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Burkina Faso vs Senegal

On research quality in 2022-now, Burkina Faso ranks #116 in the world and Senegal #151, of 189 countries. Burkina Faso stands higher in 3 of the 6 fields both publish in, Senegal in 3.

Research profiles alike: 0.86very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Burkina Faso

World rank, 2022-now
#116
#94 all time
Works, 2022-now
4.4k
fractional
Top-10% rate
6.1%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
66%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Horticulture, Forestry, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics.

Senegal

World rank, 2022-now
#151
#136 all time
Works, 2022-now
5.3k
fractional
Top-10% rate
4.3%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
62%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Forestry, Horticulture, Microbiology.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Burkina Faso leads on 7 of 9 measures: research quality, citation excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, citations per work, open access, international co-authorship and growth. Senegal leads on 1 of 9 measures: output. The two are level on institutions in the world top 100.

Burkina Faso 71 level1 Senegal
  1. #116Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#151
  2. 0.59×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.40×
  3. 4.4kOutputfractional works, 2022-now5.3k
  4. 6.1%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited4.3%
  5. 10.1Citations per workall time, per fractional work6.7
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 66%Open accessof its works free to read, all time62%
  8. 42%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time30%
  9. +57%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+15%

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?

Burkina Faso stands higher in 3 of 6 fields, Senegal in 3. Burkina Faso leads most in Agricultural and Biological Sciences (#72 against #97); Senegal leads most in Social Sciences (#122 against #130). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Burkina Faso 33 Senegal
  1. #72Agricultural and Biological Sciences#97
  2. -Computer Science#121
  3. #127Engineering#124
  4. #99Environmental Science#106
  5. #96Medicine#118
  6. #130Social Sciences#122

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 Burkina Faso rankSenegal rank Burkina Faso top 10%Senegal top 10% Burkina Faso worksSenegal works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #72 #97 6.5% 5.5% 964 657
Computer Science - #121 - 3.1% - 314
Engineering #127 #124 6.0% 2.8% 354 419
Environmental Science #99 #106 5.6% 3.8% 259 310
Medicine #96 #118 4.2% 2.6% 1k 1.4k
Social Sciences #130 #122 12.5% 8.4% 354 643

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.

Burkina Faso

▲ 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. Epidemiology493▲ 2.4×122 topics
  2. Smallholder Farmers430▲ 40×6 topics
  3. Climate Change429▲ 3.1×88 topics
  4. Sustainability391▲ 3.1×78 topics
  5. Adaptation280▲ 18×10 topics
  6. Diversity265▲ 30×9 topics
  7. Agroecology254▲ 35×3 topics
  8. Livestock Farming248▲ 82×3 topics
  9. Agricultural Development247▲ 32×4 topics
  10. Multifunctionality245▲ 103×2 topics
  11. Work Organization245▲ 124×1 topic
  12. Sustainable Agriculture210▲ 13×11 topics
  13. Biodiversity Conservation200▲ 10×16 topics
  14. Climate Resilience186▲ 61×2 topics
  15. Public Health185▲ 2.5×58 topics
  16. Agroforestry182▲ 53×3 topics
  17. Nutritional Value177▲ 31×4 topics
  18. Vaccine Development160▲ 12×11 topics
  19. Rural Livelihoods155▲ 56×2 topics
  20. Indigenous Fruits154▲ 131×1 topic
  21. Tree Domestication154▲ 131×1 topic
  22. Environmental Impact152▲ 1.74×59 topics
  23. Global Burden131▲ 4.7×12 topics
  24. Genetic Diversity128▲ 5.8×20 topics
  25. Immune Response107▲ 3.7×21 topics
  26. Insecticide Resistance98▲ 24×4 topics
  27. Governance95▲ 5.7×10 topics
  28. Vector Control94▲ 16×4 topics
  29. Genome Sequence93▲ 22×4 topics
  30. Vaccine90▲ 4.4×11 topics
  31. Maternal Mortality89▲ 7.8×5 topics
  32. Medicinal Plants87▲ 4.4×17 topics
  33. Artemisinin Resistance77▲ 46×1 topic
  34. Plasmodium falciparum77▲ 46×1 topic
  35. Health Inequalities76▲ 12×4 topics
  36. Community Health Workers74▲ 16×2 topics
  37. Socio-economic Factors71▲ 12×2 topics
  38. Child Mortality71▲ 19×1 topic
  39. Health Systems71▲ 19×1 topic
  40. Drought Tolerance65▲ 9.1×8 topics

Senegal

▲ 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. Epidemiology498▲ 2.0×129 topics
  2. Climate Change426▲ 2.5×90 topics
  3. Sustainability328▲ 2.2×77 topics
  4. Smallholder Farmers307▲ 24×6 topics
  5. Adaptation238▲ 13×13 topics
  6. Agroecology208▲ 24×5 topics
  7. Diversity207▲ 19×10 topics
  8. Agricultural Development202▲ 22×5 topics
  9. Livestock Farming201▲ 55×2 topics
  10. Multifunctionality201▲ 70×2 topics
  11. Work Organization199▲ 84×1 topic
  12. Public Health191▲ 2.1×56 topics
  13. Healthcare160▲ 2.3×27 topics
  14. Sustainable Agriculture126▲ 6.6×12 topics
  15. Biodiversity Conservation113▲ 4.9×14 topics
  16. Pathogenesis112▲ 3.6×23 topics
  17. Social Justice112▲ 3.0×31 topics
  18. Community Engagement110▲ 5.5×15 topics
  19. Global Burden110▲ 3.3×12 topics
  20. Colonialism108▲ 3.7×34 topics
  21. Territorial Governance105▲ 15×4 topics
  22. Local Development105▲ 16×2 topics
  23. Vaccine Development100▲ 6.4×11 topics
  24. Genetic Diversity99▲ 3.7×19 topics
  25. Governance98▲ 4.9×11 topics
  26. Agroforestry96▲ 23×3 topics
  27. Climate Resilience95▲ 26×2 topics
  28. Ethnicity94▲ 4.1×13 topics
  29. Nutritional Value92▲ 13×4 topics
  30. Vaccine90▲ 3.7×11 topics
  31. Social Movements82▲ 4.5×18 topics
  32. Rural Livelihoods82▲ 25×2 topics
  33. Indigenous Fruits82▲ 58×1 topic
  34. Tree Domestication82▲ 58×1 topic
  35. Decentralization77▲ 6.0×4 topics
  36. Citizen Participation74▲ 10×2 topics
  37. Environmental Participation73▲ 17×1 topic
  38. Proximity and Innovation73▲ 17×1 topic
  39. Africa65▲ 26×3 topics
  40. Political Transition62▲ 20×3 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?

Senegal has out-published Burkina Faso every year since 1980.

still counting5001k1.5kSenegal1,295 in 2025Burkina Faso1,246 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 counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Senegal0.022% in 2025Burkina Faso0.021% 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 counting10%20%Burkina Faso5.2% in 2025Senegal4.2% 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.

Burkina Faso 05 level0 Senegal
  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, Burkina Faso or Senegal?

Senegal publishes 1.2× as much research as Burkina Faso in 2022-now (5.3k against 4.4k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Burkina Faso or Senegal?

6.1% of Burkina Faso's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 4.3% for Senegal.

Is Burkina Faso or Senegal growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +57% against 2018-21 for Burkina Faso, and +15% for Senegal.

Which has more open access research, Burkina Faso or Senegal?

66% of Burkina Faso's research is free to read, against 62% of Senegal's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Burkina Faso or Senegal?

Burkina Faso holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Senegal 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%.

Senegal

  1. 1Université Gaston Berger4.4% top 10% · 520 works
  2. 2Cheikh Anta Diop University3.6% top 10% · 2.2k works
  3. 3Ziguinchor University5.2% top 10% · 302 works
  4. 4Université Alioune Diop de Bambey1.8% top 10% · 254 works
  5. 5Ministère de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable10.7% top 10% · 168 works
  6. 6Centre Hospitalier National Universitaire de Fann2.0% top 10% · 262 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.

Burkina Faso

  1. 1 Roch K. Dabiré #139,840 worldwide 11k citations · 440 works
  2. 2 Issaka Zongo #163,227 worldwide 5.1k citations · 111 works
  3. 3 N’Falé Sagnon #169,485 worldwide 5.6k citations · 113 works
  4. 4 Hermann Sorgho #169,773 worldwide 5k citations · 133 works
  5. 5 Antoine Sanou #178,067 worldwide 1.6k citations · 61 works

Senegal

  1. 1 Amadou Alpha Sall #62,432 worldwide 13k citations · 193 works
  2. 2 Amadou Alpha Sall #98,926 worldwide 12k citations · 199 works
  3. 3 Susan Shepherd #185,173 worldwide 10k citations · 146 works
  4. 4 Massamba Sylla #244,316 worldwide 2.4k citations · 71 works
  5. 5 Gamou Fall #272,079 worldwide 2.7k citations · 161 works