[A today's trend of Japanese Council of Certification for Physicians--the current status in Japan].

Certification systems in Japanese medical associations basically involve review of educational background and experience by their own peers. The Japanese council for certification for physicians was built in 1981 to promote the understanding of certification for specialist and to ensure the system of certification. A tripartite commission, composed of Japan Medical Association, Japanese Council of Scientific Associations and Japanese Council for Certification for Physicians, was settled to promote the authorization of these certification systems. The commonly acceptable view is that certification has a number of valuable agreements including 1) examination may form a component of the certification system, 2) a renewal program is necessary, 3) the renewal program should be linked with an educational program of Japan Medical Associations, 4) post graduate education system should be included in the renewal program. Under these agreements, tripartite commission will be starting the authorization scheme of certified physicians in each medical association. Herein, we present a historical review of the Japanese councils of certification of physicians and authorization program of certified physicians including a brief discussion.