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Croatia vs Serbia

On research quality in 2022-now, Croatia ranks #52 in the world and Serbia #74, of 189 countries. Croatia stands higher in 22 of the 23 fields both publish in, Serbia in 1.

Research profiles alike: 0.68similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Croatia

World rank, 2022-now
#52
#59 all time
Works, 2022-now
38k
fractional
Top-10% rate
6.5%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
61%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Industrial relations, Library and Information Sciences, Space and Planetary Science.

Serbia

World rank, 2022-now
#74
#80 all time
Works, 2022-now
39k
fractional
Top-10% rate
7.4%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
59%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Biochemistry, Filtration and Separation, Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management.

Who leads, measure by measure?

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

Croatia 33 level3 Serbia
  1. #52Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#74
  2. 0.76×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.71×
  3. 38kOutputfractional works, 2022-now39k
  4. 6.5%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited7.4%
  5. 8.2Citations per workall time, per fractional work9.7
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 61%Open accessof its works free to read, all time59%
  8. 16%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time23%
  9. +2%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+3%

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?

Croatia stands higher in 22 of 23 fields, Serbia in 1. Croatia leads most in Nursing (#43 against #63); Serbia leads most in Mathematics (#46 against #53). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Croatia 221 Serbia
  1. #54Agricultural and Biological Sciences#70
  2. #51Arts and Humanities#67
  3. #51Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#69
  4. #47Business, Management and Accounting#67
  5. #47Chemistry#56
  6. #61Computer Science#71
  7. #49Decision Sciences#58
  8. #38Dentistry#49
  9. #48Earth and Planetary Sciences#69
  10. #48Economics, Econometrics and Finance#57
  11. #45Energy#58
  12. #56Engineering#69
  13. #62Environmental Science#79
  14. #65Health Professions#82
  15. #43Immunology and Microbiology#61
  16. #49Materials Science#60
  17. #53Mathematics#46
  18. #54Medicine#87
  19. #53Neuroscience#60
  20. #43Nursing#63
  21. #44Physics and Astronomy#50
  22. #52Psychology#81
  23. #69Social Sciences#83

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 Croatia rankSerbia rank Croatia top 10%Serbia top 10% Croatia worksSerbia works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #54 #70 9.1% 8.7% 1.8k 2.9k
Arts and Humanities #51 #67 4.9% 6.8% 2.4k 1.3k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #51 #69 7.2% 6.7% 1.5k 1.7k
Business, Management and Accounting #47 #67 8.5% 9.0% 1.3k 1.6k
Chemistry #47 #56 6.3% 6.5% 490 674
Computer Science #61 #71 7.8% 8.0% 2.2k 2.5k
Decision Sciences #49 #58 8.2% 11.9% 374 505
Dentistry #38 #49 12.7% 8.7% 294 247
Earth and Planetary Sciences #48 #69 5.8% 8.7% 646 466
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #48 #57 5.5% 11.4% 2.4k 2k
Energy #45 #58 8.1% 6.1% 229 304
Engineering #56 #69 6.2% 5.6% 4.3k 5.4k
Environmental Science #62 #79 5.9% 6.2% 2.2k 2.1k
Health Professions #65 #82 5.9% 8.0% 882 754
Immunology and Microbiology #43 #61 7.9% 7.1% 314 304
Materials Science #49 #60 5.4% 5.4% 691 996
Mathematics #53 #46 5.2% 11.2% 443 733
Medicine #54 #87 7.2% 6.8% 7.3k 6.9k
Neuroscience #53 #60 5.7% 6.9% 473 485
Nursing #43 #63 6.6% 8.0% 217 244
Physics and Astronomy #44 #50 7.0% 4.3% 518 752
Psychology #52 #81 5.5% 5.4% 1.5k 1.2k
Social Sciences #69 #83 5.5% 8.0% 5.8k 4.7k

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.

Croatia

▲ 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. Epidemiology1,625◆ 0.95×139 topics
  2. Sustainable Development1,368▲ 2.0×105 topics
  3. Sustainability1,296▲ 1.23×127 topics
  4. Climate Change1,230◆ 1.05×124 topics
  5. Economic Growth1,129▲ 3.2×35 topics
  6. International Relations1,106▲ 11×28 topics
  7. International Trade1,024▲ 17×12 topics
  8. Nation-Building1,018▲ 45×4 topics
  9. Foreign Policy1,008▲ 62×4 topics
  10. Sovereign Debt Crises1,002▲ 58×2 topics
  11. Negotiation992▲ 65×4 topics
  12. Commercial Diplomacy976▲ 193×1 topic
  13. Economic Diplomacy976▲ 193×1 topic
  14. Religion893▲ 4.5×43 topics
  15. Artificial Intelligence889▲ 1.45×62 topics
  16. Regional Development810▲ 5.5×19 topics
  17. Organizational Culture800▲ 4.8×16 topics
  18. Financial Performance799▲ 3.3×16 topics
  19. Ethics774▲ 3.6×58 topics
  20. Innovation Management742▲ 11×9 topics
  21. Small and Medium Enterprises722▲ 9.5×10 topics
  22. Agricultural Sustainability716▲ 15×6 topics
  23. Rural Tourism696▲ 52×3 topics
  24. Leadership Emergence693▲ 117×1 topic
  25. Identity680▲ 2.2×75 topics
  26. Resilience629▲ 3.0×17 topics
  27. Climate Change Impact621▲ 6.3×8 topics
  28. Environmental Policy580▲ 6.7×14 topics
  29. Water Quality Monitoring549▲ 16×3 topics
  30. Hydrological Analysis530▲ 34×2 topics
  31. Socio-economic Factors524▲ 11×3 topics
  32. Water Resources Management523▲ 92×2 topics
  33. Global Water Resources517▲ 127×1 topic
  34. Integrated Management517▲ 127×1 topic
  35. Media478▲ 7.4×18 topics
  36. Spirituality468▲ 11×7 topics
  37. Social Change455▲ 8.6×19 topics
  38. Cultural Integration449▲ 4.9×3 topics
  39. Communication Technology422▲ 79×1 topic
  40. Youth Subcultures422▲ 79×1 topic

Serbia

▲ 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. Sustainable Development1,762▲ 2.6×103 topics
  2. Epidemiology1,436▼ 0.82×138 topics
  3. Sustainability1,361▲ 1.27×126 topics
  4. Economic Growth1,315▲ 3.7×36 topics
  5. Machine Learning1,287◆ 0.88×95 topics
  6. Climate Change1,224◆ 1.03×125 topics
  7. Oxidative Stress969▲ 1.34×63 topics
  8. Regional Development957▲ 6.4×19 topics
  9. Financial Performance950▲ 3.9×16 topics
  10. Environmental Impact911▲ 1.22×72 topics
  11. Inflammation888◆ 0.95×83 topics
  12. Organizational Culture887▲ 5.2×15 topics
  13. Innovation Management834▲ 12×10 topics
  14. Agricultural Sustainability824▲ 17×6 topics
  15. Small and Medium Enterprises822▲ 11×10 topics
  16. Globalization815◆ 0.95×163 topics
  17. Artificial Intelligence811▲ 1.30×62 topics
  18. Rural Tourism780▲ 57×2 topics
  19. Leadership Emergence780▲ 130×1 topic
  20. Renewable Energy736▲ 1.16×61 topics
  21. Antioxidant610▲ 2.0×51 topics
  22. Ethnicity558▲ 3.4×21 topics
  23. Identity558▲ 1.76×72 topics
  24. International Relations547▲ 5.2×29 topics
  25. Antioxidant Activity510▲ 1.87×32 topics
  26. Religion449▲ 2.2×40 topics
  27. International Trade429▲ 7.0×11 topics
  28. Legal Regulation412▲ 4.2×8 topics
  29. Foreign Policy403▲ 24×4 topics
  30. Sovereign Debt Crises397▲ 22×2 topics
  31. Nation-Building395▲ 17×4 topics
  32. Flavonoids371▲ 3.3×12 topics
  33. Negotiation368▲ 24×3 topics
  34. Commercial Diplomacy359▲ 70×1 topic
  35. Economic Diplomacy359▲ 70×1 topic
  36. Conflict313▲ 4.4×11 topics
  37. Balkans284▲ 28×2 topics
  38. Eastern Europe264▲ 12×3 topics
  39. Post-war244▲ 48×1 topic
  40. Yugoslavia244▲ 48×1 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?

Serbia has out-published Croatia every year since 2022, when it overtook it.

still counting5k10k15kSerbia10k in 2025Croatia10k 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 counting0.10%0.20%0.30%Serbia0.18% in 2025Croatia0.18% 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%Serbia7.7% in 2025Croatia7.0% 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.

Croatia 05 level0 Serbia
  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, Croatia or Serbia?

Serbia publishes 1.0× as much research as Croatia in 2022-now (39k against 38k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Croatia or Serbia?

7.4% of Serbia's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 6.5% for Croatia.

Is Croatia or Serbia growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +3% against 2018-21 for Serbia, and +2% for Croatia.

Which has more open access research, Croatia or Serbia?

61% of Croatia's research is free to read, against 59% of Serbia's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Croatia or Serbia?

Croatia holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Serbia 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%.

Croatia

  1. 1University of Zagreb6.5% top 10% · 14k works
  2. 2University of Split8.1% top 10% · 3.2k works
  3. 3University of Osijek7.3% top 10% · 2.8k works
  4. 4University of Rijeka7.2% top 10% · 3k works
  5. 5University North9.0% top 10% · 597 works
  6. 6Institut za filozofiju3.7% top 10% · 1.5k works

Serbia

  1. 1University of Belgrade7.3% top 10% · 14k works
  2. 2Singidunum University11.5% top 10% · 725 works
  3. 3University of Novi Sad7.5% top 10% · 6.6k works
  4. 4Univerzitet Union Nikola Tesla7.6% top 10% · 504 works
  5. 5Gulf University15.9% top 10% · 417 works
  6. 6University of Kragujevac8.7% top 10% · 2.4k 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.

Croatia

  1. 1 D. Mekterović #10,978 worldwide 52k citations · 552 works
  2. 2 Ozren Polašek #21,112 worldwide 75k citations · 684 works
  3. 3 R. Gupta #26,416 worldwide 7.7k citations · 106 works
  4. 4 G. I. Veres #32,507 worldwide 16k citations · 246 works
  5. 5 T. Virdee #36,724 worldwide 11k citations · 145 works

Serbia

  1. 1 Dragan Stevan Pamucar #1,015 worldwide 30k citations · 791 works
  2. 2 Mihajlo Jakovljević #2,006 worldwide 151k citations · 290 works
  3. 3 Petar M Seferovic #2,543 worldwide 70k citations · 423 works
  4. 4 Irena Ilić #6,030 worldwide 99k citations · 203 works
  5. 5 Vladimir Šimić #6,734 worldwide 7.5k citations · 346 works