and Gakushu (Learning), will be halted by the end of this fiscal year through March, it said.

Known as pioneers of elementary school-level magazines that have issues for each grade, Kagaku, which was first published in 1957, focused on math and science, while Gakushu, since 1946, covered Japanese and social studies.

The two series together had some 6.7 million copies printed in the peak years around the late 1970s after gaining popularity through attached experiment kits, but the print runs have dropped to a 10th of that in recent years, according to their publisher.

The last issue of Kagaku, the March edition, will hit the stores in February, and that of Gakushu is the winter edition released this month.

Decline in readership has taken its toll on similar magazines, with leading publisher Shogakukan Inc. in October announcing folding Shogaku Gonensei (Fifth Graders) and Shogaku Rokunensei (Sixth Graders) magazines.