Recognizing the Malaysian Research Stars 2017

Clarivate Analytics produced a report to provide an overview of the scientific and innovation output of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in 2016 using Web of Science, Derwent World Patents Index and other sources of Clarivate data. The data showed that Malaysia is a rapidly growing country in terms of scientific output – almost five times in the past 10 years. The full report can be found here.

Against this backdrop of high output growth, there is also evidence of Malaysia’s growing research quality. Highly Cited Papers, defined by Clarivate Analytics Essential Science Indicators as the most highly cited 1% of all papers published worldwide in that year and subject category, grew more than eight-fold from a mere 18 papers in 2006 to 149 top papers in 2016. Other than particle physics and clinical medicine studies in which Malaysian researchers participate as part of large collaborative groups, researchers in Malaysia also produced many highly cited papers in Engineering, Chemistry and Agricultural Sciences. Many of these papers are focused nanomaterials, biofuels and the use of agricultural waste. Such scholarly expertise provides a pool of top talent to support the growth of Malaysia’s National Key Economic Areas.

As part of the Wawasan 2020 plan (Vision 2020), Malaysia had set aggressive goals to establish a scientific and progressive society by year 2020. More recently, Transformasi Nasional 2050 plan (National Transformation 50) was announced and innovation will be a key component of the national initiative. As such, it is crucial for Malaysia to continue developing its scientific talent.

To recognize and further encourage the outstanding research talent in Malaysia, Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and Clarivate Analytics collaborated again for the third successive year and jointly presented the Malaysia’s Research Star Award 2017 (known previously as Malaysia’s Rising Star Award in 2016 and 2015). The final nine awardees for 2017 are selected by a special steering committee. This year’s Malaysia’s Research Star Award were presented in five categories:

Frontier Researcher: 3 awardees

  • Prof. Dr. Wu Ta Yeong, Monash University Malaysia
  • Ong Hwai Chyuan, University Of Malaya
  • Dr. Lean Hooi Hooi, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Women in Science : 1 awardee

  • Dr. Suzana Yusup, Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Economic Impact Researcher Award: 3 awardees

  • Ir. Dr. Mariatti Jaafar @ Mustapha, Universiti Sains Malaysia
  • Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Shukry Abdul Majid, Universiti Malaysia Perlis
  • Dr. Mohd Ali Hassan, Universiti Putra Malaysia

Young Researcher Award: 1 awardee

  • Prof. Dr. Chai Siang Piao, Monash University Malaysia

Hot Review Paper Award: 1 awardee

  • Prof. Dr. Juan Joon Ching, University Of Malaya

 

New award categories in 2017

The Women in Science Award and Economic Impact Researcher Award are new categories introduced this year while the 2017 Hot Review Paper Award replaces the 2016 Highly Cited Review Paper. The awardees span a variety of research disciplines such as engineering, agricultural sciences, materials science, chemistry, social sciences and environment/ecology.

As with previous awards in 2015 and 2016, the data used for Malaysia’s Research Star Award 2017 is based on citations of their published research papers in quality international journals as indexed in Clarivate Analytics Web of Science, the world’s most trusted source of multidisciplinary citation database for research discovery and analytics.
The data used for Malaysia’s Research Star Award 2017 is based on the Highly Cited Papers extracted from the Essential Science Indicators from 2012 to 2016.

Only reprint authors who are Malaysians (except for the Outstanding Young Researcher’s Award) are considered for this award. The reprint author is the main contact person for the paper and is usually the principal investigator leading the study.

Prof Dr Suzana Yusup, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, was the sole award recipient of the 2017 Malaysia’s Research Star Award – Women in Science category in the engineering field, based on Clarivate Analytics Web of Science data.

Said Dr Suzana Yusup, “I feel very honored to receive the 2017 Women in Science Award from MoHE and Clarivate Analytics. This will motivate me to continue my research in the conversion of biomass into fuels and chemicals, a form of renewable energy. I think this award is an excellent platform to recognize women researchers in Malaysia and I hope it will inspire them to pursue their passion and dedication for research.”

Highly Cited Researchers 2017

At the awards ceremony, we took the opportunity to also honor the globally recognized Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers 2016 from Malaysian institutions. The full methodology for this global recognition can be found here. For years 2014 and 2015, three Highly Cited researchers from Malaysia was recognized. This number has doubled for the year 2016. This is yet another indication of the growing research impact of Malaysian institutions in recent years.

Here’s the list:
1. Prof. Ir. Dr. Siti Kartom Kamarudin, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2. Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Wan Ramli Wan Daud, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
3. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Biswajeet Pradhan, Universiti Putra Malaysia
4. Prof. Dr. Abdul Latif Ahmad, Universiti Sains Malaysia
5. Prof. Dr. Bassim H. Hameed, Universiti Sains Malaysia
6. Prof. Dr. Abd Karim Alias, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Click here to read the press release