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Afghanistan vs Kuwait

On research quality in 2022-now, Kuwait ranks #104 in the world and Afghanistan #106, of 189 countries. Afghanistan stands higher in 2 of the 12 fields both publish in, Kuwait in 10.

Research profiles alike: 0.22somewhat alike 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.

Kuwait

World rank, 2022-now
#104
#137 all time
Works, 2022-now
9.9k
fractional
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
40%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Ocean Engineering, Microbiology, Numerical Analysis.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Kuwait leads on 4 of 9 measures: research quality, output, top-10% rate and citations per work. Afghanistan leads on 3 of 9 measures: open access, international co-authorship and growth. The two are level on excellence for its fields and institutions in the world top 100.

Afghanistan 32 level4 Kuwait
  1. #106Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#104
  2. 0.80×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.82×
  3. 4.5kOutputfractional works, 2022-now9.9k
  4. 9.0%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited10.3%
  5. 4.7Citations per workall time, per fractional work14.4
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 86%Open accessof its works free to read, all time40%
  8. 34%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time32%
  9. +155%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+33%

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 12 fields, Kuwait in 10. Kuwait leads most in Engineering (#74 against #99); Afghanistan leads most in Social Sciences (#89 against #125). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Afghanistan 210 Kuwait
  1. #95Agricultural and Biological Sciences-
  2. -Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#86
  3. -Business, Management and Accounting#82
  4. #94Computer Science#86
  5. -Economics, Econometrics and Finance#92
  6. #99Engineering#74
  7. -Environmental Science#96
  8. -Health Professions#87
  9. -Materials Science#68
  10. #115Medicine#106
  11. -Psychology#89
  12. #89Social Sciences#125

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 rankKuwait rank Afghanistan top 10%Kuwait top 10% Afghanistan worksKuwait works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #95 - 8.9% - 317 -
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology - #86 - 7.9% - 375
Business, Management and Accounting - #82 - 17.1% - 408
Computer Science #94 #86 13.5% 14.0% 260 812
Economics, Econometrics and Finance - #92 - 13.9% - 243
Engineering #99 #74 9.0% 9.7% 416 2k
Environmental Science - #96 - 9.2% - 492
Health Professions - #87 - 11.5% - 214
Materials Science - #68 - 9.9% - 277
Medicine #115 #106 6.5% 7.2% 690 2.2k
Psychology - #89 - 11.3% - 268
Social Sciences #89 #125 10.4% 11.3% 1.3k 1.1k

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

Kuwait

▲ 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. Epidemiology571▲ 1.25×135 topics
  2. Machine Learning541▲ 1.42×94 topics
  3. Deep Learning396◆ 1.00×82 topics
  4. Sustainability275◆ 0.98×91 topics
  5. Renewable Energy266▲ 1.60×49 topics
  6. Inflammation250◆ 1.03×83 topics
  7. Education215◆ 1.09×74 topics
  8. Environmental Impact214◆ 1.09×58 topics
  9. Treatment212▲ 1.52×51 topics
  10. Heat Transfer211▲ 3.8×19 topics
  11. Healthcare208▲ 1.59×26 topics
  12. Nanoparticles202▲ 1.39×43 topics
  13. Diagnosis194▲ 1.82×41 topics
  14. COVID-19184▲ 1.23×32 topics
  15. Cardiovascular Disease180▲ 1.38×38 topics
  16. Optimization174▲ 3.4×26 topics
  17. Supply Chain Management171▲ 1.66×23 topics
  18. Energy Efficiency168▲ 1.58×42 topics
  19. Risk Management165▲ 3.0×17 topics
  20. Online Learning160▲ 1.68×24 topics
  21. Corporate Governance149▲ 1.77×24 topics
  22. Data Assimilation133▲ 7.1×4 topics
  23. Islamic Education128▲ 3.4×4 topics
  24. Ensemble Kalman Filter125▲ 11×2 topics
  25. Uncertainty Quantification121▲ 13×2 topics
  26. Hydraulic Fracturing118▲ 9.6×2 topics
  27. Vibration Analysis118▲ 3.8×9 topics
  28. Closed-Loop Control116▲ 23×1 topic
  29. Well Placement116▲ 23×1 topic
  30. Experimental Investigation113▲ 9.5×5 topics
  31. Fracture Propagation111▲ 16×1 topic
  32. Shale Gas Reservoirs111▲ 16×1 topic
  33. Nanofluids108▲ 11×2 topics
  34. Rheological Properties102▲ 5.0×6 topics
  35. CO2 Sequestration101▲ 4.5×4 topics
  36. Thermal Conductivity90▲ 4.9×8 topics
  37. Review90▲ 6.5×4 topics
  38. Drilling Fluids83▲ 14×1 topic
  39. Well Integrity83▲ 14×1 topic
  40. Viscosity70▲ 8.7×3 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?

Kuwait has out-published Afghanistan every year since 1980.

still counting1k2k3kKuwait2,814 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 counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Kuwait0.048% 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%Kuwait11.4% in 2025Afghanistan8.5% 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 Kuwait
  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 Kuwait?

Kuwait publishes 2.2× as much research as Afghanistan in 2022-now (9.9k against 4.5k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Afghanistan or Kuwait?

10.3% of Kuwait's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 9.0% for Afghanistan.

Is Afghanistan or Kuwait growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +155% against 2018-21 for Afghanistan, and +33% for Kuwait.

Which has more open access research, Afghanistan or Kuwait?

86% of Afghanistan's research is free to read, against 40% of Kuwait's.

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

Afghanistan holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Kuwait 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

Kuwait

  1. 1American University of the Middle East18.6% top 10% · 1.3k works
  2. 2Gulf University for Science & Technology22.2% top 10% · 693 works
  3. 3Kuwait College of Science and Technology15.0% top 10% · 434 works
  4. 4Kuwait University8.7% top 10% · 2.3k works
  5. 5Public Authority for Applied Education and Training7.1% top 10% · 658 works
  6. 6Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah7.1% top 10% · 435 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

Kuwait

  1. 1 Orhan Dönmez #35,990 worldwide 1.6k citations · 161 works
  2. 2 Yehia Ibrahim Alzoubi #65,602 worldwide 1.8k citations · 78 works
  3. 3 Waleed Al–Herz #102,870 worldwide 16k citations · 185 works
  4. 4 Ali M. Al-Hemoud #132,210 worldwide 2.4k citations · 82 works
  5. 5 Ismaeel Al Ridhawi #148,327 worldwide 3.3k citations · 97 works