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Afghanistan vs Bolivia

On research quality in 2022-now, Bolivia ranks #88 in the world and Afghanistan #106, of 189 countries. Afghanistan stands higher in 2 of the 11 fields both publish in, Bolivia in 9.

Research profiles alike: 0.84very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Afghanistan

World rank, 2022-now
#106
#135 all time
Works, 2022-now
4.5k
fractional
Top-10% rate
9.0%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
86%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Transportation, Political Science and International Relations, Chemical Health and Safety.

Bolivia

World rank, 2022-now
#88
#84 all time
Works, 2022-now
6.5k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
62%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: General Social Sciences, Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology, Horticulture.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Afghanistan leads on 6 of 9 measures: excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, citations per work, open access, international co-authorship and growth. Bolivia leads on 2 of 9 measures: research quality and output. The two are level on institutions in the world top 100.

Afghanistan 61 level2 Bolivia
  1. #106Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#88
  2. 0.80×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.67×
  3. 4.5kOutputfractional works, 2022-now6.5k
  4. 9.0%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited5.9%
  5. 4.7Citations per workall time, per fractional work4.5
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 86%Open accessof its works free to read, all time62%
  8. 34%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time33%
  9. +155%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change-2%

A rank is drawn as its standing: the longer the bar, the nearer the top. Anything else is drawn against the larger of the two, and two values a hair apart are called level. Quality, excellence and the top-10% rate are explained in the methodology.

Who leads in each field?

Afghanistan stands higher in 2 of 11 fields, Bolivia in 9. Bolivia leads most in Medicine (#78 against #115); Afghanistan leads most in Computer Science (#94 against #108). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Afghanistan 29 Bolivia
  1. #95Agricultural and Biological Sciences#67
  2. -Arts and Humanities#43
  3. -Business, Management and Accounting#84
  4. #94Computer Science#108
  5. -Economics, Econometrics and Finance#88
  6. #99Engineering#104
  7. -Environmental Science#75
  8. -Health Professions#80
  9. #115Medicine#78
  10. -Psychology#73
  11. #89Social Sciences#60

Standing is the percentile of world rank within each field, 2022-now; the printed number is the rank itself. A dash means the field is too small there to rank. How sides are compared.

The numbers behind each field

Click a heading to sort. The side that does better in a pair of columns is shaded: a lower rank, a higher rate, more works.

Field Afghanistan rankBolivia rank Afghanistan top 10%Bolivia top 10% Afghanistan worksBolivia works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #95 #67 8.9% 4.6% 317 478
Arts and Humanities - #43 - 9.3% - 384
Business, Management and Accounting - #84 - 5.9% - 256
Computer Science #94 #108 13.5% 4.8% 260 378
Economics, Econometrics and Finance - #88 - 4.3% - 284
Engineering #99 #104 9.0% 3.6% 416 249
Environmental Science - #75 - 6.5% - 423
Health Professions - #80 - 5.2% - 347
Medicine #115 #78 6.5% 4.0% 690 823
Psychology - #73 - 5.5% - 241
Social Sciences #89 #60 10.4% 7.7% 1.3k 2.1k

What is each known for?

The keywords that describe each side's research, by fractional works in 2022-now and weighted toward what it does more of than the world.

Afghanistan

▲ more of its work than of the world's◆ about the world's share▼ less than the world's
All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Security309▲ 8.7×24 topics
  2. Epidemiology296▲ 1.39×126 topics
  3. Conflict293▲ 34×9 topics
  4. Central Asia260▲ 69×4 topics
  5. Nation-Building252▲ 89×3 topics
  6. Reconstruction252▲ 28×6 topics
  7. State-Building251▲ 133×2 topics
  8. Afghanistan249▲ 196×1 topic
  9. Pakistan249▲ 196×1 topic
  10. Globalization244▲ 2.3×91 topics
  11. Ethnicity210▲ 11×14 topics
  12. Culture207▲ 7.4×16 topics
  13. History204▲ 5.5×20 topics
  14. Climate Change202▲ 1.39×97 topics
  15. Literature201▲ 6.9×23 topics
  16. Philosophy198▲ 8.4×13 topics
  17. Islam191▲ 17×5 topics
  18. Social Influence190▲ 17×3 topics
  19. Science189▲ 14×3 topics
  20. Malay Language188▲ 25×1 topic
  21. Sharia Law188▲ 25×1 topic
  22. Sustainable Development178▲ 2.1×76 topics
  23. Economic Security164▲ 14×7 topics
  24. Legal Regulation162▲ 14×7 topics
  25. Strategic Planning158▲ 20×3 topics
  26. Design158▲ 18×4 topics
  27. Modernization157▲ 16×4 topics
  28. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles157▲ 16×4 topics
  29. International Trade Law156▲ 22×2 topics
  30. Foresight156▲ 22×2 topics
  31. Air Force155▲ 25×1 topic
  32. Warfare155▲ 25×1 topic
  33. Public Oversight155▲ 24×1 topic
  34. Transport Policy155▲ 24×1 topic
  35. Human Rights133▲ 2.4×55 topics
  36. Teacher Training107▲ 3.3×16 topics
  37. Islamic Education87▲ 4.9×4 topics
  38. Religious Education68▲ 7.9×3 topics
  39. Madrasa66▲ 18×1 topic
  40. Muslim Students66▲ 18×1 topic

Bolivia

▲ more of its work than of the world's◆ about the world's share▼ less than the world's
All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Education727▲ 5.7×111 topics
  2. Globalization594▲ 4.1×115 topics
  3. Sustainability422▲ 2.3×101 topics
  4. Latin America394▲ 28×22 topics
  5. Epidemiology371▲ 1.26×133 topics
  6. Public Health362▲ 3.4×66 topics
  7. Climate Change362▲ 1.80×107 topics
  8. Innovation357▲ 4.7×59 topics
  9. Human Rights338▲ 4.5×66 topics
  10. Sustainable Development301▲ 2.6×72 topics
  11. COVID-19273▲ 2.8×27 topics
  12. Health Promotion249▲ 11×17 topics
  13. E-Learning247▲ 3.5×21 topics
  14. Digital Marketing243▲ 8.5×5 topics
  15. Educational Technology241▲ 2.8×36 topics
  16. Knowledge Management238▲ 5.8×29 topics
  17. Pedagogy216▲ 5.8×25 topics
  18. Teacher Training208▲ 4.6×24 topics
  19. Small and Medium Enterprises200▲ 15×9 topics
  20. Urban Development195▲ 7.5×15 topics
  21. Nutrition193▲ 5.9×15 topics
  22. Communication190▲ 8.2×18 topics
  23. Social Responsibility190▲ 11×8 topics
  24. Ethics186▲ 5.0×47 topics
  25. Innovation Ecosystems186▲ 25×4 topics
  26. Distance Learning181▲ 7.1×11 topics
  27. Economic Impact181▲ 4.6×10 topics
  28. Social Movements180▲ 8.2×28 topics
  29. Community Participation169▲ 6.5×13 topics
  30. Competitiveness169▲ 29×6 topics
  31. Globalization Effects165▲ 32×2 topics
  32. Inclusive Education163▲ 6.1×17 topics
  33. Tourism Management161▲ 31×2 topics
  34. City Branding161▲ 35×1 topic
  35. Psychopharmacology Education161▲ 35×1 topic
  36. Rural Development156▲ 6.1×20 topics
  37. Digital Divide138▲ 7.3×7 topics
  38. Online Education134▲ 9.3×6 topics
  39. ICT132▲ 13×4 topics
  40. University Students131▲ 32×2 topics

Size is fractional works in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of the side's work against its share of the world's. Each word links to the topic it comes from most.

How has their output grown?

Bolivia has out-published Afghanistan every year since 1980.

still counting1k2kBolivia1,948 in 2025Afghanistan1,716 in 20251990200020102020

Fractional works per year.

Their share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share, because all of science grows. Each line is a side as a percentage of every work published that year.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Bolivia0.033% in 2025Afghanistan0.029% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

The share of each side's works, year by year, that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. The average of all institutions is 10.0% (why not 10%).

still counting5%10%15%Afghanistan8.5% in 2025Bolivia6.5% in 2025200020102020

A year with under 1% of the side's peak output is left out: a rate over a handful of papers says nothing. The latest years are still being cited.

Who holds more of the world's best institutions?

A country's average quality and the number of institutions it holds at the very top can disagree, and both are worth knowing. The counts are nested: an institution in the top 50 is also in the top 100.

Afghanistan 05 level0 Bolivia
  1. 0In the world top 500
  2. 0In the top 1000
  3. 0In the top 5000
  4. 0In the top 1,0000
  5. #51Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#51

Institutions ranked on research quality, 2022-now. Elite capacity counts a country's institutions by their worldwide rank, weighted so a place at #1 counts for more than one at #480.

Which publishes more research, Afghanistan or Bolivia?

Bolivia publishes 1.5× as much research as Afghanistan in 2022-now (6.5k against 4.5k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Afghanistan or Bolivia?

9.0% of Afghanistan's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 5.9% for Bolivia.

Is Afghanistan or Bolivia growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +155% against 2018-21 for Afghanistan, and -2% for Bolivia.

Which has more open access research, Afghanistan or Bolivia?

86% of Afghanistan's research is free to read, against 62% of Bolivia's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Afghanistan or Bolivia?

Afghanistan holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Bolivia 0; in the top 1,000 it is 0 against 0.

Which institutions lead in each country?

The highest-ranked institutions on each side on research quality, 2022-now. The percentage is each institution's own top-10% rate: the share of its works that are among the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. Every figure stands alone, so they do not add up to 100%.

Afghanistan

  1. 1Kabul University8.3% top 10% · 1.2k works
  2. 2Kandahar University12.7% top 10% · 207 works
  3. 3Herat University10.0% top 10% · 340 works
  4. 4Kabul Education University7.5% top 10% · 249 works
  5. 5Nangarhar University8.9% top 10% · 332 works
  6. 6Kardan University13.9% top 10% · 145 works

Bolivia

  1. 1Universidad de Los Andes7.3% top 10% · 1.3k works
  2. 2Universidad Mayor de San Andrés4.4% top 10% · 775 works
  3. 3Universidad La Salle3.3% top 10% · 373 works
  4. 4Universidad Mayor de San Simón4.7% top 10% · 318 works
  5. 5Universidad Privada del Valle3.2% top 10% · 288 works
  6. 6Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar9.4% top 10% · 346 works

The number is the rank inside the country. The track on each row is the top-10% rate; the tick is the average of all institutions, 10.0% (how it is set): teal above it, red below. The ranking is the quality score, which compares the rate with what each institution's own topics predict and adds a small reward for size, so the rates do not fall in order.

Who are the top researchers on each side?

The most cited researchers on each side, among those ranked.

Afghanistan

  1. 1 Muhammad Haroon Stanikzai #146,569 worldwide 9.4k citations · 116 works
  2. 2 Ahmad Shah Irshad #157,819 worldwide 648 citations · 45 works
  3. 3 Sajid Ullah #165,934 worldwide 561 citations · 24 works
  4. 4 Sayeed Naqibullah Orfan #191,532 worldwide 523 citations · 37 works
  5. 5 Abdul Qawi Noori #209,787 worldwide 484 citations · 30 works

Bolivia

  1. 1 Vincent Antoine Vos #14,733 worldwide 10k citations · 87 works
  2. 2 Juan Carlos Licona #37,128 worldwide 7.1k citations · 71 works
  3. 3 Alejandro Araujo‐Murakami #44,646 worldwide 5.4k citations · 47 works
  4. 4 Marisol Toledo #55,944 worldwide 10k citations · 97 works
  5. 5 Alejandro Araujo‐Murakami #59,927 worldwide 4.2k citations · 42 works