Impact and paybacks of biomedical research findings in Malaysia 2005–2015

Abstract

Background:Impact in research encompasses health, economic, and cultural benefits beyond adding to the knowledge base. Funders are under immense pressure to be accountable for the paybacks from funded research. Aims and objectives:The aim of this study was to look into the impact of funded biomedical research between the years 2005 and 2015 in Malaysia from the aspects of knowledge production, research targeting and capacity building, as well as health system policy and decision making. Methods:This study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods research design. Biomedical projects related to breast cancer, coronary heart disease, and dengue, funded by the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), and Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) between the years 2005 and 2015, were included. Findings:From the questionnaire responses (n=58), on average each funded project managed to produce two outputs and one higher degree student. More than half (61.4%) of the funded projects led to subsequent future research. However, low citations in systematic reviews (10.3%), health policies (6.9%), and clinical practice guidelines (5.2%) were reported. In-depth interviews with the key opinion leaders also saw that most of the local research findings were found to be irrelevant to be adopted into policies by the policymakers. Discussion and conclusions:Paybacks on knowledge production as well as research targeting and capacity building had been achieved, but impact on health system policy and decision making had not been well attained, due to the lack of relevant research findings needed by the policymakers.