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Effects of oxygen on glass formation in the Fe 73 Mo 3.0 C 7.0 Si 3.3 B 5.0 P 8.7 bulk metallic glass were studied in detail. Surprisingly, it was found that a critical level of oxygen is effective in enhancing the glass-forming ability of the current Fe-based bulk metallic glass due to the facts that (i) oxygen can increase the crystallization resistance via suppressing the precipitation of the competitive primary phase and (ii) oxygen can stabilize the glass-forming liquid as manifested by the decrease in the liquidus temperature. However, excess oxygen additions will destabilize the liquid and induce the formation of more stable oxygen-containing crystalline phase, thus deteriorating the glass-forming ability.