PUTRAJAYA, 1 November 2016 - The Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail is urging for more prolific authors and publishers to come forward and strive for the University and the country.

Asma said all the efforts put in and recognition being accorded will surely show to the world what we are capable of doing, as the world needs to be aware and informed of our capabilities.

"The recognition given by the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) is based on evaluations conducted by third parties such as Clarivate Analytics and Elsevier, and Alhamdulillah, USM has received 9 recognitions and I am hoping for more to come next year," said Asma when met at the Malaysia's Rising Star Award (MRSA) and Acknowledgement of CREAM Status 2016 Ceremony here recently.

"Once again, congratulations and well done to all and do maintain the excellence," added Asma.

MRSA is the acknowledgement and presentation of awards to those who have excelled in local scientific research leading to impactful research outcomes and scholarly writings, which are presented in three categories, namely the Young Researcher, Frontier Researcher and Highly Cited Review.

USM received two awards, which are the Young Researcher through the lecturer from the USM School of Chemical Engineering, Professor Dr. Lee Keat Teong and the Highly Cited Review through Professor Dr. Wan Saime Wan Ngah from the USM School of Chemical Sciences.

The highest recognition, which is Malaysia's Highly Cited Researchers Named Amongst the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds 2015, was awarded to the lecturer from the USM School of Chemical Engineering, Professor Dr. Bassim H. Hameed, alongside two other lecturers from other institutions.

The awards were presented by the Minister of Higher Education, Dato' Seri Idris Jusoh.

According to the Deputy Director-General of Higher Education (IPTA) from the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) Datin Paduka Ir. Dr. Siti Hamisah Tapsir, the strategic cooperation between MoHE and two international indexing agencies has achieved a great impact in highlighting the publication of scholarly writings, as well as in increasing the visibility of Malaysian researchers on the global stage.

"I believe that with the stewardship of the new USM Vice-Chancellor, more young researchers would be pushed to the fore and polished towards excellence in the future," said Siti Hamisah, who is also on the USM Board of Governors.

In the same ceremony, 6 journals published by Penerbit USM (USM Press) and headed by editors who are also lecturers at USM received the CREAM (Current Research In Malaysia) status.

Among them is the Bulletin of the Malaysian Mathematical Sciences Society, being listed for the second time in a row since the CREAM status was introduced in 2015 as a journal which has continued to excel and being indexed in the Web of Science (WoS).

Another two journals to be listed under the category of Scopus are the Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF) (Editor in-Chief - Professor Dato’ Dr. Ruhani Ali) and International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies (Editor in-Chief - Professor Dr. Ooi Keat Gin).

Three other journals which also made the list into the category of Potential Journal are the Journal of Physical Science (Editor in-Chief - Professor Dr. Abdul Latif Ahmad), Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences (MJMS) (Editor in-Chief - Professor Dato’ Dr. Jafri Malin Abdullah) and the Journal of Construction in Developing Countries (Editor in-Chief - Professor Sr. Dr. Abdul Rashid Abdul Aziz).

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin