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Colombia vs Costa Rica

On research quality in 2022-now, Colombia ranks #59 in the world and Costa Rica #84, of 189 countries. Colombia stands higher in 23 of the 23 fields both publish in, Costa Rica in 0.

Research profiles alike: 0.89very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Colombia

World rank, 2022-now
#59
#47 all time
Works, 2022-now
87k
fractional
Top-10% rate
7.4%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
72%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Life-span and Life-course Studies, Horticulture, General Social Sciences.

Costa Rica

World rank, 2022-now
#84
#69 all time
Works, 2022-now
12k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.6%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
70%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Horticulture, Life-span and Life-course Studies, General Social Sciences.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Colombia leads on 5 of 9 measures: research quality, citation excellence for its fields, output, top-10% rate and growth. Costa Rica leads on 1 of 9 measures: international co-authorship. The two are level on citations per work, institutions in the world top 100 and open access.

Colombia 53 level1 Costa Rica
  1. #59Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#84
  2. 0.70×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.68×
  3. 87kOutputfractional works, 2022-now12k
  4. 7.4%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited5.6%
  5. 5.3Citations per workall time, per fractional work5.3
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 72%Open accessof its works free to read, all time70%
  8. 18%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time25%
  9. -5%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change-12%

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?

Colombia stands higher in 23 of 23 fields, Costa Rica in 0. Colombia leads most in Engineering (#59 against #113). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Colombia 230 Costa Rica
  1. #48Agricultural and Biological Sciences#71
  2. #52Arts and Humanities#72
  3. #68Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#78
  4. #53Business, Management and Accounting#75
  5. #58Chemistry-
  6. #63Computer Science#92
  7. #56Decision Sciences-
  8. #43Dentistry-
  9. #44Earth and Planetary Sciences-
  10. #54Economics, Econometrics and Finance#78
  11. #52Energy-
  12. #59Engineering#113
  13. #41Environmental Science#71
  14. #54Health Professions#78
  15. #53Immunology and Microbiology-
  16. #76Materials Science-
  17. #59Mathematics-
  18. #57Medicine#80
  19. #52Neuroscience-
  20. #52Nursing-
  21. #53Physics and Astronomy-
  22. #54Psychology#74
  23. #39Social Sciences#75

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 Colombia rankCosta Rica rank Colombia top 10%Costa Rica top 10% Colombia worksCosta Rica works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #48 #71 7.6% 4.9% 6.4k 1.2k
Arts and Humanities #52 #72 8.7% 6.9% 2.5k 659
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #68 #78 4.9% 5.2% 2.7k 415
Business, Management and Accounting #53 #75 9.5% 6.9% 3.6k 428
Chemistry #58 - 7.3% - 638 -
Computer Science #63 #92 7.4% 5.2% 4.6k 781
Decision Sciences #56 - 9.3% - 599 -
Dentistry #43 - 7.3% - 427 -
Earth and Planetary Sciences #44 - 6.2% - 1.2k -
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #54 #78 8.8% 6.1% 2.9k 388
Energy #52 - 9.5% - 942 -
Engineering #59 #113 6.0% 3.4% 6.6k 453
Environmental Science #41 #71 6.8% 5.7% 5.9k 905
Health Professions #54 #78 7.1% 6.2% 3.7k 463
Immunology and Microbiology #53 - 5.5% - 804 -
Materials Science #76 - 4.0% - 1.1k -
Mathematics #59 - 6.0% - 695 -
Medicine #57 #80 5.0% 3.9% 17k 1.5k
Neuroscience #52 - 5.5% - 788 -
Nursing #52 - 5.7% - 388 -
Physics and Astronomy #53 - 4.6% - 789 -
Psychology #54 #74 7.1% 4.9% 3.4k 415
Social Sciences #39 #75 10.6% 6.9% 19k 3.1k

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.

Colombia

▲ 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. Education7,314▲ 4.4×152 topics
  2. Epidemiology5,438▲ 1.41×138 topics
  3. Sustainability4,882▲ 2.1×130 topics
  4. Globalization4,810▲ 2.5×172 topics
  5. Climate Change4,049▲ 1.54×128 topics
  6. Innovation3,967▲ 4.0×82 topics
  7. Public Health3,428▲ 2.4×75 topics
  8. Human Rights3,308▲ 3.3×86 topics
  9. Sustainable Development2,983▲ 1.97×107 topics
  10. Latin America2,901▲ 16×23 topics
  11. Educational Technology2,571▲ 2.2×47 topics
  12. Mental Health2,476▲ 1.79×48 topics
  13. Health Promotion2,470▲ 8.1×18 topics
  14. Digital Marketing2,451▲ 6.5×6 topics
  15. Teacher Training2,445▲ 4.1×28 topics
  16. Knowledge Management2,386▲ 4.4×42 topics
  17. Social Responsibility2,274▲ 10×13 topics
  18. Small and Medium Enterprises2,224▲ 13×10 topics
  19. Competitiveness2,221▲ 29×8 topics
  20. E-Learning2,139▲ 2.3×25 topics
  21. Biodiversity1,978▲ 2.7×37 topics
  22. Urban Development1,926▲ 5.6×21 topics
  23. Pedagogy1,924▲ 4.0×26 topics
  24. Economic Impact1,920▲ 3.7×13 topics
  25. Innovation Ecosystems1,883▲ 19×4 topics
  26. Public Policy1,847▲ 4.0×34 topics
  27. Nutrition1,794▲ 4.2×18 topics
  28. Globalization Effects1,727▲ 26×3 topics
  29. Tourism Management1,719▲ 25×2 topics
  30. City Branding1,716▲ 29×1 topic
  31. Psychopharmacology Education1,716▲ 29×1 topic
  32. Social Impact1,687▲ 4.5×24 topics
  33. Communication1,663▲ 5.5×23 topics
  34. Community Participation1,609▲ 4.7×16 topics
  35. Inclusive Education1,570▲ 4.5×19 topics
  36. Rural Development1,502▲ 4.5×22 topics
  37. Distance Learning1,493▲ 4.4×13 topics
  38. Colombia1,408▲ 86×2 topics
  39. Violence1,246▲ 8.8×14 topics
  40. University Students1,214▲ 22×2 topics

Costa Rica

▲ 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. Education1,117▲ 4.8×120 topics
  2. Climate Change793▲ 2.2×110 topics
  3. Globalization791▲ 3.0×135 topics
  4. Sustainability722▲ 2.2×109 topics
  5. Innovation614▲ 4.4×66 topics
  6. Epidemiology600◆ 1.12×138 topics
  7. Public Health553▲ 2.8×73 topics
  8. Latin America514▲ 20×23 topics
  9. Educational Technology485▲ 3.1×39 topics
  10. Sustainable Development470▲ 2.2×77 topics
  11. E-Learning466▲ 3.6×20 topics
  12. COVID-19453▲ 2.6×30 topics
  13. Biodiversity426▲ 4.2×33 topics
  14. Knowledge Management412▲ 5.5×32 topics
  15. Pedagogy396▲ 5.9×23 topics
  16. Digital Marketing347▲ 6.7×5 topics
  17. Teacher Training345▲ 4.2×25 topics
  18. Distance Learning342▲ 7.4×12 topics
  19. Health Promotion338▲ 8.0×17 topics
  20. Technology318▲ 4.5×33 topics
  21. Urban Development272▲ 5.8×17 topics
  22. Nutrition272▲ 4.6×18 topics
  23. Social Movements269▲ 6.8×29 topics
  24. Public Policy268▲ 4.2×27 topics
  25. Digital Divide266▲ 7.7×8 topics
  26. Inclusive Education264▲ 5.5×18 topics
  27. Community Participation252▲ 5.3×15 topics
  28. Communication250▲ 5.9×19 topics
  29. ICT247▲ 14×5 topics
  30. Online Education246▲ 9.5×6 topics
  31. Digital Competence246▲ 21×3 topics
  32. Rural Development242▲ 5.2×17 topics
  33. Virtual Teaching242▲ 33×1 topic
  34. Social Responsibility233▲ 7.5×10 topics
  35. Innovation Ecosystems230▲ 17×4 topics
  36. Competitiveness230▲ 22×6 topics
  37. Small and Medium Enterprises228▲ 9.6×7 topics
  38. Informal Learning223▲ 13×6 topics
  39. Teacher Development207▲ 25×2 topics
  40. Student Performance199▲ 14×3 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?

Colombia has out-published Costa Rica every year since 1980.

still counting10k20k30kColombia23k in 2025Costa Rica3,351 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%Colombia0.38% in 2025Costa Rica0.057% 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%Colombia7.3% in 2025Costa Rica6.0% 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.

Colombia 05 level0 Costa Rica
  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, Colombia or Costa Rica?

Colombia publishes 7.5× as much research as Costa Rica in 2022-now (87k against 12k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Colombia or Costa Rica?

7.4% of Colombia's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 5.6% for Costa Rica.

Is Colombia or Costa Rica growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was -5% against 2018-21 for Colombia, and -12% for Costa Rica.

Which has more open access research, Colombia or Costa Rica?

72% of Colombia's research is free to read, against 70% of Costa Rica's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Colombia or Costa Rica?

Colombia holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Costa Rica 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%.

Colombia

  1. 1Universidad de Antioquia7.8% top 10% · 5k works
  2. 2Universidad del Rosario11.3% top 10% · 1.5k works
  3. 3Universidad del Valle6.4% top 10% · 2.8k works
  4. 4Universidad de La Sabana10.4% top 10% · 1.2k works
  5. 5Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas6.8% top 10% · 1.4k works
  6. 6Universidad de Ibagué0.7% top 10% · 1.8k works

Costa Rica

  1. 1Universidad de Costa Rica5.5% top 10% · 3.8k works
  2. 2Universidad Independiente5.5% top 10% · 842 works
  3. 3Universidad Nacional5.4% top 10% · 1.1k works
  4. 4Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica4.5% top 10% · 891 works
  5. 5Universidad de Ciencias Medicas3.3% top 10% · 630 works
  6. 6Distance State University5.4% top 10% · 570 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.

Colombia

  1. 1 J. C. Sanabria #4,579 worldwide 63k citations · 605 works
  2. 2 Carlos Andrés Castañeda-Orjuela #12,642 worldwide 236k citations · 248 works
  3. 3 Stijn Hantson #16,049 worldwide 9.4k citations · 203 works
  4. 4 D. J. Karmgard #18,328 worldwide 23k citations · 315 works
  5. 5 Luis Felipe Reyes #26,576 worldwide 33k citations · 298 works

Costa Rica

  1. 1 Luciano Ciravegna #118,588 worldwide 3.6k citations · 112 works
  2. 2 Juan Robalino #140,153 worldwide 4.1k citations · 83 works
  3. 3 Carolina Porras #144,308 worldwide 7.9k citations · 170 works
  4. 4 Célia A. Harvey #194,862 worldwide 14k citations · 233 works
  5. 5 María A. Maglianesi #245,024 worldwide 1.6k citations · 50 works