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Estonia vs Iran

On research quality in 2022-now, Estonia ranks #44 in the world and Iran #45, of 189 countries. Estonia stands higher in 8 of the 26 fields both publish in, Iran in 18.

Research profiles alike: -0.61different shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Estonia

World rank, 2022-now
#44
#52 all time
Works, 2022-now
11k
fractional
Top-10% rate
10.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
47%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Paleontology, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Oceanography.

Iran

World rank, 2022-now
#45
#43 all time
Works, 2022-now
268k
fractional
Top-10% rate
9.4%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
46%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Research and Theory, Molecular Medicine, Filtration and Separation.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Estonia leads on 6 of 9 measures: research quality, excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, citations per work, international co-authorship and growth. Iran leads on 1 of 9 measures: output. The two are level on institutions in the world top 100 and open access.

Estonia 62 level1 Iran
  1. #44Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#45
  2. 1.00×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.85×
  3. 11kOutputfractional works, 2022-now268k
  4. 10.9%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited9.4%
  5. 15.8Citations per workall time, per fractional work14.5
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 47%Open accessof its works free to read, all time46%
  8. 31%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time13%
  9. +7%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change-17%

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?

Estonia stands higher in 8 of 26 fields, Iran in 18. Iran leads most in Engineering (#22 against #47); Estonia leads most in Arts and Humanities (#36 against #69). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Estonia 818 Iran
  1. #42Agricultural and Biological Sciences#45
  2. #36Arts and Humanities#69
  3. #35Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#55
  4. #54Business, Management and Accounting#57
  5. -Chemical Engineering#26
  6. -Chemistry#30
  7. #41Computer Science#36
  8. -Decision Sciences#47
  9. -Dentistry#36
  10. #45Earth and Planetary Sciences#38
  11. #51Economics, Econometrics and Finance#71
  12. -Energy#11
  13. #47Engineering#22
  14. #51Environmental Science#33
  15. #52Health Professions#47
  16. -Immunology and Microbiology#54
  17. #52Materials Science#36
  18. -Mathematics#45
  19. #41Medicine#67
  20. -Neuroscience#42
  21. -Nursing#47
  22. -Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#27
  23. #47Physics and Astronomy#41
  24. #37Psychology#60
  25. #46Social Sciences#76
  26. -Veterinary#25

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 Estonia rankIran rank Estonia top 10%Iran top 10% Estonia worksIran works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #42 #45 12.5% 10.7% 664 15k
Arts and Humanities #36 #69 12.8% 10.5% 697 3.2k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #35 #55 10.6% 8.4% 542 17k
Business, Management and Accounting #54 #57 13.1% 8.8% 382 5.3k
Chemical Engineering - #26 - 7.9% - 1.5k
Chemistry - #30 - 10.5% - 7.9k
Computer Science #41 #36 10.5% 11.6% 1k 13k
Decision Sciences - #47 - 9.6% - 2.7k
Dentistry - #36 - 8.7% - 3k
Earth and Planetary Sciences #45 #38 8.4% 10.1% 278 2.6k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #51 #71 12.2% 7.1% 226 3k
Energy - #11 - 10.3% - 3.8k
Engineering #47 #22 9.5% 11.2% 1.6k 49k
Environmental Science #51 #33 10.1% 9.9% 751 13k
Health Professions #52 #47 9.0% 10.7% 272 7k
Immunology and Microbiology - #54 - 8.3% - 3.5k
Materials Science #52 #36 4.9% 9.1% 281 14k
Mathematics - #45 - 7.8% - 4.1k
Medicine #41 #67 10.4% 8.2% 1.1k 60k
Neuroscience - #42 - 7.1% - 4.9k
Nursing - #47 - 9.2% - 2.4k
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics - #27 - 10.3% - 1.6k
Physics and Astronomy #47 #41 11.9% 7.5% 307 4.9k
Psychology #37 #60 8.5% 7.2% 564 12k
Social Sciences #46 #76 13.4% 8.1% 1.9k 13k
Veterinary - #25 - 8.1% - 437

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.

Estonia

▲ 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 Change634▲ 1.77×116 topics
  2. Machine Learning470◆ 1.07×89 topics
  3. Sustainability396▲ 1.23×118 topics
  4. Globalization383▲ 1.48×145 topics
  5. Deep Learning323▼ 0.71×81 topics
  6. Artificial Intelligence237▲ 1.26×59 topics
  7. Environmental Impact236◆ 1.05×68 topics
  8. Renewable Energy227▲ 1.19×53 topics
  9. Big Data222▲ 1.76×31 topics
  10. Social Media219▲ 1.20×36 topics
  11. Education216◆ 0.96×120 topics
  12. Biodiversity210▲ 2.1×35 topics
  13. Public Health193◆ 1.00×63 topics
  14. Identity188▲ 1.97×67 topics
  15. Ethics174▲ 2.6×53 topics
  16. Invasive Species168▲ 3.0×21 topics
  17. Internet of Things149▲ 1.32×24 topics
  18. Security146▲ 1.65×27 topics
  19. Power Electronics145▲ 3.4×8 topics
  20. Ecosystem Functioning138▲ 5.1×7 topics
  21. Renewable Energy Integration135▲ 3.1×6 topics
  22. Religion129▲ 2.1×41 topics
  23. Conservation128▲ 2.3×24 topics
  24. European Union124▲ 4.2×26 topics
  25. International Relations123▲ 3.9×26 topics
  26. Governance114▲ 2.6×19 topics
  27. Migration113▲ 2.5×28 topics
  28. Global Change104▲ 3.0×7 topics
  29. Corpus Linguistics98▲ 3.5×5 topics
  30. Trust97▲ 2.7×11 topics
  31. Model Predictive Control96▲ 2.9×6 topics
  32. Habitat Fragmentation90▲ 3.1×5 topics
  33. European Integration87▲ 12×6 topics
  34. Ecosystem Resilience79▲ 3.9×5 topics
  35. Soviet Union77▲ 11×3 topics
  36. Accountability76▲ 4.6×4 topics
  37. Folklore74▲ 11×3 topics
  38. Literary Analysis73▲ 28×2 topics
  39. Diplomacy70▲ 5.7×8 topics
  40. Eastern Europe62▲ 9.0×3 topics

Iran

▲ 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. Epidemiology15k▲ 1.26×139 topics
  2. Inflammation9,380▲ 1.50×83 topics
  3. Machine Learning7,841▼ 0.80×97 topics
  4. Biomedical Applications7,578▲ 2.2×36 topics
  5. Nanoparticles7,578▲ 2.0×44 topics
  6. Oxidative Stress7,558▲ 1.56×63 topics
  7. Quality of Life7,073▲ 1.66×61 topics
  8. Cancer6,841▲ 1.73×59 topics
  9. Deep Learning6,820▼ 0.67×85 topics
  10. Mental Health6,664▲ 1.58×48 topics
  11. Depression6,460▲ 2.5×26 topics
  12. Climate Change6,426▼ 0.80×128 topics
  13. Nanomaterials6,398▲ 2.1×21 topics
  14. Cardiovascular Disease5,268▲ 1.57×39 topics
  15. Environmental Impact5,204◆ 1.04×73 topics
  16. Antioxidant5,082▲ 2.5×51 topics
  17. Renewable Energy5,075▲ 1.19×61 topics
  18. Drug Delivery4,938▲ 3.1×16 topics
  19. Nanocomposites4,905▲ 2.1×22 topics
  20. Mechanical Properties4,612▲ 1.60×39 topics
  21. Tissue Engineering4,586▲ 2.6×13 topics
  22. Graphene4,490▲ 2.3×12 topics
  23. COVID-194,287◆ 1.12×34 topics
  24. Social Support4,224▲ 2.7×20 topics
  25. Metabolic Syndrome4,106▲ 1.72×24 topics
  26. Treatment3,983◆ 1.11×52 topics
  27. Catalysis3,957▲ 2.0×29 topics
  28. Pandemic3,667▲ 1.26×14 topics
  29. Stress3,476▲ 3.2×11 topics
  30. Toxicity3,284▲ 2.6×20 topics
  31. Obesity3,279▲ 1.45×29 topics
  32. Self-Efficacy3,248▲ 4.2×11 topics
  33. Antioxidant Activity3,120▲ 1.70×32 topics
  34. Cancer Therapy3,095▲ 1.85×20 topics
  35. Anxiety2,756▲ 1.97×12 topics
  36. Carbon Nanotubes2,542▲ 2.6×9 topics
  37. Elderly2,301▲ 3.2×8 topics
  38. Nursing2,113▲ 3.8×8 topics
  39. Educational Achievement1,862▲ 11×1 topic
  40. Job Stress1,862▲ 11×1 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?

Iran has out-published Estonia every year since 1980.

still counting50k100kIran69k in 2025Estonia3,047 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 counting1.0%2.0%Iran1.2% in 2025Estonia0.052% 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%Estonia10.7% in 2025Iran9.9% 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.

Estonia 14 level0 Iran
  1. 0In the world top 500
  2. 0In the top 1000
  3. 0In the top 5000
  4. 1In the top 1,0001
  5. #41Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#45

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, Estonia or Iran?

Iran publishes 23.5× as much research as Estonia in 2022-now (268k against 11k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Estonia or Iran?

10.9% of Estonia's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 9.4% for Iran.

Is Estonia or Iran growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +7% against 2018-21 for Estonia, and -17% for Iran.

Which has more open access research, Estonia or Iran?

47% of Estonia's research is free to read, against 46% of Iran's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Estonia or Iran?

Estonia holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Iran 0; in the top 1,000 it is 1 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%.

Estonia

  1. 1University of Tartu11.4% top 10% · 4.2k works
  2. 2Tallinn University of Technology10.7% top 10% · 2.6k works
  3. 3Praxis6.3% top 10% · 986 works
  4. 4Tallinn University12.0% top 10% · 1.1k works
  5. 5Estonian University of Life Sciences11.5% top 10% · 562 works
  6. 6National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics16.0% top 10% · 170 works

Iran

  1. 1University of Tehran11.7% top 10% · 12k works
  2. 2Sharif University of Technology11.0% top 10% · 4.2k works
  3. 3Tarbiat Modares University10.3% top 10% · 6k works
  4. 4Shahid Beheshti University9.6% top 10% · 4.9k works
  5. 5Iran University of Science and Technology13.9% top 10% · 5.6k works
  6. 6Amirkabir University of Technology11.7% top 10% · 5.2k 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.

Estonia

  1. 1 Tõnu Esko #672 worldwide 156k citations · 825 works
  2. 2 Leho Tedersoo #1,145 worldwide 66k citations · 375 works
  3. 3 Lili A. Milani #1,515 worldwide 75k citations · 479 works
  4. 4 Reedik Mägi #1,607 worldwide 91k citations · 582 works
  5. 5 Andres Metspalu #2,577 worldwide 134k citations · 841 works

Iran

  1. 1 Ali Derakhshan #555 worldwide 12k citations · 318 works
  2. 2 Jalal Arabloo #591 worldwide 173k citations · 286 works
  3. 3 Sadaf Ghajarieh Sepanlou #1,137 worldwide 282k citations · 280 works
  4. 4 Mortaza Aghbashlo #1,278 worldwide 27k citations · 380 works
  5. 5 Nima Jafari Navimipour #1,362 worldwide 14k citations · 246 works