Publishers and bookstores are considering replacing bar codes on books with ultra-thin integrated circuits combined with flat antennas, called IC tags, to prevent shoplifting and facilitate market research.

IC tag makers hope introduction of the technology into the publishing community will boost their business, according to industry officials.

Japanese publishers print 6 billion books a year.

The IC tag technology involves a special radio-emitting scanner that reads and writes data on IC tags as well as monitors the movements of tag-bearing books.

The IC tags would allow bookstores to verify whether shoppers have paid for their books and make conducting inventories much easier, by allowing boxes of books to be scanned in one stroke.

The technology would also enable bookstores and publishers to examine the popularity of each title.

A research committee made up of representatives from the publishing and book retailing industries, led by Shueisha Inc. official Mitsuo Okuwaki, created an advisory body in April. It has representatives from 90 companies.

It started looking into the state of book warehouses this month in preparation for IC experiments next year.

Publishers and bookstores will still have to overcome technological challenges, such as holding down the costs of attaching IC tags, they said.

"If the combined costs of an IC tag and that of fastening an IC tag to a book can be limited to 5 yen or less, it is worth introducing IC tags industrywide," said Shoichi Nagai of Kodansha Ltd.