The Malaysia Open Science Platform (MOSP) is anticipated to bridge the gap between research, innovation and commercialisation to enhance Malaysia’s innovation capabilities. In addition, the practice of open science will be an essential building block in the R&D ecosystem that will pave a new future for the research landscape in Malaysia.
Launching the MOSP, Deputy Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Sri Haji Fadillah Haji Yusof said, “Through MOSP, Malaysia will be able to expedite research and accelerate solutions even with little research and development of human resources, foster multidisciplinary and international collaboration and save resources by reducing duplication and re-funding of similar research projects.”
MOSP, which can be accessed via mosp.gov.my, is a raw research data-sharing platform initiated by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI). The pilot initiative has been managed by ASM since 2019. Strategically, ASM has formed the Malaysia Open Science Alliance (MOSA), which includes MOSTI, MOHE, NRECC, MOH, MAMPU, FRIM, NIH, and five research universities, namely Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
YAB Dato’ Sri Haji Fadillah added, “MOSP seeks to position Malaysia as a leader in open science and innovation, which can contribute positively to the country’s overall development and competitiveness in the global economy. MOSTI reported that during the previous APEC Meeting in the USA, Malaysia, through ASM, proposed an APEC Open Science Alliance, which has sparked interest in the APEC economies for open science collaborations.”
“Meanwhile, the Guidelines of Open Science for Public Funded Research is formed to ensure data sharing is done safely for the comfort of all research communities. The guideline demonstrates research data management practices that promote the accessibility and findability of data, encouraging others to understand it and increasing its reusability,” YAB Dato’ Sri Haji Fadillah highlighted in the event organised by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM).
Currently, through MOSP, ten research fields are showcased on the platform, which includes biological, chemical and mathematical sciences; physics, engineering and material science; agricultural, veterinary and food sciences; computer science, information technology and telecommunications; medical and health sciences; climate, environment and biodiversity; energy; business, finance and economics; language and education and arts and social sciences.
MOSP is already connected to the Open Government Data portal by MAMPU and Raw Database for Research and Science (RADARS) by the Malaysian Science and Technology Information Center (MASTIC). Presently, MOSP holds more than one thousand research data sets and is moving towards connecting more repositories in the future, such as the Malaysia Biodiversity Information System (MyBIS) and the National Institutes of Health Data Repository System. In June 2023, MOSP will be recognised for the Malaysia Recognition of Excellence organised by OpenGov Asia.
In the same event, YAB Dato’ Sri Haji Fadillah Haji Yusof also conferred the merit certificate for Data Stewardship on Open Science and appreciated Data Contributors of MOSP. Currently, MOSP has a total of 242 Data Stewards, most of them consisting of librarians nationwide. The Data Stewards complete the open science ecosystem by supporting research data management, access to open science toolkits, and information literacy for researchers to share their research data following the Findable, Accessible, Inter-Operable and Reusable (FAIR) principle and magnifying the research impact for all.
