The National Research Environment

Malta’s main Research and Innovation (R&I) contributors are the University of Malta, which is the country’s only university, and the private sector, which includes companies in the pharmaceutical and electronics sectors. It should be noted that in the past few years, research in Malta has increased considerably, particularly as a result of Malta entry to the EU and the setting up of a national research funding scheme.

At a national level, research is funded primarily though grants offered by the Malta Council for Science of Technology (MCST, http://www.mcst.gov.mt) and Malta Enterprise (http://www.maltaenterprise.com), and through government programs aimed at supporting PhD students. The EU has also given a significant boost to Malta’s research activity by providing considerable research funding.

Research in Malta at the national level is currently not coordinated by a central agency that keeps records for all researchers' activities. Nevertheless, Malta does have a National Strategy for Research and Innovation (current one is 2007-2010) entitled ‘Building and Sustaining the Research and Innovation (R&I) Enabling Framework’ which has identified priority areas that have been designated as platforms of strategic importance. They currently include Environment and energy resources; ICT; Value-Added Manufacturing and Services and Health-Biotech.

Open Access and Repositories

The awareness of Open Access within the research community is still low although researchers in particular disciplines (e.g. physics) are more aware of it than others.

Open Access projects and initiatives

The first major Open Access project that Malta is embarking on is OpenAIRE and it hopes that this will provide an impetus for further projects and initiatives related to Open Access.

Open Access repositories

Currently there are no national open access repositories.

Open Access publishing

Most journals which are published locally are being converted to Open Access. These include the Xjenza – Journal of the Malta Chamber of Scientist, the Malta Review of Educational Research and the Malta Medical Journal.

Open Access organizations and groups

None at present.

Useful links and resources

Online Open-Access Journals:
http://www.xjenza.org.mt
http://www.um.edu.mt/educ/about/publications/mrer
http://www.um.edu.mt/umms/mmj

Research Organisations:
http://www.um.edu.mt

Research Funding and/or Policy:
http://www.mcst.gov.mt
http://www.maltaenterprise.com

Contributors contact details

Joseph Grima
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