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India vs Iran

On research quality in 2022-now, India ranks #18 in the world and Iran #45, of 189 countries. India stands higher in 25 of the 26 fields both publish in, Iran in 1.

Research profiles alike: 0.70very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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India

World rank, 2022-now
#18
#20 all time
Works, 2022-now
1.4M
fractional
Top-10% rate
6.5%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
40%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Drug Discovery, Pharmaceutical Science, Complementary and alternative medicine.

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?

Iran leads on 5 of 9 measures: citation excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, citations per work, open access and international co-authorship. India leads on 3 of 9 measures: research quality, output and growth. The two are level on institutions in the world top 100.

India 31 level5 Iran
  1. #18Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#45
  2. 0.67×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.85×
  3. 1.4MOutputfractional works, 2022-now268k
  4. 6.5%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited9.4%
  5. 12.0Citations per workall time, per fractional work14.5
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 40%Open accessof its works free to read, all time46%
  8. 11%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time13%
  9. +48%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, citation excellence and the top-10% rate are explained in the methodology.

Who leads in each field?

India stands higher in 25 of 26 fields, Iran in 1. India leads most in Economics, Econometrics and Finance (#20 against #71); Iran leads most in Energy (#11 against #15). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

India 251 Iran
  1. #17Agricultural and Biological Sciences#45
  2. #23Arts and Humanities#69
  3. #21Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#55
  4. #18Business, Management and Accounting#57
  5. #6Chemical Engineering#26
  6. #5Chemistry#30
  7. #19Computer Science#36
  8. #14Decision Sciences#47
  9. #27Dentistry#36
  10. #23Earth and Planetary Sciences#38
  11. #20Economics, Econometrics and Finance#71
  12. #15Energy#11
  13. #15Engineering#22
  14. #18Environmental Science#33
  15. #23Health Professions#47
  16. #28Immunology and Microbiology#54
  17. #14Materials Science#36
  18. #17Mathematics#45
  19. #30Medicine#67
  20. #27Neuroscience#42
  21. #23Nursing#47
  22. #8Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#27
  23. #19Physics and Astronomy#41
  24. #35Psychology#60
  25. #36Social Sciences#76
  26. #19Veterinary#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 India rankIran rank India top 10%Iran top 10% India worksIran works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #17 #45 6.9% 10.7% 108k 15k
Arts and Humanities #23 #69 8.5% 10.5% 17k 3.2k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #21 #55 6.2% 8.4% 70k 17k
Business, Management and Accounting #18 #57 8.9% 8.8% 37k 5.3k
Chemical Engineering #6 #26 7.6% 7.9% 5.8k 1.5k
Chemistry #5 #30 7.8% 10.5% 38k 7.9k
Computer Science #19 #36 6.5% 11.6% 167k 13k
Decision Sciences #14 #47 7.7% 9.6% 15k 2.7k
Dentistry #27 #36 4.1% 8.7% 15k 3k
Earth and Planetary Sciences #23 #38 7.0% 10.1% 14k 2.6k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #20 #71 7.3% 7.1% 22k 3k
Energy #15 #11 6.9% 10.3% 17k 3.8k
Engineering #15 #22 7.0% 11.2% 261k 49k
Environmental Science #18 #33 7.7% 9.9% 65k 13k
Health Professions #23 #47 6.8% 10.7% 29k 7k
Immunology and Microbiology #28 #54 5.7% 8.3% 10k 3.5k
Materials Science #14 #36 7.2% 9.1% 71k 14k
Mathematics #17 #45 9.0% 7.8% 17k 4.1k
Medicine #30 #67 4.8% 8.2% 254k 60k
Neuroscience #27 #42 5.9% 7.1% 19k 4.9k
Nursing #23 #47 6.6% 9.2% 8.5k 2.4k
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics #8 #27 6.4% 10.3% 11k 1.6k
Physics and Astronomy #19 #41 6.2% 7.5% 26k 4.9k
Psychology #35 #60 5.2% 7.2% 26k 12k
Social Sciences #36 #76 7.2% 8.1% 61k 13k
Veterinary #19 #25 4.3% 8.1% 1.6k 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.

India

▲ 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. Deep Learning122k▲ 2.2×85 topics
  2. Machine Learning110k▲ 2.0×97 topics
  3. Epidemiology62k◆ 0.97×140 topics
  4. Sustainability43k◆ 1.10×139 topics
  5. Climate Change40k◆ 0.92×132 topics
  6. Neural Networks37k▲ 1.50×42 topics
  7. Healthcare37k▲ 1.99×43 topics
  8. Nanoparticles34k▲ 1.68×44 topics
  9. Environmental Impact34k▲ 1.22×74 topics
  10. Internet of Things32k▲ 2.3×33 topics
  11. Artificial Intelligence29k▲ 1.28×67 topics
  12. Convolutional Neural Networks29k▲ 2.5×14 topics
  13. Biomedical Applications29k▲ 1.51×36 topics
  14. Nanomaterials29k▲ 1.71×21 topics
  15. Inflammation29k▼ 0.84×83 topics
  16. Security29k▲ 2.6×31 topics
  17. Oxidative Stress28k◆ 1.04×63 topics
  18. Renewable Energy27k▲ 1.18×61 topics
  19. Antioxidant24k▲ 2.2×51 topics
  20. COVID-1924k◆ 1.13×34 topics
  21. Mechanical Properties23k▲ 1.44×39 topics
  22. Data Mining22k▲ 1.88×25 topics
  23. Wireless Sensor Networks22k▲ 3.1×23 topics
  24. Energy Efficiency22k▲ 1.47×46 topics
  25. Big Data21k▲ 1.37×37 topics
  26. Medical Imaging19k▲ 2.2×9 topics
  27. Graphene19k▲ 1.74×12 topics
  28. Feature Extraction19k▲ 2.6×10 topics
  29. IoT18k▲ 3.0×19 topics
  30. Environmental Monitoring18k▲ 2.9×19 topics
  31. Image Processing18k▲ 2.5×14 topics
  32. IoT Security17k▲ 3.5×3 topics
  33. Classification17k▲ 2.3×13 topics
  34. Smart Cities14k▲ 3.4×8 topics
  35. Big Data Analytics13k▲ 3.9×5 topics
  36. Privacy13k▲ 2.8×11 topics
  37. Cybersecurity13k▲ 3.1×6 topics
  38. Feature Selection12k▲ 3.5×6 topics
  39. India11k▲ 9.1×4 topics
  40. Smart Farming10k▲ 5.5×2 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?

India has out-published Iran every year since 1980.

still counting200k400kIndia391k in 2025Iran69k 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 counting2.5%5.0%7.5%India6.7% in 2025Iran1.2% 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%Iran9.9% in 2025India6.6% 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.

India 32 level0 Iran
  1. 0In the world top 500
  2. 0In the top 1000
  3. 2In the top 5000
  4. 15In the top 1,0001
  5. #16Elite 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, India or Iran?

India publishes 5.2× as much research as Iran in 2022-now (1.4M against 268k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, India or Iran?

9.4% of Iran's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 6.5% for India.

Is India or Iran growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +48% against 2018-21 for India, and -17% for Iran.

Which has more open access research, India or Iran?

46% of Iran's research is free to read, against 40% of India's.

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

India holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Iran 0; in the top 1,000 it is 15 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%.

India

  1. 1Indian Institute of Science Bangalore7.1% top 10% · 8.1k works
  2. 2Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur9.3% top 10% · 10k works
  3. 3Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati7.3% top 10% · 7k works
  4. 4Indian Institute of Technology Bombay6.4% top 10% · 9.1k works
  5. 5Indian Institute of Technology Madras6.3% top 10% · 9.4k works
  6. 6Indian Institute of Technology Delhi8.4% top 10% · 11k 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.

India

  1. 1 Sanjit Mitra #61 worldwide 167k citations · 467 works
  2. 2 C. Mishra #208 worldwide 84k citations · 251 works
  3. 3 Sachin Kumar Mangla #416 worldwide 25k citations · 373 works
  4. 4 S. J. Kapadia #575 worldwide 52k citations · 233 works
  5. 5 P. Ajith #693 worldwide 82k citations · 285 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

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