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French Polynesia vs New Caledonia

On research quality in 2022-now, New Caledonia ranks #137 in the world and French Polynesia #152, of 189 countries.

Research profiles alike: 0.78very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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French Polynesia

World rank, 2022-now
#152
#117 all time
Works, 2022-now
313
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
41%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Developmental Biology, History and Philosophy of Science, Geography, Planning and Development.

New Caledonia

World rank, 2022-now
#137
#126 all time
Works, 2022-now
498
fractional
Top-10% rate
6.0%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
41%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Linguistics and Language, Parasitology, Oceanography.

Who leads, measure by measure?

New Caledonia leads on 4 of 9 measures: research quality, output, international co-authorship and growth. French Polynesia leads on 1 of 9 measures: citations per work. The two are level on excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, institutions in the world top 100 and open access.

French Polynesia 14 level4 New Caledonia
  1. #152Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#137
  2. 0.96×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.97×
  3. 313Outputfractional works, 2022-now498
  4. 5.9%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited6.0%
  5. 22.6Citations per workall time, per fractional work21.3
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 41%Open accessof its works free to read, all time41%
  8. 41%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time50%
  9. +4%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+40%

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.

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.

French Polynesia

▲ 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 Change46▲ 4.9×40 topics
  2. Sustainability37▲ 4.3×17 topics
  3. Globalization36▲ 5.2×29 topics
  4. Decolonization28▲ 99×5 topics
  5. Governance26▲ 23×6 topics
  6. Vulnerability25▲ 31×4 topics
  7. Economic Development24▲ 8.8×9 topics
  8. Resilience24▲ 14×7 topics
  9. Environmental Impact23▲ 3.9×18 topics
  10. Pacific23▲ 344×2 topics
  11. Islands22▲ 559×1 topic
  12. Small States22▲ 559×1 topic
  13. Ocean Acidification18▲ 68×3 topics
  14. Public Health18▲ 3.5×20 topics
  15. Migration17▲ 14×8 topics
  16. Marine Ecosystems16▲ 86×2 topics
  17. Identity15▲ 6.2×14 topics
  18. Colonialism14▲ 8.7×13 topics
  19. Conservation14▲ 9.2×13 topics
  20. Public Policy13▲ 8.0×4 topics
  21. Sustainable Development13▲ 2.4×9 topics
  22. Population Dynamics13▲ 15×9 topics
  23. Social Justice13▲ 6.2×6 topics
  24. Community Engagement12▲ 11×5 topics
  25. Genetic Diversity12▲ 8.3×9 topics
  26. Local Development12▲ 34×2 topics
  27. Territorial Governance12▲ 30×2 topics
  28. Bleaching11▲ 101×1 topic
  29. Coral Reefs11▲ 101×1 topic
  30. Archaeology10▲ 24×3 topics
  31. Citizen Participation10▲ 26×1 topic
  32. Cultural History10▲ 25×2 topics
  33. Environmental Participation10▲ 43×1 topic
  34. Island Ecosystems10▲ 87×2 topics
  35. Pacific Islands10▲ 224×1 topic
  36. settlement10▲ 224×1 topic
  37. Aquaculture9▲ 10×7 topics
  38. Marine Environment9▲ 18×3 topics
  39. Cultural Diversity9▲ 11×5 topics
  40. Healthcare Access8▲ 8.9×4 topics

New Caledonia

▲ 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. Globalization74▲ 6.9×46 topics
  2. Climate Change71▲ 4.8×69 topics
  3. Decolonization48▲ 108×5 topics
  4. Sustainability47▲ 3.5×29 topics
  5. Identity35▲ 8.9×21 topics
  6. Colonialism33▲ 13×17 topics
  7. Economic Development32▲ 7.4×9 topics
  8. Vulnerability32▲ 25×7 topics
  9. Governance32▲ 18×8 topics
  10. Sociolinguistics30▲ 30×7 topics
  11. Resilience30▲ 11×7 topics
  12. Pacific27▲ 263×2 topics
  13. Islands27▲ 438×1 topic
  14. Migration27▲ 14×10 topics
  15. Small States27▲ 438×1 topic
  16. Public Health26▲ 3.2×31 topics
  17. Social Justice24▲ 7.4×17 topics
  18. Cultural Diversity24▲ 20×7 topics
  19. Multiculturalism22▲ 22×4 topics
  20. Environmental Impact21▲ 2.3×28 topics
  21. Ethnicity21▲ 10×8 topics
  22. Indigenous Peoples21▲ 151×3 topics
  23. Multilingualism21▲ 24×4 topics
  24. Cultural Defense19▲ 1623×1 topic
  25. Postcolonial Theory19▲ 131×1 topic
  26. Ocean Acidification17▲ 42×3 topics
  27. Population Dynamics17▲ 12×11 topics
  28. Conservation16▲ 6.8×16 topics
  29. Marine Ecosystems16▲ 53×2 topics
  30. Ecosystem Services15▲ 6.9×8 topics
  31. Community Engagement14▲ 7.8×8 topics
  32. Healthcare Access14▲ 9.2×5 topics
  33. Social Inequality14▲ 9.4×6 topics
  34. Nationalism14▲ 5.5×10 topics
  35. Language Policy14▲ 18×3 topics
  36. Vaccine Development13▲ 9.3×8 topics
  37. Discrimination13▲ 11×4 topics
  38. French Territories12▲ 234×1 topic
  39. Migrant Workers12▲ 234×1 topic
  40. Bleaching12▲ 64×1 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?

New Caledonia has out-published French Polynesia every year since 2020, when it overtook it.

still counting50100150New Caledonia134 in 2025French Polynesia69 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 counting0.0020%0.0040%0.0060%New Caledonia0.0023% in 2025French Polynesia0.0012% 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%French Polynesia7.3% in 2025New Caledonia6.6% 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.

French Polynesia 05 level0 New Caledonia
  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, French Polynesia or New Caledonia?

New Caledonia publishes 1.6× as much research as French Polynesia in 2022-now (498 against 313 fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, French Polynesia or New Caledonia?

6.0% of New Caledonia's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 5.9% for French Polynesia.

Is French Polynesia or New Caledonia growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +40% against 2018-21 for New Caledonia, and +4% for French Polynesia.

Which has more open access research, French Polynesia or New Caledonia?

41% of French Polynesia's research is free to read, against 41% of New Caledonia's.

Which has more world-class institutions, French Polynesia or New Caledonia?

French Polynesia holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and New Caledonia 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%.

New Caledonia

  1. 1University of New Caledonia4.9% top 10% · 353 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.

French Polynesia

  1. 1 Joachim Claudet #13,481 worldwide 13k citations · 340 works
  2. 2 Jeffrey Allen Maynard #68,760 worldwide 8k citations · 82 works
  3. 3 Didier Musso #145,369 worldwide 21k citations · 223 works
  4. 4 Van‐Mai Cao‐Lormeau #156,587 worldwide 14k citations · 126 works
  5. 5 Lauric Thiault #264,474 worldwide 1.6k citations · 38 works

New Caledonia

  1. 1 Johann D. Bell #196,760 worldwide 12k citations · 139 works
  2. 2 Valérie Allain #399,816 worldwide 3.9k citations · 94 works
  3. 3 Myrielle Dupont‐Rouzeyrol #497,548 worldwide 4k citations · 92 works
  4. 4 Dominique Cluzel #514,954 worldwide 6k citations · 153 works
  5. 5 John Hampton #647,659 worldwide 5.8k citations · 119 works