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Faroe Islands vs Iceland

On research quality in 2022-now, Iceland ranks #50 in the world and the Faroe Islands #154, of 189 countries. The Faroe Islands stands higher in 0 of the 9 fields both publish in, Iceland in 9.

Research profiles alike: 0.63similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Faroe Islands

World rank, 2022-now
#154
#150 all time
Works, 2022-now
246
fractional
Top-10% rate
9.2%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
61%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Oceanography, Linguistics and Language.

Iceland

World rank, 2022-now
#50
#42 all time
Works, 2022-now
5.2k
fractional
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
46%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Chemical Health and Safety, Classics, Geophysics.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Iceland leads on 4 of 9 measures: research quality, output, top-10% rate and citations per work. The Faroe Islands leads on 3 of 9 measures: open access, international co-authorship and growth. The two are level on excellence for its fields and institutions in the world top 100.

Faroe Islands 32 level4 Iceland
  1. #154Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#50
  2. 0.97×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.95×
  3. 246Outputfractional works, 2022-now5.2k
  4. 9.2%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited10.0%
  5. 19.8Citations per workall time, per fractional work25.7
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 61%Open accessof its works free to read, all time46%
  8. 59%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time42%
  9. +33%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, excellence and the top-10% rate are explained in the methodology.

Who leads in each field?

Faroe Islands stands higher in 0 of 9 fields, Iceland in 9. Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Faroe Islands 09 Iceland
  1. -Arts and Humanities#40
  2. -Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#37
  3. -Computer Science#69
  4. -Earth and Planetary Sciences#34
  5. -Engineering#54
  6. -Environmental Science#49
  7. -Medicine#40
  8. -Psychology#41
  9. -Social Sciences#55

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 Faroe Islands rankIceland rank Faroe Islands top 10%Iceland top 10% Faroe Islands worksIceland works
Arts and Humanities - #40 - 12.6% - 249
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology - #37 - 12.4% - 228
Computer Science - #69 - 5.8% - 255
Earth and Planetary Sciences - #34 - 11.0% - 221
Engineering - #54 - 11.3% - 443
Environmental Science - #49 - 9.1% - 428
Medicine - #40 - 11.3% - 971
Psychology - #41 - 9.0% - 304
Social Sciences - #55 - 9.1% - 831

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.

Faroe Islands

▲ 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 Change28▲ 3.8×40 topics
  2. Sustainability15▲ 2.3×26 topics
  3. Globalization15▲ 2.7×21 topics
  4. Epidemiology12◆ 1.14×46 topics
  5. Mental Health8▲ 2.2×13 topics
  6. Fisheries Sustainability8▲ 36×2 topics
  7. Aquaculture8▲ 11×5 topics
  8. Governance7▲ 8.3×3 topics
  9. Renewable Energy7▲ 1.86×17 topics
  10. Invasive Species7▲ 5.7×10 topics
  11. High-Intensity Interval Training6▲ 22×2 topics
  12. Arctic6▲ 21×4 topics
  13. Depression6▲ 2.6×10 topics
  14. Vulnerability6▲ 9.3×4 topics
  15. Trophic Cascades6▲ 23×2 topics
  16. Ecosystem Management6▲ 34×1 topic
  17. Marine Fisheries6▲ 50×1 topic
  18. Anxiety5▲ 4.1×6 topics
  19. International Relations5▲ 7.7×5 topics
  20. Resistance Training5▲ 21×2 topics
  21. Social Isolation5▲ 9.3×3 topics
  22. Psychological Impact5▲ 5.7×4 topics
  23. Psychological Distress4▲ 6.7×2 topics
  24. Population Dynamics4▲ 6.3×7 topics
  25. Geopolitics4▲ 10×3 topics
  26. Marine Environment4▲ 11×3 topics
  27. Healthcare Workers4▲ 6.3×1 topic
  28. Northern Sea Route4▲ 58×1 topic
  29. Quarantine4▲ 10×1 topic
  30. Shipping4▲ 30×1 topic
  31. Cosmopolitanism4▲ 14×3 topics
  32. Fuzzy Sets4▲ 27×3 topics
  33. Molecular Phylogeny4▲ 8.9×7 topics
  34. Ocean Circulation4▲ 9.5×3 topics
  35. Bivalve Molluscs4▲ 43×1 topic
  36. Freshwater Biodiversity4▲ 21×2 topics
  37. Judicial Review4▲ 15×2 topics
  38. Oyster Reefs4▲ 43×1 topic
  39. Decolonization3▲ 15×2 topics
  40. Training Load3▲ 19×1 topic

Iceland

▲ 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 Change398▲ 2.5×100 topics
  2. Epidemiology292▲ 1.23×130 topics
  3. Sustainability196▲ 1.35×88 topics
  4. Globalization185▲ 1.58×95 topics
  5. Mental Health156▲ 1.83×41 topics
  6. Inflammation143◆ 1.13×76 topics
  7. Remote Sensing110▲ 1.52×31 topics
  8. Environmental Impact109◆ 1.08×52 topics
  9. Public Health104▲ 1.20×59 topics
  10. Quality of Life97◆ 1.13×52 topics
  11. Cardiovascular Disease96▲ 1.41×37 topics
  12. Treatment93▲ 1.29×49 topics
  13. Risk Factors87▲ 1.33×36 topics
  14. Depression87▲ 1.66×22 topics
  15. Biodiversity78▲ 1.72×34 topics
  16. Literature72▲ 2.2×37 topics
  17. Meta-Analysis67▲ 1.92×18 topics
  18. Resilience67▲ 2.3×17 topics
  19. Invasive Species66▲ 2.6×20 topics
  20. Religion64▲ 2.3×29 topics
  21. Prevalence63▲ 2.6×14 topics
  22. Arctic62▲ 9.4×4 topics
  23. Fisheries Sustainability60▲ 12×2 topics
  24. Labor Market58▲ 3.5×14 topics
  25. Governance56▲ 2.9×16 topics
  26. Aquaculture51▲ 3.4×8 topics
  27. International Relations49▲ 3.4×17 topics
  28. Hydrology45▲ 5.8×4 topics
  29. Plate Tectonics44▲ 4.9×3 topics
  30. Medieval43▲ 21×3 topics
  31. Financial Crisis41▲ 6.2×12 topics
  32. Holocene40▲ 6.0×3 topics
  33. Freshwater Biodiversity36▲ 9.9×2 topics
  34. Shipping35▲ 12×2 topics
  35. Banking Sector34▲ 43×3 topics
  36. Iceland34▲ 138×1 topic
  37. Socioeconomic Inequality34▲ 69×1 topic
  38. Oil and Gas33▲ 16×2 topics
  39. Maritime Transport33▲ 21×1 topic
  40. Northern Sea Route33▲ 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?

Iceland has out-published the Faroe Islands every year since 1980.

still counting5001k1.5kIceland1,335 in 2025Faroe Islands58 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 counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Iceland0.023% in 2025Faroe Islands0.00098% 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 counting10%20%Iceland10.3% in 2025Faroe Islands6.9% 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.

Faroe Islands 03 level2 Iceland
  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#42

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, Faroe Islands or Iceland?

Iceland publishes 21.1× as much research as the Faroe Islands in 2022-now (5.2k against 246 fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Faroe Islands or Iceland?

10.0% of Iceland's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 9.2% for the Faroe Islands.

Is Faroe Islands or Iceland growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +33% against 2018-21 for the Faroe Islands, and +11% for Iceland.

Which has more open access research, Faroe Islands or Iceland?

61% of the Faroe Islands's research is free to read, against 46% of Iceland's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Faroe Islands or Iceland?

The Faroe Islands holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Iceland 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%.

Iceland

  1. 1University of Iceland10.7% top 10% · 2.7k works
  2. 2Reykjavík University13.8% top 10% · 690 works
  3. 3Directorate of Health4.1% top 10% · 610 works
  4. 4University of Akureyri7.6% top 10% · 236 works
  5. 5Matís (Iceland)3.4% top 10% · 84 works
  6. 6Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies8.9% top 10% · 70 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.

Faroe Islands

  1. 1 Pál Weihe #107,757 worldwide 21k citations · 331 works
  2. 2 Fróði Debes #283,705 worldwide 5.7k citations · 55 works
  3. 3 Ulrike Steuerwald #445,529 worldwide 3.4k citations · 64 works
  4. 4 Anna Maria Fosaa #496,956 worldwide 3.2k citations · 37 works
  5. 5 Toke Meier Carlsen #515,762 worldwide 893 citations · 69 works

Iceland

  1. 1 Unnur Arna Thorsteinsdottir #13 worldwide 144k citations · 597 works
  2. 2 Kāri Stefánsson #43 worldwide 211k citations · 1,140 works
  3. 3 Augustine Kong #84 worldwide 97k citations · 293 works
  4. 4 Guðmar Þorleifsson #122 worldwide 120k citations · 579 works
  5. 5 Daniel Fannar Gudbjartsson #133 worldwide 88k citations · 524 works