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Bulgaria vs Iraq

On research quality in 2022-now, Bulgaria ranks #77 in the world and Iraq #187, of 189 countries. Bulgaria stands higher in 21 of the 26 fields both publish in, Iraq in 5.

Research profiles alike: 0.62similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Bulgaria

World rank, 2022-now
#77
#78 all time
Works, 2022-now
36k
fractional
Top-10% rate
4.8%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
44%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: General Energy, Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management, Numerical Analysis.

Iraq

World rank, 2022-now
#187
#177 all time
Works, 2022-now
117k
fractional
Top-10% rate
4.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
78%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Drug Discovery, Numerical Analysis, Algebra and Number Theory.

Who leads, measure by measure?

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

Bulgaria 42 level3 Iraq
  1. #77Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#187
  2. 0.52×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.43×
  3. 36kOutputfractional works, 2022-now117k
  4. 4.8%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited4.7%
  5. 9.6Citations per workall time, per fractional work5.1
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 44%Open accessof its works free to read, all time78%
  8. 24%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time15%
  9. +22%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+87%

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?

Bulgaria stands higher in 21 of 26 fields, Iraq in 5. Bulgaria leads most in Arts and Humanities (#57 against #103); Iraq leads most in Energy (#67 against #69). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Bulgaria 215 Iraq
  1. #79Agricultural and Biological Sciences#122
  2. #57Arts and Humanities#103
  3. #60Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#103
  4. #81Business, Management and Accounting#108
  5. -Chemical Engineering#43
  6. #50Chemistry#68
  7. #83Computer Science#125
  8. #68Decision Sciences#76
  9. #50Dentistry#62
  10. #70Earth and Planetary Sciences#78
  11. #75Economics, Econometrics and Finance#107
  12. #69Energy#67
  13. #83Engineering#106
  14. #87Environmental Science#120
  15. #94Health Professions#105
  16. #60Immunology and Microbiology#71
  17. #58Materials Science#83
  18. #54Mathematics#80
  19. #94Medicine#150
  20. #41Neuroscience#71
  21. -Nursing#64
  22. -Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#44
  23. #57Physics and Astronomy#75
  24. #85Psychology#106
  25. #104Social Sciences#148
  26. -Veterinary#30

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 Bulgaria rankIraq rank Bulgaria top 10%Iraq top 10% Bulgaria worksIraq works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #79 #122 5.9% 3.1% 2.5k 8.3k
Arts and Humanities #57 #103 6.0% 5.7% 1k 3.3k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #60 #103 5.2% 3.0% 1.6k 5.5k
Business, Management and Accounting #81 #108 5.4% 5.7% 1.2k 2.8k
Chemical Engineering - #43 - 5.7% - 348
Chemistry #50 #68 6.4% 6.4% 626 3.2k
Computer Science #83 #125 4.3% 6.5% 3.1k 11k
Decision Sciences #68 #76 4.3% 6.2% 412 1.3k
Dentistry #50 #62 4.4% 2.8% 410 1.6k
Earth and Planetary Sciences #70 #78 3.0% 3.6% 756 1.2k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #75 #107 6.1% 3.6% 926 1.6k
Energy #69 #67 2.7% 7.8% 424 1.5k
Engineering #83 #106 3.4% 5.7% 6.2k 22k
Environmental Science #87 #120 4.1% 4.6% 1.9k 5.7k
Health Professions #94 #105 3.7% 5.1% 674 2.8k
Immunology and Microbiology #60 #71 4.5% 1.5% 335 1.7k
Materials Science #58 #83 3.7% 7.3% 1.1k 5.2k
Mathematics #54 #80 7.4% 6.0% 722 2.3k
Medicine #94 #150 4.8% 2.9% 5.9k 18k
Neuroscience #41 #71 5.2% 5.6% 435 1.1k
Nursing - #64 - 2.2% - 826
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics - #44 - 4.6% - 861
Physics and Astronomy #57 #75 4.0% 5.7% 817 1.3k
Psychology #85 #106 4.6% 3.3% 722 2.3k
Social Sciences #104 #148 6.5% 4.0% 3.3k 10k
Veterinary - #30 - 1.4% - 210

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.

Bulgaria

▲ 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. Climate Change1,519▲ 1.36×126 topics
  2. Machine Learning1,477◆ 1.08×97 topics
  3. Epidemiology1,397▼ 0.85×138 topics
  4. Sustainability1,336▲ 1.33×130 topics
  5. Sustainable Development1,218▲ 1.89×109 topics
  6. Renewable Energy1,186▲ 1.99×60 topics
  7. Deep Learning1,146▼ 0.81×85 topics
  8. Artificial Intelligence951▲ 1.62×65 topics
  9. Environmental Impact804◆ 1.15×74 topics
  10. Oxidative Stress777◆ 1.15×62 topics
  11. Energy Efficiency769▲ 2.0×46 topics
  12. Globalization741◆ 0.92×164 topics
  13. Big Data727▲ 1.85×35 topics
  14. Inflammation726▼ 0.83×83 topics
  15. Neural Networks716◆ 1.13×42 topics
  16. Educational Technology621▲ 1.28×46 topics
  17. Innovation595▲ 1.40×85 topics
  18. Remote Sensing569◆ 1.13×41 topics
  19. Economic Growth567▲ 1.69×36 topics
  20. Internet of Things566▲ 1.61×31 topics
  21. Biodiversity544▲ 1.74×38 topics
  22. Antioxidant505▲ 1.79×51 topics
  23. Supply Chain Management470▲ 1.27×27 topics
  24. E-Learning449◆ 1.13×25 topics
  25. Cyber-Physical Systems444▲ 4.1×9 topics
  26. Invasive Species444▲ 2.5×21 topics
  27. Security411▲ 1.50×31 topics
  28. Antioxidant Activity407▲ 1.59×32 topics
  29. Digital Transformation402▲ 1.81×32 topics
  30. Environmental Management393▲ 2.4×22 topics
  31. Smart Grid350▲ 2.4×10 topics
  32. Optimization331▲ 1.79×26 topics
  33. Biogeography319▲ 2.8×20 topics
  34. Power Electronics304▲ 2.3×8 topics
  35. Phylogeny238▲ 3.5×17 topics
  36. Taxonomy224▲ 3.8×15 topics
  37. Mediterranean219▲ 6.0×6 topics
  38. Black Sea165▲ 11×2 topics
  39. Caspian Sea160▲ 14×1 topic
  40. paleoceanography160▲ 14×1 topic

Iraq

▲ 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. Machine Learning6,208▲ 1.43×97 topics
  2. Deep Learning6,012▲ 1.33×85 topics
  3. Epidemiology5,468◆ 1.05×137 topics
  4. Inflammation3,503▲ 1.26×83 topics
  5. Nanoparticles3,313▲ 2.0×44 topics
  6. Environmental Impact3,295▲ 1.48×73 topics
  7. Oxidative Stress2,705▲ 1.26×63 topics
  8. Nanomaterials2,429▲ 1.78×21 topics
  9. Renewable Energy2,256▲ 1.19×61 topics
  10. Antioxidant2,179▲ 2.4×51 topics
  11. Remote Sensing2,135▲ 1.34×40 topics
  12. Mechanical Properties2,134▲ 1.67×39 topics
  13. Culture2,006▲ 2.9×40 topics
  14. Literature2,004▲ 2.8×60 topics
  15. History1,885▲ 2.1×57 topics
  16. Philosophy1,819▲ 3.1×41 topics
  17. Islam1,756▲ 6.5×5 topics
  18. Ethnicity1,752▲ 3.6×23 topics
  19. Toxicity1,738▲ 3.1×20 topics
  20. Synthesis1,692▲ 3.5×36 topics
  21. Social Influence1,656▲ 6.0×3 topics
  22. Antioxidant Activity1,634▲ 2.0×32 topics
  23. Science1,632▲ 5.1×10 topics
  24. Sharia Law1,610▲ 8.6×2 topics
  25. Malay Language1,609▲ 8.8×1 topic
  26. Heat Transfer1,598▲ 2.5×20 topics
  27. Artificial Neural Networks1,524▲ 2.6×10 topics
  28. Economic Security1,374▲ 5.0×7 topics
  29. Legal Regulation1,348▲ 4.6×8 topics
  30. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles1,328▲ 5.4×5 topics
  31. Strategic Planning1,280▲ 6.7×5 topics
  32. Design1,279▲ 6.0×6 topics
  33. Modernization1,265▲ 5.3×5 topics
  34. International Trade Law1,254▲ 7.3×2 topics
  35. Foresight1,252▲ 7.3×2 topics
  36. Public Oversight1,248▲ 7.8×1 topic
  37. Transport Policy1,248▲ 7.8×1 topic
  38. Air Force1,245▲ 8.1×1 topic
  39. Warfare1,245▲ 8.1×1 topic
  40. Recycled Materials923▲ 6.3×2 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?

Iraq has out-published Bulgaria every year since 2016, when it overtook it.

still counting20k40kIraq31k in 2025Bulgaria10k 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 counting0.20%0.40%0.60%Iraq0.52% in 2025Bulgaria0.18% 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%Bulgaria5.8% in 2025Iraq5.1% 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.

Bulgaria 05 level0 Iraq
  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, Bulgaria or Iraq?

Iraq publishes 3.3× as much research as Bulgaria in 2022-now (117k against 36k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Bulgaria or Iraq?

4.8% of Bulgaria's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 4.7% for Iraq.

Is Bulgaria or Iraq growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +87% against 2018-21 for Iraq, and +22% for Bulgaria.

Which has more open access research, Bulgaria or Iraq?

78% of Iraq's research is free to read, against 44% of Bulgaria's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Bulgaria or Iraq?

Bulgaria holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Iraq 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%.

Bulgaria

  1. 1Bulgarian Academy of Sciences5.0% top 10% · 8.8k works
  2. 2College of Tourism8.7% top 10% · 779 works
  3. 3Angel Kanchev University of Ruse4.0% top 10% · 1.1k works
  4. 4Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"5.3% top 10% · 2.3k works
  5. 5New Bulgarian University3.6% top 10% · 500 works
  6. 6South-West University "Neofit Rilski"4.9% top 10% · 486 works

Iraq

  1. 1University of Raparin11.5% top 10% · 638 works
  2. 2Koya University6.8% top 10% · 879 works
  3. 3University of Technology - Iraq6.5% top 10% · 4.7k works
  4. 4Tishk International University11.6% top 10% · 1k works
  5. 5Duhok Polytechnic University10.3% top 10% · 627 works
  6. 6Kurdistan Regional Government8.8% top 10% · 960 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.

Bulgaria

  1. 1 A. Cimmino #8,111 worldwide 84k citations · 1,049 works
  2. 2 A. Cabrera #11,365 worldwide 33k citations · 472 works
  3. 3 L. Litov #17,576 worldwide 113k citations · 2,193 works
  4. 4 S. Stoykova #20,679 worldwide 47k citations · 461 works
  5. 5 V. Genchev #32,911 worldwide 54k citations · 539 works

Iraq

  1. 1 Aso Mohammad Darwesh #14,894 worldwide 51k citations · 121 works
  2. 2 Ahmed Omar Bali #18,851 worldwide 46k citations · 89 works
  3. 3 Mokhtar Mohammadi #20,512 worldwide 15k citations · 151 works
  4. 4 Hayder Ibrahim Mohammed #24,716 worldwide 7.1k citations · 192 works
  5. 5 Karrar Hameed Abdulkareem #24,839 worldwide 6.4k citations · 111 works