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Canada vs United States

On research quality in 2022-now, The United States ranks #2 in the world and Canada #10, of 189 countries. Canada stands higher in 0 of the 26 fields both publish in, the United States in 26.

Canada

World rank, 2022-now
#10
#6 all time
Works, 2022-now
394k
fractional
Top-10% rate
19.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
34%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Medical Terminology, Public Administration, Library and Information Sciences.

United States

World rank, 2022-now
#2
#1 all time
Works, 2022-now
3.1M
fractional
Top-10% rate
17.5%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
33%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Transplantation, Library and Information Sciences, Medical Terminology.

Who leads in each field?

Canada stands higher in 0 of 26 fields, United States in 26. Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Canada 026 United States
  1. #12Agricultural and Biological Sciences#2
  2. #19Arts and Humanities#1
  3. #11Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#2
  4. #17Business, Management and Accounting#4
  5. #14Chemical Engineering#2
  6. #16Chemistry#2
  7. #11Computer Science#2
  8. #12Decision Sciences#2
  9. #16Dentistry#4
  10. #13Earth and Planetary Sciences#2
  11. #13Economics, Econometrics and Finance#2
  12. #15Energy#8
  13. #10Engineering#2
  14. #11Environmental Science#2
  15. #8Health Professions#1
  16. #10Immunology and Microbiology#2
  17. #12Materials Science#2
  18. #17Mathematics#2
  19. #9Medicine#2
  20. #9Neuroscience#2
  21. #17Nursing#3
  22. #9Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#2
  23. #12Physics and Astronomy#2
  24. #9Psychology#2
  25. #11Social Sciences#2
  26. #8Veterinary#5

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.

How has their output grown?

500k1MUnited States805k in 2025Canada100k in 20251990200020102020

Fractional works per year. The latest, partial year is left off.

Which publishes more research, Canada or United States?

The United States publishes 7.8× as much research as Canada in 2022-now (3.1M against 394k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Canada or United States?

19.9% of Canada's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 17.5% for the United States.

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%.

Canada

  1. 1University of Toronto21.9% top 10% · 29k works
  2. 2University of British Columbia22.7% top 10% · 20k works
  3. 3McGill University22.2% top 10% · 15k works
  4. 4University of Alberta20.2% top 10% · 18k works
  5. 5University of Calgary20.8% top 10% · 13k works
  6. 6University of Ottawa20.2% top 10% · 11k works

United States

  1. 1Harvard University28.6% top 10% · 25k works
  2. 2Stanford University25.5% top 10% · 24k works
  3. 3Massachusetts Institute of Technology27.8% top 10% · 13k works
  4. 4Cornell University23.6% top 10% · 20k works
  5. 5Princeton University28.4% top 10% · 8.8k works
  6. 6University of Michigan21.5% top 10% · 28k 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, 16.5% (why not 10%): 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.

Other comparisons

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Questions people ask

Which is stronger in research, Canada or the US?

On research quality in 2022-now, The United States ranks #2 in the world and Canada #10, of 189 countries. Canada stands higher in 0 of the 26 fields both publish in, the United States in 26.

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