The contribution of ethnic groups to Malaysian scientific output, 1982–2014, and the effects of the new economic policy

Grant Lewison (), Sameer Kumar (), Chan-Yuan Wong (), Philip Roe () and Richard Webber ()
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Grant Lewison: King’s College London, Guy’s Hospital
Sameer Kumar: University of Malaya
Chan-Yuan Wong: University of Malaya
Philip Roe: King’s College London, Guy’s Hospital
Richard Webber: King’s College London

Scientometrics, 2016, vol. 109, issue 3, No 23, 1877-1893

Abstract: Abstract Malaysia has three main ethnic communities: Chinese, Indians and Malays. At independence in 1957, the Chinese dominated commercial life, and this led to ethnic tensions and finally riots. As a result in 1969 Malaysia introduced a “New Economic Policy” (NEP) to promote Malays in all areas of activity, and in particular to assist them to obtain basic and higher education. We examined the scientific outputs from Malaysia between 1982 and 2014 and classified the names of Malaysian researchers into one of these three groups and two others. There was a major increase in Malay participation in research, which has risen from 20 % of researchers in 1982–1984 to 65 % in 2012–2014, with corresponding declines in the percentages of Chinese and Indian authors, although their absolute numbers have increased because Malaysian scientific output has increased so rapidly in the last 10 years. The huge increase in Malay researchers contrasts with their presence in the Malaysian population which has remained stable at about 50 % since 1969.

Keywords: Ethnicity; Onomastics; Economic policy; Malaysia; Scientific output (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11192-016-2139-3

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