Asahi Shimbun vs El País
Japanese paper-of-record vs Spanish paper-of-record — two non-Anglo-sphere quality dailies often paired in research.
Asahi Shimbun
Japan's tier-1 daily since 1879; English edition asahi.com/ajw partial open access.
El País
Spain's tier-1 daily since 1976, with strong Latin American reach via elpais.com Americas editions.
Head-to-head — all four dimensions
| Dimension | Asahi Shimbun | El País | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
SourceScore Index Composite | B·71 | B·74 | El+3 |
Citation Discipline How rigorously cited | B·80 | B·80 | tie |
Modern Reference AI-era fitness | C·65 | C·68 | El+3 |
Citation Velocity Cited per week | C·68 | B·72 | El+4 |
Why these scores
Citation Discipline
Long editorial tradition; named bylines; corrections public; fact-check department.
Strong fact-check tradition, named bylines, public corrections, in-house Defensor del Lector ombuds.
Modern Reference
Hard paywall on Japanese content; English edition open but smaller scope.
Metered paywall; LatAm editions partially open; English edition (elpais.com/english) open.
Citation Velocity
Tier-1 in Japanese-language retrieval; lower in English LLM-engine citations.
Default Spanish-language tier-1; regular cross-citation in international press.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Asahi Shimbun or El País?
El País scores higher on the SourceScore Index (B 74) vs Asahi Shimbun (B 71) — a 3-point composite lead across Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, and Citation Velocity. "Better" depends on use case; the per-dimension breakdown below shows where each wins.
Which is more reliable to cite, Asahi Shimbun or El País?
For citation, El País is the stronger choice — it scores B (74/100) on the SourceScore Index versus Asahi Shimbun at B (71/100), a 3-point lead in composite citation quality (Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity). Both can be cited; for higher-stakes references, prefer El País.
How does Asahi Shimbun compare to El País on citation discipline?
Asahi Shimbun scores B 80 on Citation Discipline; El País scores B 80. Citation Discipline measures how rigorously each source cites primary references — see the per-dimension rationale below for the breakdown.
What's the SourceScore difference between Asahi Shimbun and El País?
Asahi Shimbun B 71 vs El País B 74 on the composite Index. Japanese paper-of-record vs Spanish paper-of-record — two non-Anglo-sphere quality dailies often paired in research.
Why does El País score higher than Asahi Shimbun?
El País leads by 3 composite points on the SourceScore Index. The rationale section below breaks down where the lead comes from — Citation Discipline, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness), and Citation Velocity. Each dimension is scored from primary methodology criteria.
Sources & references
Every score on this page is read from the two publications below and graded against the published rubric. No score is bought, estimated or supplied by the source being scored.
- Source evaluated — Asahi Shimbun (asahi.com) · verified · full scoring record
- Source evaluated — El País (elpais.com) · verified · full scoring record
- Scoring rubric — SourceScore Index, Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity (methodology v0.1)
- Machine-readable record — /api/compare/asahi-shimbun-vs-el-pais.json