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Ghana vs Nigeria

On research quality in 2022-now, Ghana ranks #58 in the world and Nigeria #101, of 189 countries. Ghana stands higher in 19 of the 26 fields both publish in, Nigeria in 7.

Research profiles alike: 0.88very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Ghana

World rank, 2022-now
#58
#68 all time
Works, 2022-now
27k
fractional
Top-10% rate
10.8%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
65%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Library and Information Sciences, Horticulture, Research and Theory.

Nigeria

World rank, 2022-now
#101
#104 all time
Works, 2022-now
134k
fractional
Top-10% rate
4.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
70%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Library and Information Sciences, Drug Discovery, Chemical Health and Safety.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Ghana leads on 6 of 9 measures: research quality, citation excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, citations per work, international co-authorship and growth. Nigeria leads on 2 of 9 measures: output and open access. The two are level on institutions in the world top 100.

Ghana 61 level2 Nigeria
  1. #58Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#101
  2. 1.00×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.52×
  3. 27kOutputfractional works, 2022-now134k
  4. 10.8%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited4.9%
  5. 12.1Citations per workall time, per fractional work7.4
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 65%Open accessof its works free to read, all time70%
  8. 33%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time16%
  9. +42%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+22%

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?

Ghana stands higher in 19 of 26 fields, Nigeria in 7. Ghana leads most in Agricultural and Biological Sciences (#43 against #103). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Ghana 197 Nigeria
  1. #43Agricultural and Biological Sciences#103
  2. #55Arts and Humanities#80
  3. #61Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#93
  4. #46Business, Management and Accounting#92
  5. -Chemical Engineering#42
  6. -Chemistry#63
  7. #62Computer Science#112
  8. #45Decision Sciences#70
  9. -Dentistry#60
  10. #58Earth and Planetary Sciences#66
  11. #41Economics, Econometrics and Finance#79
  12. #57Energy#71
  13. #72Engineering#96
  14. #52Environmental Science#105
  15. #42Health Professions#85
  16. #40Immunology and Microbiology#59
  17. #70Materials Science#74
  18. #60Mathematics#75
  19. #58Medicine#84
  20. -Neuroscience#65
  21. #40Nursing#59
  22. -Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#43
  23. -Physics and Astronomy#74
  24. #58Psychology#95
  25. #59Social Sciences#113
  26. -Veterinary#29

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 Ghana rankNigeria rank Ghana top 10%Nigeria top 10% Ghana worksNigeria works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #43 #103 11.0% 4.0% 2.3k 14k
Arts and Humanities #55 #80 11.5% 8.7% 746 2.8k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #61 #93 9.3% 4.5% 637 4.6k
Business, Management and Accounting #46 #92 12.9% 4.9% 2.3k 7.7k
Chemical Engineering - #42 - 6.5% - 200
Chemistry - #63 - 6.0% - 1.6k
Computer Science #62 #112 10.8% 5.7% 1.4k 8k
Decision Sciences #45 #70 9.5% 4.8% 458 2k
Dentistry - #60 - 3.5% - 409
Earth and Planetary Sciences #58 #66 11.4% 5.8% 207 1.5k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #41 #79 13.1% 5.0% 1.6k 6.5k
Energy #57 #71 9.8% 4.2% 235 1.7k
Engineering #72 #96 8.0% 4.9% 1.7k 14k
Environmental Science #52 #105 9.1% 4.4% 1.9k 10k
Health Professions #42 #85 13.2% 6.1% 1.1k 4.3k
Immunology and Microbiology #40 #59 12.1% 5.0% 295 1.3k
Materials Science #70 #74 7.5% 6.6% 206 2.8k
Mathematics #60 #75 11.1% 6.3% 277 1.9k
Medicine #58 #84 10.1% 4.1% 4.3k 21k
Neuroscience - #65 - 5.2% - 739
Nursing #40 #59 11.6% 3.3% 396 1.9k
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics - #43 - 3.3% - 1.3k
Physics and Astronomy - #74 - 4.6% - 673
Psychology #58 #95 8.7% 4.4% 1k 3.5k
Social Sciences #59 #113 11.6% 5.7% 5k 20k
Veterinary - #29 - 2.6% - 255

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.

Ghana

▲ 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. Epidemiology1,614▲ 1.30×136 topics
  2. Sustainability1,476▲ 1.93×109 topics
  3. Climate Change1,179▲ 1.39×111 topics
  4. Globalization1,054▲ 1.72×132 topics
  5. Environmental Impact932▲ 1.75×67 topics
  6. Renewable Energy815▲ 1.80×53 topics
  7. Sustainable Development808▲ 1.65×89 topics
  8. Education786▲ 1.46×101 topics
  9. Economic Growth786▲ 3.1×34 topics
  10. Social Capital700▲ 4.3×21 topics
  11. Public Health690▲ 1.52×65 topics
  12. Mental Health661▲ 1.48×43 topics
  13. Risk Management650▲ 4.4×18 topics
  14. Supply Chain Management597▲ 2.1×26 topics
  15. Maternal Mortality544▲ 7.8×5 topics
  16. Corporate Governance529▲ 2.3×27 topics
  17. Poverty Reduction517▲ 13×7 topics
  18. Consumer Behavior514▲ 2.6×18 topics
  19. Community Health Workers479▲ 17×2 topics
  20. Biodiversity Conservation456▲ 3.9×17 topics
  21. Health Inequalities456▲ 12×5 topics
  22. Urbanization456▲ 3.6×13 topics
  23. Child Development449▲ 3.5×8 topics
  24. Leadership447▲ 2.9×35 topics
  25. Socio-economic Factors435▲ 12×3 topics
  26. Child Mortality432▲ 19×1 topic
  27. Health Systems432▲ 19×1 topic
  28. Smallholder Farmers429▲ 6.5×6 topics
  29. Social Networks417▲ 4.9×13 topics
  30. Governance412▲ 4.0×15 topics
  31. Development397▲ 3.6×19 topics
  32. Sustainable Agriculture395▲ 4.1×15 topics
  33. Gender Inequality381▲ 8.8×6 topics
  34. Global Burden of Disease372▲ 4.8×4 topics
  35. Poverty Alleviation372▲ 12×3 topics
  36. Vulnerability370▲ 5.1×8 topics
  37. ICT305▲ 7.3×5 topics
  38. Maternal and Child Undernutrition305▲ 12×1 topic
  39. Water Sanitation Hygiene305▲ 12×1 topic
  40. Institutional Quality302▲ 9.2×3 topics

Nigeria

▲ 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. Epidemiology6,992◆ 1.09×140 topics
  2. Sustainability6,209▲ 1.58×131 topics
  3. Environmental Impact6,008▲ 2.2×72 topics
  4. Education5,751▲ 2.1×146 topics
  5. Machine Learning5,438◆ 1.02×97 topics
  6. Sustainable Development5,257▲ 2.1×108 topics
  7. Globalization4,985▲ 1.58×173 topics
  8. Climate Change4,966◆ 1.14×127 topics
  9. Renewable Energy4,353▲ 1.87×61 topics
  10. Economic Growth4,324▲ 3.3×38 topics
  11. Oxidative Stress3,687▲ 1.39×63 topics
  12. Antioxidant3,412▲ 3.1×51 topics
  13. Development3,202▲ 5.6×23 topics
  14. Gender Equality3,084▲ 6.8×18 topics
  15. Corporate Governance2,913▲ 2.5×32 topics
  16. Risk Management2,754▲ 3.6×20 topics
  17. Curriculum Development2,746▲ 2.5×20 topics
  18. Antioxidant Activity2,743▲ 2.7×32 topics
  19. Nigeria2,734▲ 79×3 topics
  20. Information Technology2,674▲ 3.5×32 topics
  21. Medicinal Plants2,492▲ 4.0×21 topics
  22. Social Capital2,408▲ 2.9×20 topics
  23. Genetic Diversity2,394▲ 3.4×22 topics
  24. Antioxidants2,137▲ 3.0×17 topics
  25. Teacher Education2,125▲ 10×8 topics
  26. Toxicity2,107▲ 3.0×20 topics
  27. Governance2,098▲ 4.0×19 topics
  28. Quality Assurance2,067▲ 7.6×9 topics
  29. Fiscal Policy2,016▲ 6.2×11 topics
  30. Bioactive Compounds1,971▲ 4.9×15 topics
  31. Youth Unemployment1,884▲ 99×1 topic
  32. ICT1,763▲ 8.2×5 topics
  33. Institutional Quality1,723▲ 10×3 topics
  34. Inequality1,694▲ 4.6×18 topics
  35. Smallholder Farmers1,669▲ 4.9×6 topics
  36. Knowledge Economy1,451▲ 8.3×11 topics
  37. Mobile Phones1,415▲ 19×3 topics
  38. Inclusive Development1,410▲ 20×2 topics
  39. financial access1,397▲ 22×1 topic
  40. gender inclusion1,397▲ 22×1 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?

Nigeria has out-published Ghana every year since 1980.

still counting20k40kNigeria40k in 2025Ghana7,317 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 counting0.25%0.50%0.75%Nigeria0.67% in 2025Ghana0.12% 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%Ghana11.1% in 2025Nigeria4.6% 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.

Ghana 05 level0 Nigeria
  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, Ghana or Nigeria?

Nigeria publishes 5.0× as much research as Ghana in 2022-now (134k against 27k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Ghana or Nigeria?

10.8% of Ghana's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 4.9% for Nigeria.

Is Ghana or Nigeria growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +42% against 2018-21 for Ghana, and +22% for Nigeria.

Which has more open access research, Ghana or Nigeria?

70% of Nigeria's research is free to read, against 65% of Ghana's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Ghana or Nigeria?

Ghana holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Nigeria 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%.

Ghana

  1. 1University of Ghana11.0% top 10% · 5.3k works
  2. 2University of Cape Coast12.8% top 10% · 2.8k works
  3. 3Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology10.8% top 10% · 4.5k works
  4. 4University for Development Studies11.1% top 10% · 1.9k works
  5. 5University of Education, Winneba8.0% top 10% · 1.4k works
  6. 6Takoradi Technical University13.8% top 10% · 404 works

Nigeria

  1. 1Covenant University7.9% top 10% · 1.6k works
  2. 2Lead City University4.8% top 10% · 1k works
  3. 3Adekunle Ajasin University5.6% top 10% · 1k works
  4. 4Redeemer's University8.4% top 10% · 599 works
  5. 5University of Lagos5.2% top 10% · 3.6k works
  6. 6University of Ibadan6.0% top 10% · 5.8k 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.

Ghana

  1. 1 Richard Gyan Aboagye #22,347 worldwide 39k citations · 250 works
  2. 2 Emmanuel Joel Aikins Abakah #27,882 worldwide 4.7k citations · 132 works
  3. 3 Martin Amogre Ayanore #33,207 worldwide 54k citations · 181 works
  4. 4 Robert Kokou Dowou #33,244 worldwide 25k citations · 109 works
  5. 5 Hubert Amu #37,771 worldwide 49k citations · 190 works

Nigeria

  1. 1 Michael Ekholuenetale #7,006 worldwide 69k citations · 215 works
  2. 2 Olayinka Stephen Ilesanmi #10,324 worldwide 161k citations · 355 works
  3. 3 Mu’awiyyah Babale Sufiyan #10,737 worldwide 123k citations · 106 works
  4. 4 Oye Gureje #14,357 worldwide 94k citations · 694 works
  5. 5 Aminu Shittu #16,229 worldwide 34k citations · 108 works