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Iran vs Qatar

On research quality in 2022-now, Iran ranks #45 in the world and Qatar #46, of 189 countries. Iran stands higher in 18 of the 26 fields both publish in, Qatar in 8.

Research profiles alike: 0.32somewhat alike shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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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.

Qatar

World rank, 2022-now
#46
#48 all time
Works, 2022-now
18k
fractional
Top-10% rate
15.0%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
55%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Microbiology, General Energy, Issues, ethics and legal aspects.

Who leads, measure by measure?

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

Iran 21 level6 Qatar
  1. #45Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#46
  2. 0.85×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected1.17×
  3. 268kOutputfractional works, 2022-now18k
  4. 9.4%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited15.0%
  5. 14.5Citations per workall time, per fractional work18.1
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 46%Open accessof its works free to read, all time55%
  8. 13%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time44%
  9. -17%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+25%

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?

Iran stands higher in 18 of 26 fields, Qatar in 8. Iran leads most in Energy (#11 against #37); Qatar leads most in Medicine (#36 against #67). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Iran 188 Qatar
  1. #45Agricultural and Biological Sciences#69
  2. #69Arts and Humanities#70
  3. #55Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#49
  4. #57Business, Management and Accounting#49
  5. #26Chemical Engineering-
  6. #30Chemistry-
  7. #36Computer Science#44
  8. #47Decision Sciences-
  9. #36Dentistry-
  10. #38Earth and Planetary Sciences-
  11. #71Economics, Econometrics and Finance#53
  12. #11Energy#37
  13. #22Engineering#41
  14. #33Environmental Science#47
  15. #47Health Professions#44
  16. #54Immunology and Microbiology-
  17. #36Materials Science#50
  18. #45Mathematics-
  19. #67Medicine#36
  20. #42Neuroscience#39
  21. #47Nursing-
  22. #27Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics-
  23. #41Physics and Astronomy-
  24. #60Psychology#48
  25. #76Social Sciences#48
  26. #25Veterinary-

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 Iran rankQatar rank Iran top 10%Qatar top 10% Iran worksQatar works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #45 #69 10.7% 17.5% 15k 370
Arts and Humanities #69 #70 10.5% 16.9% 3.2k 245
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #55 #49 8.4% 12.8% 17k 854
Business, Management and Accounting #57 #49 8.8% 22.6% 5.3k 600
Chemical Engineering #26 - 7.9% - 1.5k -
Chemistry #30 - 10.5% - 7.9k -
Computer Science #36 #44 11.6% 18.5% 13k 1.4k
Decision Sciences #47 - 9.6% - 2.7k -
Dentistry #36 - 8.7% - 3k -
Earth and Planetary Sciences #38 - 10.1% - 2.6k -
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #71 #53 7.1% 18.9% 3k 414
Energy #11 #37 10.3% 16.0% 3.8k 335
Engineering #22 #41 11.2% 15.6% 49k 2.7k
Environmental Science #33 #47 9.9% 17.9% 13k 839
Health Professions #47 #44 10.7% 15.1% 7k 589
Immunology and Microbiology #54 - 8.3% - 3.5k -
Materials Science #36 #50 9.1% 13.7% 14k 469
Mathematics #45 - 7.8% - 4.1k -
Medicine #67 #36 8.2% 10.8% 60k 5.3k
Neuroscience #42 #39 7.1% 13.8% 4.9k 235
Nursing #47 - 9.2% - 2.4k -
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics #27 - 10.3% - 1.6k -
Physics and Astronomy #41 - 7.5% - 4.9k -
Psychology #60 #48 7.2% 15.4% 12k 538
Social Sciences #76 #48 8.1% 19.4% 13k 2k
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.

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

Qatar

▲ 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. Epidemiology1,225▲ 1.49×137 topics
  2. Machine Learning896▲ 1.31×94 topics
  3. Deep Learning792◆ 1.12×84 topics
  4. Sustainability571◆ 1.14×101 topics
  5. Renewable Energy557▲ 1.87×50 topics
  6. Inflammation538▲ 1.23×83 topics
  7. Healthcare412▲ 1.75×38 topics
  8. Cardiovascular Disease411▲ 1.75×39 topics
  9. Quality of Life389▲ 1.31×58 topics
  10. Environmental Impact386◆ 1.10×65 topics
  11. Treatment380▲ 1.52×52 topics
  12. COVID-19377▲ 1.41×34 topics
  13. Public Health361▲ 1.20×66 topics
  14. Oxidative Stress348◆ 1.03×63 topics
  15. Diagnosis344▲ 1.79×41 topics
  16. Mental Health319◆ 1.08×47 topics
  17. Metabolic Syndrome316▲ 1.90×24 topics
  18. Risk Factors316▲ 1.40×37 topics
  19. Neural Networks315◆ 0.99×41 topics
  20. Pandemic306▲ 1.50×14 topics
  21. Supply Chain Management286▲ 1.55×25 topics
  22. Depression283▲ 1.57×26 topics
  23. Management257▲ 1.57×38 topics
  24. Energy Efficiency250▲ 1.32×39 topics
  25. Security233▲ 1.69×27 topics
  26. Mortality230▲ 1.97×13 topics
  27. Risk Management221▲ 2.3×18 topics
  28. Complications208▲ 2.0×17 topics
  29. Diabetes195▲ 1.89×22 topics
  30. SARS-CoV-2186▲ 3.0×6 topics
  31. Smart Grid185▲ 2.5×10 topics
  32. Social Networks181▲ 3.2×12 topics
  33. Renewable Energy Integration174▲ 2.6×5 topics
  34. Middle East154▲ 12×2 topics
  35. ACE2 Receptor147▲ 3.2×3 topics
  36. Human Resource Management145▲ 4.6×6 topics
  37. Localization140▲ 5.7×4 topics
  38. Guanxi127▲ 29×1 topic
  39. Wasta127▲ 29×1 topic
  40. Genocide103▲ 9.5×3 topics

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 Qatar every year since 1980.

still counting50k100kIran69k in 2025Qatar5,266 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 2025Qatar0.090% 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%Qatar13.9% 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.

Iran 03 level2 Qatar
  1. 0In the world top 500
  2. 0In the top 1000
  3. 0In the top 5000
  4. 1In the top 1,0002
  5. #45Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#36

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, Iran or Qatar?

Iran publishes 14.8× as much research as Qatar in 2022-now (268k against 18k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Iran or Qatar?

15.0% of Qatar's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 9.4% for Iran.

Is Iran or Qatar growing faster?

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

Which has more open access research, Iran or Qatar?

55% of Qatar's research is free to read, against 46% of Iran's.

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

Iran holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Qatar 0; in the top 1,000 it is 1 against 2.

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%.

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

Qatar

  1. 1Qatar University19.2% top 10% · 6k works
  2. 2Hamad bin Khalifa University18.5% top 10% · 2.4k works
  3. 3Qatar Foundation22.2% top 10% · 667 works
  4. 4Primary Health Care6.4% top 10% · 961 works
  5. 5Qatar Science and Technology Park20.0% top 10% · 359 works
  6. 6Doha Institute for Graduate Studies24.6% top 10% · 321 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.

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

Qatar

  1. 1 Mowafa Said Househ #3,730 worldwide 72k citations · 395 works
  2. 2 Alaa Ali Abd-Alrazaq #3,958 worldwide 8.1k citations · 190 works
  3. 3 Hamzeh Adel Al Amosh #7,255 worldwide 2.4k citations · 81 works
  4. 4 Laith Jamal Abu-Raddad #12,545 worldwide 139k citations · 614 works
  5. 5 Riyazuddin Mohammad Shaik #14,987 worldwide 5.8k citations · 105 works