increased the number to 20. Combining the sources I had disqualified before increasing the threshold and those I disqualified afterwards, a total of 24 Korean-language articles were rejected. 2: These rejections were the result of Korean-language journal articles frequently publishing English-language abstracts without a corresponding English-language body).
- ^ One news article was removed under this criteria.
- ^ Citation counts are per Google Scholar.
- ^ I searched the terms "Dokdo", "Liancourt Rocks", and "Takeshima island(s)" (without quotation marks) into Google Scholar and included every result (with the exception of usage which does not refer to the islands) with 20 or more citations from other sources, until I reached 10 consecutive search results with no results that met the criteria. Articles that use an alternative spelling of Dokdo (ie. "Dok Islands" or "Tokdo") have only been included as a result of searches for "Liancourt Rocks" or "Takeshima". Please inform me of any mistakes or omissions.
- ^ The fact that this Wikipedia article has been discussed twice in this context by highly cited academic literature is unimaginably funny to me.
- ^ I've seen some terrible claims in the archives discussing how the article needs to provide both "KPOV" and "JPOV", when this is a discussion about territories that have been generally accepted to have been illegally annexed as part of the brutal Japanese colonization of South Korea.