Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Compare · Countries

Costa Rica vs Mexico

On research quality in 2022-now, Mexico ranks #42 in the world and Costa Rica #84, of 189 countries. Costa Rica stands higher in 0 of the 26 fields both publish in, Mexico in 26.

Research profiles alike: 0.77very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

Compare other countries
vs

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.

Mexico

World rank, 2022-now
#42
#39 all time
Works, 2022-now
177k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
52%
of its works free to read

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

Who leads, measure by measure?

Mexico leads on 5 of 9 measures: research quality, output, top-10% rate, citations per work and growth. Costa Rica leads on 3 of 9 measures: citation excellence for its fields, open access and international co-authorship. The two are level on institutions in the world top 100.

Costa Rica 31 level5 Mexico
  1. #84Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#42
  2. 0.68×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.61×
  3. 12kOutputfractional works, 2022-now177k
  4. 5.6%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited5.9%
  5. 5.3Citations per workall time, per fractional work9.1
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 70%Open accessof its works free to read, all time52%
  8. 25%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time19%
  9. -12%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+11%

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?

Costa Rica stands higher in 0 of 26 fields, Mexico in 26. Mexico leads most in Engineering (#50 against #113). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Costa Rica 026 Mexico
  1. #71Agricultural and Biological Sciences#36
  2. #72Arts and Humanities#38
  3. #78Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#43
  4. #75Business, Management and Accounting#48
  5. -Chemical Engineering#39
  6. -Chemistry#43
  7. #92Computer Science#43
  8. -Decision Sciences#55
  9. -Dentistry#41
  10. -Earth and Planetary Sciences#43
  11. #78Economics, Econometrics and Finance#49
  12. -Energy#49
  13. #113Engineering#50
  14. #71Environmental Science#37
  15. #78Health Professions#41
  16. -Immunology and Microbiology#48
  17. -Materials Science#48
  18. -Mathematics#47
  19. #80Medicine#42
  20. -Neuroscience#36
  21. -Nursing#48
  22. -Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#32
  23. -Physics and Astronomy#46
  24. #74Psychology#45
  25. #75Social Sciences#35
  26. -Veterinary#23

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 Costa Rica rankMexico rank Costa Rica top 10%Mexico top 10% Costa Rica worksMexico works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #71 #36 4.9% 6.6% 1.2k 17k
Arts and Humanities #72 #38 6.9% 7.8% 659 6.8k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #78 #43 5.2% 5.7% 415 8.6k
Business, Management and Accounting #75 #48 6.9% 6.3% 428 5.2k
Chemical Engineering - #39 - 3.1% - 438
Chemistry - #43 - 5.2% - 2.2k
Computer Science #92 #43 5.2% 6.2% 781 10k
Decision Sciences - #55 - 6.1% - 939
Dentistry - #41 - 4.5% - 815
Earth and Planetary Sciences - #43 - 4.7% - 2.7k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #78 #49 6.1% 6.1% 388 5.2k
Energy - #49 - 4.4% - 1.7k
Engineering #113 #50 3.4% 4.6% 453 15k
Environmental Science #71 #37 5.7% 5.8% 905 12k
Health Professions #78 #41 6.2% 6.0% 463 5.6k
Immunology and Microbiology - #48 - 5.8% - 1.7k
Materials Science - #48 - 3.7% - 5k
Mathematics - #47 - 6.7% - 1.8k
Medicine #80 #42 3.9% 4.9% 1.5k 29k
Neuroscience - #36 - 5.9% - 2.2k
Nursing - #48 - 5.9% - 1.2k
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics - #32 - 6.2% - 604
Physics and Astronomy - #46 - 4.5% - 3.2k
Psychology #74 #45 4.9% 5.4% 415 5.8k
Social Sciences #75 #35 6.9% 7.4% 3.1k 32k
Veterinary - #23 - 6.2% - 338

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.

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

Mexico

▲ 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. Education10k▲ 3.0×158 topics
  2. Sustainability10k▲ 2.1×137 topics
  3. Climate Change9,399▲ 1.70×130 topics
  4. Globalization8,952▲ 2.2×184 topics
  5. Epidemiology8,618◆ 1.06×140 topics
  6. Public Health6,974▲ 2.4×77 topics
  7. Innovation6,048▲ 2.9×90 topics
  8. Environmental Impact5,303▲ 1.52×72 topics
  9. Mental Health4,976▲ 1.71×48 topics
  10. Nutrition4,708▲ 5.2×19 topics
  11. Urban Development4,611▲ 6.4×21 topics
  12. COVID-194,573▲ 1.73×34 topics
  13. Latin America4,530▲ 12×23 topics
  14. Knowledge Management4,360▲ 3.9×42 topics
  15. Digital Marketing4,170▲ 5.3×6 topics
  16. Biodiversity4,105▲ 2.6×38 topics
  17. Human Rights4,091▲ 1.96×88 topics
  18. E-Learning3,984▲ 2.0×26 topics
  19. Health Promotion3,790▲ 5.9×18 topics
  20. Pedagogy3,573▲ 3.5×30 topics
  21. Small and Medium Enterprises3,547▲ 9.8×10 topics
  22. Community Participation3,536▲ 4.9×16 topics
  23. Teacher Training3,484▲ 2.8×30 topics
  24. Social Responsibility3,335▲ 7.1×14 topics
  25. Rural Development3,303▲ 4.7×23 topics
  26. Public Policy3,248▲ 3.4×31 topics
  27. Cultural Heritage3,182▲ 2.9×40 topics
  28. Innovation Ecosystems3,120▲ 15×4 topics
  29. Social Movements3,068▲ 5.1×33 topics
  30. Distance Learning3,050▲ 4.3×14 topics
  31. Communication2,849▲ 4.4×25 topics
  32. Globalization Effects2,796▲ 20×3 topics
  33. Tourism Management2,782▲ 20×2 topics
  34. City Branding2,776▲ 22×1 topic
  35. Psychopharmacology Education2,776▲ 22×1 topic
  36. Competitiveness2,753▲ 17×8 topics
  37. Sustainable Agriculture2,672▲ 4.2×18 topics
  38. University Students2,195▲ 19×2 topics
  39. ICT2,041▲ 7.5×5 topics
  40. Digital Competence2,021▲ 11×4 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?

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

still counting20k40k60kMexico49k 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 counting0.50%1.0%Mexico0.82% 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%Mexico6.1% 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.

Costa Rica 03 level2 Mexico
  1. 0In the world top 500
  2. 0In the top 1000
  3. 0In the top 5000
  4. 0In the top 1,0001
  5. #51Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#50

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, Costa Rica or Mexico?

Mexico publishes 15.4× as much research as Costa Rica in 2022-now (177k against 12k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Costa Rica or Mexico?

5.9% of Mexico's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 5.6% for Costa Rica.

Is Costa Rica or Mexico growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +11% against 2018-21 for Mexico, and -12% for Costa Rica.

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

70% of Costa Rica's research is free to read, against 52% of Mexico's.

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

Costa Rica holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Mexico 0; in the top 1,000 it is 0 against 1.

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%.

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

Mexico

  1. 1Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México6.0% top 10% · 21k works
  2. 2Universidad del Noreste6.8% top 10% · 1.9k works
  3. 3Tecnológico de Monterrey11.7% top 10% · 5.5k works
  4. 4Universidad Internacional9.1% top 10% · 1.2k works
  5. 5Ibero American University7.6% top 10% · 1.5k works
  6. 6Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Xalapa6.2% top 10% · 1.3k 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.

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

Mexico

  1. 1 I. Maldonado Cervantes #1,124 worldwide 25k citations · 196 works
  2. 2 Mostafa Hajiaghaei–Keshteli #1,732 worldwide 11k citations · 222 works
  3. 3 Matthew Paul Reynolds #3,407 worldwide 42k citations · 465 works
  4. 4 Ismael Campos‐Nonato #4,620 worldwide 168k citations · 131 works
  5. 5 Daniel Díaz #7,158 worldwide 127k citations · 198 works