Science Explorer Question CatalogueQuestions Back to mapMap
Science domain explorer
Compare · Countries

Iran vs South Africa

On research quality in 2022-now, Iran ranks #23 in the world and South Africa #26, of 189 countries. Iran stands higher in 18 of the 26 fields both publish in, South Africa in 8.

Iran

World rank, 2022-now
#23
#31 all time
Works, 2022-now
268k
fractional
Top-10% rate
16.3%
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.

South Africa

World rank, 2022-now
#26
#26 all time
Works, 2022-now
113k
fractional
Top-10% rate
21.5%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
49%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Archeology, Religious studies, Research and Theory.

Who leads in each field?

Iran stands higher in 18 of 26 fields, South Africa in 8. Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Iran 188 South Africa
  1. #19Agricultural and Biological Sciences#18
  2. #41Arts and Humanities#8
  3. #17Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#35
  4. #37Business, Management and Accounting#29
  5. #15Chemical Engineering#39
  6. #9Chemistry#28
  7. #23Computer Science#35
  8. #34Decision Sciences#26
  9. #20Dentistry#48
  10. #22Earth and Planetary Sciences#27
  11. #65Economics, Econometrics and Finance#11
  12. #5Energy#36
  13. #12Engineering#38
  14. #21Environmental Science#29
  15. #19Health Professions#32
  16. #15Immunology and Microbiology#34
  17. #9Materials Science#28
  18. #47Mathematics#30
  19. #25Medicine#32
  20. #30Neuroscience#42
  21. #13Nursing#50
  22. #7Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#24
  23. #34Physics and Astronomy#36
  24. #45Psychology#24
  25. #55Social Sciences#18
  26. #22Veterinary-

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.

How has their output grown?

50k100kIran69k in 2025South Africa31k in 20251990200020102020

Fractional works per year. The latest, partial year is left off.

Which publishes more research, Iran or South Africa?

Iran publishes 2.4× as much research as South Africa in 2022-now (268k against 113k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Iran or South Africa?

21.5% of South Africa's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 16.3% for Iran.

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. 1Iran University of Science and Technology24.3% top 10% · 5.6k works
  2. 2University of Tehran20.6% top 10% · 12k works
  3. 3Ilam University23.6% top 10% · 1k works
  4. 4University of Tabriz19.1% top 10% · 4.9k works
  5. 5Tehran University of Medical Sciences15.9% top 10% · 9.4k works
  6. 6Amirkabir University of Technology19.8% top 10% · 5.2k works

South Africa

  1. 1University of Johannesburg26.4% top 10% · 13k works
  2. 2University of South Africa23.7% top 10% · 9k works
  3. 3University of the Witwatersrand21.6% top 10% · 8.5k works
  4. 4University of Cape Town21.4% top 10% · 6.6k works
  5. 5Stellenbosch University19.5% top 10% · 7.7k works
  6. 6University of KwaZulu-Natal21.6% top 10% · 7.5k 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, 16.5% (why not 10%): 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.

Other comparisons

Compare any two