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Albania vs North Macedonia

On research quality in 2022-now, North Macedonia ranks #119 in the world and Albania #134, of 189 countries. Albania stands higher in 4 of the 12 fields both publish in, North Macedonia in 8.

Research profiles alike: 0.82very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Albania

World rank, 2022-now
#134
#167 all time
Works, 2022-now
6.1k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
75%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: General Energy, Space and Planetary Science, Cultural Studies.

North Macedonia

World rank, 2022-now
#119
#144 all time
Works, 2022-now
7.9k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.5%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
63%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: General Energy, Finance, Medical Laboratory Technology.

Who leads, measure by measure?

North Macedonia leads on 5 of 9 measures: research quality, citation excellence for its fields, output, citations per work and international co-authorship. Albania leads on 2 of 9 measures: open access and growth. The two are level on top-10% rate and institutions in the world top 100.

Albania 22 level5 North Macedonia
  1. #134Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#119
  2. 0.48×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.53×
  3. 6.1kOutputfractional works, 2022-now7.9k
  4. 5.7%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited5.5%
  5. 4.9Citations per workall time, per fractional work7.4
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 75%Open accessof its works free to read, all time63%
  8. 25%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time38%
  9. +64%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+25%

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, citation excellence and the top-10% rate are explained in the methodology.

Who leads in each field?

Albania stands higher in 4 of 12 fields, North Macedonia in 8. North Macedonia leads most in Computer Science (#79 against #114); Albania leads most in Environmental Science (#100 against #116). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Albania 48 North Macedonia
  1. #108Agricultural and Biological Sciences#113
  2. #84Arts and Humanities#75
  3. -Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#95
  4. #98Business, Management and Accounting#79
  5. #114Computer Science#79
  6. #86Economics, Econometrics and Finance#85
  7. #94Engineering#85
  8. #100Environmental Science#116
  9. #89Health Professions#97
  10. #140Medicine#141
  11. #96Psychology#90
  12. #105Social Sciences#103

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 Albania rankNorth Macedonia rank Albania top 10%North Macedonia top 10% Albania worksNorth Macedonia works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #108 #113 7.9% 4.6% 230 358
Arts and Humanities #84 #75 6.0% 7.3% 339 369
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology - #95 - 3.9% - 246
Business, Management and Accounting #98 #79 6.0% 7.3% 379 472
Computer Science #114 #79 5.5% 5.6% 428 689
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #86 #85 6.4% 6.3% 402 489
Engineering #94 #85 4.0% 4.9% 413 865
Environmental Science #100 #116 4.6% 5.1% 342 324
Health Professions #89 #97 7.0% 4.8% 206 233
Medicine #140 #141 3.8% 3.3% 1.1k 1.3k
Psychology #96 #90 3.9% 7.5% 232 245
Social Sciences #105 #103 7.1% 6.8% 1.4k 1.4k

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.

Albania

▲ 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. Globalization357▲ 2.5×125 topics
  2. Epidemiology302◆ 1.05×130 topics
  3. Sustainable Development292▲ 2.6×90 topics
  4. Sustainability290▲ 1.65×103 topics
  5. Human Rights262▲ 3.5×72 topics
  6. Machine Learning245◆ 1.02×87 topics
  7. Economic Growth231▲ 3.9×33 topics
  8. Climate Change228▲ 1.17×108 topics
  9. Identity211▲ 4.0×52 topics
  10. Nationalism194▲ 6.0×26 topics
  11. Religion172▲ 5.2×30 topics
  12. Artificial Intelligence168▲ 1.64×51 topics
  13. Balkans165▲ 99×2 topics
  14. Ethnicity165▲ 6.1×19 topics
  15. Education158▲ 1.28×97 topics
  16. Conflict158▲ 14×11 topics
  17. Mental Health152▲ 1.48×42 topics
  18. Memory152▲ 8.6×15 topics
  19. Renewable Energy151▲ 1.45×47 topics
  20. Innovation139▲ 1.86×65 topics
  21. Eastern Europe138▲ 37×2 topics
  22. Post-war136▲ 162×1 topic
  23. Yugoslavia136▲ 162×1 topic
  24. European Union126▲ 7.8×23 topics
  25. Economic Development120▲ 2.1×42 topics
  26. Governance117▲ 5.0×12 topics
  27. Democracy106▲ 4.2×19 topics
  28. Global Governance98▲ 5.7×22 topics
  29. International Law96▲ 4.2×24 topics
  30. Social Capital96▲ 2.6×18 topics
  31. Environmental Management90▲ 3.1×16 topics
  32. Regional Development89▲ 3.6×16 topics
  33. Labor Market80▲ 3.9×16 topics
  34. Judicial Review78▲ 13×3 topics
  35. Fiscal Policy76▲ 5.2×9 topics
  36. Constitutionalism67▲ 11×2 topics
  37. ECHR67▲ 27×1 topic
  38. European Legal Systems67▲ 27×1 topic
  39. Geopolitics64▲ 5.8×10 topics
  40. Knowledge Economy62▲ 8.0×9 topics

North Macedonia

▲ 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. Globalization362▲ 2.0×138 topics
  2. Machine Learning343◆ 1.13×91 topics
  3. Sustainability335▲ 1.50×113 topics
  4. Sustainable Development292▲ 2.0×87 topics
  5. Epidemiology282▼ 0.78×135 topics
  6. Deep Learning269▼ 0.86×78 topics
  7. Climate Change267◆ 1.08×117 topics
  8. Economic Growth244▲ 3.3×33 topics
  9. Renewable Energy207▲ 1.57×55 topics
  10. Artificial Intelligence206▲ 1.58×54 topics
  11. Innovation175▲ 1.86×68 topics
  12. Social Media171▲ 1.36×38 topics
  13. Human Rights160▲ 1.72×75 topics
  14. Identity149▲ 2.3×58 topics
  15. Healthcare146▲ 1.41×36 topics
  16. Big Data144▲ 1.65×31 topics
  17. Economic Development142▲ 1.95×46 topics
  18. Supply Chain Management135▲ 1.65×25 topics
  19. Energy Efficiency132▲ 1.57×41 topics
  20. Security124▲ 2.0×26 topics
  21. Social Capital123▲ 2.6×19 topics
  22. Financial Performance119▲ 2.3×16 topics
  23. Regional Development116▲ 3.7×20 topics
  24. Nationalism115▲ 2.8×29 topics
  25. Religion108▲ 2.6×32 topics
  26. Ethnicity106▲ 3.1×21 topics
  27. Environmental Management95▲ 2.5×17 topics
  28. Balkans88▲ 42×2 topics
  29. Conflict82▲ 5.5×11 topics
  30. European Union79▲ 3.9×23 topics
  31. Global Governance79▲ 3.6×22 topics
  32. Fiscal Policy76▲ 4.1×10 topics
  33. Small and Medium Enterprises72▲ 4.4×8 topics
  34. Innovation Management69▲ 4.9×10 topics
  35. Geopolitics68▲ 5.0×11 topics
  36. Eastern Europe64▲ 13×3 topics
  37. Post-war63▲ 59×1 topic
  38. Yugoslavia63▲ 59×1 topic
  39. Rural Tourism60▲ 21×3 topics
  40. Leadership Emergence59▲ 47×1 topic

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?

North Macedonia has out-published Albania every year since 1991, when it overtook it.

still counting1k2k3kNorth Macedonia2,303 in 2025Albania1,907 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%North Macedonia0.039% in 2025Albania0.032% 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%North Macedonia5.9% in 2025Albania5.8% 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.

Albania 05 level0 North Macedonia
  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, Albania or North Macedonia?

North Macedonia publishes 1.3× as much research as Albania in 2022-now (7.9k against 6.1k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Albania or North Macedonia?

5.7% of Albania's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 5.5% for North Macedonia.

Is Albania or North Macedonia growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +64% against 2018-21 for Albania, and +25% for North Macedonia.

Which has more open access research, Albania or North Macedonia?

75% of Albania's research is free to read, against 63% of North Macedonia's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Albania or North Macedonia?

Albania holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and North Macedonia 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%.

Albania

  1. 1University of Tirana5.0% top 10% · 907 works
  2. 2Aleksandër Moisiu University8.3% top 10% · 693 works
  3. 3University of Arts7.6% top 10% · 253 works
  4. 4Polytechnic University of Tirana4.7% top 10% · 471 works
  5. 5Albanian University6.0% top 10% · 280 works
  6. 6University of Elbasan7.1% top 10% · 182 works

North Macedonia

  1. 1MIT University9.5% top 10% · 1.5k works
  2. 2South East European University7.4% top 10% · 504 works
  3. 3Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts9.9% top 10% · 193 works
  4. 4Goce Delcev University2.8% top 10% · 684 works
  5. 5University "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Bitola5.2% top 10% · 505 works
  6. 6State University of Tetova4.9% top 10% · 350 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.

Albania

  1. 1 Enkeleint Aggelos Mechili #183,280 worldwide 15k citations · 108 works
  2. 2 Iris Hoxha #190,137 worldwide 2.9k citations · 34 works
  3. 3 Eglantina Hysa #227,622 worldwide 2k citations · 99 works
  4. 4 Naltin Shuka #367,228 worldwide 17k citations · 27 works
  5. 5 Skënder Topi #454,509 worldwide 2.3k citations · 68 works

North Macedonia

  1. 1 Kimet Jusufi #21,685 worldwide 6.4k citations · 174 works
  2. 2 Biljana Gjoneska #24,126 worldwide 3.9k citations · 166 works
  3. 3 Veland Ramadani #65,215 worldwide 6.8k citations · 361 works
  4. 4 Gadaf Rexhepi #213,078 worldwide 1.8k citations · 101 works
  5. 5 Sasko A. Kedev #225,524 worldwide 22k citations · 299 works