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Colombia vs Kenya

On research quality in 2022-now, Kenya ranks #57 in the world and Colombia #59, of 189 countries. Colombia stands higher in 17 of the 23 fields both publish in, Kenya in 6.

Research profiles alike: 0.76very 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.

Kenya

World rank, 2022-now
#57
#58 all time
Works, 2022-now
29k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
70%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Safety Research, Business and International Management, Library and Information Sciences.

Who leads, measure by measure?

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

Colombia 22 level5 Kenya
  1. #59Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#57
  2. 0.70×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.73×
  3. 87kOutputfractional works, 2022-now29k
  4. 7.4%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited5.7%
  5. 5.3Citations per workall time, per fractional work12.3
  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 time26%
  9. -5%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+28%

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?

Colombia stands higher in 17 of 23 fields, Kenya in 6. Colombia leads most in Social Sciences (#39 against #71); Kenya leads most in Immunology and Microbiology (#36 against #53). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Colombia 176 Kenya
  1. #48Agricultural and Biological Sciences#39
  2. #52Arts and Humanities#64
  3. #68Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#57
  4. #53Business, Management and Accounting#69
  5. #58Chemistry-
  6. #63Computer Science#73
  7. #56Decision Sciences#66
  8. #43Dentistry-
  9. #44Earth and Planetary Sciences-
  10. #54Economics, Econometrics and Finance#65
  11. #52Energy-
  12. #59Engineering#79
  13. #41Environmental Science#58
  14. #54Health Professions#57
  15. #53Immunology and Microbiology#36
  16. #76Materials Science#77
  17. #59Mathematics#52
  18. #57Medicine#44
  19. #52Neuroscience-
  20. #52Nursing#41
  21. #53Physics and Astronomy-
  22. #54Psychology#70
  23. #39Social Sciences#71

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 rankKenya rank Colombia top 10%Kenya top 10% Colombia worksKenya works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #48 #39 7.6% 9.6% 6.4k 3.1k
Arts and Humanities #52 #64 8.7% 7.2% 2.5k 720
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #68 #57 4.9% 8.2% 2.7k 705
Business, Management and Accounting #53 #69 9.5% 2.6% 3.6k 3.3k
Chemistry #58 - 7.3% - 638 -
Computer Science #63 #73 7.4% 4.8% 4.6k 1.3k
Decision Sciences #56 #66 9.3% 3.1% 599 710
Dentistry #43 - 7.3% - 427 -
Earth and Planetary Sciences #44 - 6.2% - 1.2k -
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #54 #65 8.8% 3.4% 2.9k 1.8k
Energy #52 - 9.5% - 942 -
Engineering #59 #79 6.0% 5.8% 6.6k 1.4k
Environmental Science #41 #58 6.8% 6.5% 5.9k 2k
Health Professions #54 #57 7.1% 7.5% 3.7k 1.1k
Immunology and Microbiology #53 #36 5.5% 9.0% 804 308
Materials Science #76 #77 4.0% 5.0% 1.1k 232
Mathematics #59 #52 6.0% 5.7% 695 352
Medicine #57 #44 5.0% 7.1% 17k 3.9k
Neuroscience #52 - 5.5% - 788 -
Nursing #52 #41 5.7% 6.2% 388 393
Physics and Astronomy #53 - 4.6% - 789 -
Psychology #54 #70 7.1% 5.0% 3.4k 1.1k
Social Sciences #39 #71 10.6% 4.7% 19k 6.1k

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

Kenya

▲ 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 Change1,810▲ 1.98×120 topics
  2. Sustainability1,751▲ 2.1×122 topics
  3. Epidemiology1,518◆ 1.13×136 topics
  4. Globalization1,252▲ 1.90×144 topics
  5. Supply Chain Management1,068▲ 3.5×25 topics
  6. Innovation1,016▲ 2.9×76 topics
  7. Poverty Reduction982▲ 22×6 topics
  8. Risk Management961▲ 6.0×17 topics
  9. Social Capital923▲ 5.3×20 topics
  10. Sustainable Development899▲ 1.71×96 topics
  11. Education894▲ 1.55×120 topics
  12. Economic Growth864▲ 3.1×32 topics
  13. Leadership820▲ 5.0×33 topics
  14. Corporate Governance798▲ 3.2×29 topics
  15. Development713▲ 5.9×20 topics
  16. Economic Development671▲ 2.5×50 topics
  17. Gender Equality655▲ 6.9×19 topics
  18. Sustainable Agriculture606▲ 5.8×16 topics
  19. Gender Inequality578▲ 12×7 topics
  20. Food Security577▲ 3.2×25 topics
  21. Smallholder Farmers569▲ 8.0×6 topics
  22. Social Networks560▲ 6.1×13 topics
  23. Community Health Workers555▲ 19×2 topics
  24. Rural Development550▲ 4.8×21 topics
  25. Adaptation547▲ 5.5×15 topics
  26. Maternal Mortality542▲ 7.2×5 topics
  27. Performance Measurement483▲ 5.4×7 topics
  28. Health Inequalities478▲ 12×5 topics
  29. Social Protection469▲ 31×2 topics
  30. Primary Education469▲ 35×2 topics
  31. Conditional Cash Transfers469▲ 39×1 topic
  32. School Subsidies469▲ 39×1 topic
  33. Socio-economic Factors463▲ 12×3 topics
  34. Child Mortality458▲ 19×1 topic
  35. Health Systems458▲ 19×1 topic
  36. Empowerment383▲ 12×6 topics
  37. Financial Constraints374▲ 11×2 topics
  38. Poverty Alleviation365▲ 11×3 topics
  39. Financial Inclusion365▲ 21×1 topic
  40. Microfinance365▲ 21×1 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?

Colombia has out-published Kenya every year since 1980.

still counting10k20k30kColombia23k in 2025Kenya7,818 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 2025Kenya0.13% 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%Colombia7.3% in 2025Kenya6.3% 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 Kenya
  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 Kenya?

Colombia publishes 3.0× as much research as Kenya in 2022-now (87k against 29k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Colombia or Kenya?

7.4% of Colombia's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 5.7% for Kenya.

Is Colombia or Kenya growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +28% against 2018-21 for Kenya, and -5% for Colombia.

Which has more open access research, Colombia or Kenya?

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

Which has more world-class institutions, Colombia or Kenya?

Colombia holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Kenya 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

Kenya

  1. 1Kenya Medical Research Institute12.2% top 10% · 708 works
  2. 2University of Nairobi4.8% top 10% · 3.1k works
  3. 3Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology3.7% top 10% · 2.4k works
  4. 4Moi University4.9% top 10% · 1.2k works
  5. 5Kisii University4.7% top 10% · 571 works
  6. 6Kenyatta University3.1% top 10% · 2.9k 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

Kenya

  1. 1 Robert William Snow #6,135 worldwide 58k citations · 677 works
  2. 2 Edwine Barasa #13,107 worldwide 9.2k citations · 311 works
  3. 3 Kevin Marsh #18,105 worldwide 58k citations · 689 works
  4. 4 J. Anthony G. Scott #24,316 worldwide 21k citations · 396 works
  5. 5 Menale B. Kassie #24,373 worldwide 14k citations · 263 works