The Science Council of Japan will make clear its position on military-linked research — possibly overturning a decades-long ban — by early next year, the academic group said Friday.

A committee of 15 academics from fields ranging from physics, political science to law held its first meeting to discuss whether to revise statements released by the council in 1950 and 1967 stating that the group will "never engage in military research."

Over the next several months, the committee will hold five or six sessions to discuss how they should assess changes in the security and technology environment, how to define dual-use research, how studies tied to national security would impact academic transparency and how inflows of defense-related funding would alter the overall nature of research.