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Ireland vs Portugal

On research quality in 2022-now, Portugal ranks #27 in the world and Ireland #30, of 189 countries. Ireland stands higher in 4 of the 26 fields both publish in, Portugal in 22.

Research profiles alike: 0.72very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Ireland

World rank, 2022-now
#30
#27 all time
Works, 2022-now
57k
fractional
Top-10% rate
12.5%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
42%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Geriatrics and Gerontology, Medical Terminology, Research and Theory.

Portugal

World rank, 2022-now
#27
#25 all time
Works, 2022-now
129k
fractional
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
58%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management, Filtration and Separation, General Arts and Humanities.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Portugal leads on 3 of 9 measures: research quality, output and open access. Ireland leads on 2 of 9 measures: top-10% rate and citations per work. The two are level on excellence for its fields, institutions in the world top 100, international co-authorship and growth.

Ireland 24 level3 Portugal
  1. #30Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#27
  2. 1.01×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.99×
  3. 57kOutputfractional works, 2022-now129k
  4. 12.5%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited10.2%
  5. 23.1Citations per workall time, per fractional work16.4
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 42%Open accessof its works free to read, all time58%
  8. 28%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time28%
  9. +4%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+4%

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?

Ireland stands higher in 4 of 26 fields, Portugal in 22. Portugal leads most in Physics and Astronomy (#25 against #35); Ireland leads most in Earth and Planetary Sciences (#30 against #32). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Ireland 422 Portugal
  1. #29Agricultural and Biological Sciences#25
  2. #34Arts and Humanities#26
  3. #26Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#28
  4. #32Business, Management and Accounting#20
  5. -Chemical Engineering#20
  6. #28Chemistry#27
  7. #30Computer Science#27
  8. #27Decision Sciences#24
  9. #31Dentistry#25
  10. #30Earth and Planetary Sciences#32
  11. #32Economics, Econometrics and Finance#26
  12. #36Energy#30
  13. #30Engineering#27
  14. #32Environmental Science#23
  15. #26Health Professions#24
  16. #23Immunology and Microbiology#22
  17. #28Materials Science#27
  18. #36Mathematics#29
  19. #26Medicine#28
  20. #25Neuroscience#23
  21. #28Nursing#25
  22. -Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#20
  23. #35Physics and Astronomy#25
  24. #25Psychology#27
  25. #32Social Sciences#25
  26. -Veterinary#15

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 Ireland rankPortugal rank Ireland top 10%Portugal top 10% Ireland worksPortugal works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #29 #25 16.0% 14.3% 2k 5.4k
Arts and Humanities #34 #26 12.3% 9.8% 2.3k 5.2k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #26 #28 12.2% 10.8% 2.9k 5.8k
Business, Management and Accounting #32 #20 17.5% 12.1% 1.3k 5.4k
Chemical Engineering - #20 - 10.3% - 453
Chemistry #28 #27 11.0% 10.4% 587 1.5k
Computer Science #30 #27 11.6% 9.8% 3.7k 8.4k
Decision Sciences #27 #24 13.3% 11.0% 540 1.6k
Dentistry #31 #25 15.8% 15.4% 212 669
Earth and Planetary Sciences #30 #32 11.9% 10.0% 598 1.8k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #32 #26 11.8% 11.5% 1.3k 2.8k
Energy #36 #30 11.4% 11.8% 304 1k
Engineering #30 #27 12.8% 10.5% 5.6k 16k
Environmental Science #32 #23 12.2% 10.4% 2.4k 7.7k
Health Professions #26 #24 11.6% 10.4% 2.7k 4.7k
Immunology and Microbiology #23 #22 12.5% 10.4% 573 1k
Materials Science #28 #27 13.2% 10.0% 1k 2.9k
Mathematics #36 #29 10.8% 9.0% 441 1.2k
Medicine #26 #28 11.3% 8.5% 15k 27k
Neuroscience #25 #23 12.8% 9.2% 1.1k 1.9k
Nursing #28 #25 15.1% 11.5% 363 637
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics - #20 - 15.6% - 402
Physics and Astronomy #35 #25 9.5% 9.1% 841 1.9k
Psychology #25 #27 12.7% 9.8% 2.8k 5.4k
Social Sciences #32 #25 14.0% 10.4% 7.5k 18k
Veterinary - #15 - 13.0% - 231

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.

Ireland

▲ 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. Epidemiology3,426▲ 1.32×140 topics
  2. Machine Learning1,968◆ 0.91×97 topics
  3. Deep Learning1,901▼ 0.85×85 topics
  4. Inflammation1,794▲ 1.30×83 topics
  5. Climate Change1,640◆ 0.93×126 topics
  6. Quality of Life1,554▲ 1.66×60 topics
  7. Public Health1,496▲ 1.58×74 topics
  8. Globalization1,471◆ 1.15×169 topics
  9. Mental Health1,411▲ 1.52×48 topics
  10. Sustainability1,365▼ 0.86×128 topics
  11. Identity1,177▲ 2.5×76 topics
  12. Risk Factors1,162▲ 1.63×37 topics
  13. Treatment1,069▲ 1.35×52 topics
  14. Nationalism979▲ 3.4×33 topics
  15. Healthcare974▲ 1.31×42 topics
  16. Depression963▲ 1.69×26 topics
  17. Cardiovascular Disease938▲ 1.27×39 topics
  18. Diagnosis800▲ 1.32×41 topics
  19. Mortality754▲ 2.0×13 topics
  20. Big Data735▲ 1.18×36 topics
  21. Metabolic Syndrome707▲ 1.34×24 topics
  22. Primary Care706▲ 2.9×15 topics
  23. Clinical Trials691▲ 1.59×19 topics
  24. Ethnicity682▲ 2.8×25 topics
  25. Aging678▲ 1.92×19 topics
  26. Clinical Practice Guidelines619▲ 1.73×14 topics
  27. Gender605▲ 1.73×57 topics
  28. Anxiety598▲ 1.93×12 topics
  29. Ethics595▲ 1.81×57 topics
  30. Conflict588▲ 5.6×11 topics
  31. Colonialism580▲ 1.88×50 topics
  32. Transition568▲ 9.9×6 topics
  33. Guidelines565▲ 1.84×13 topics
  34. Ethical Considerations545▲ 2.4×21 topics
  35. Reconciliation466▲ 42×2 topics
  36. Paramilitarism463▲ 37×2 topics
  37. Peace Process463▲ 37×2 topics
  38. Consociationalism460▲ 61×1 topic
  39. Northern Ireland460▲ 61×1 topic
  40. Elderly Patients408▲ 3.7×4 topics

Portugal

▲ 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. Epidemiology6,759▲ 1.16×140 topics
  2. Sustainability5,389▲ 1.51×139 topics
  3. Climate Change4,176◆ 1.05×130 topics
  4. Quality of Life3,681▲ 1.75×61 topics
  5. Globalization3,595▲ 1.26×184 topics
  6. Machine Learning3,578▼ 0.74×97 topics
  7. Deep Learning3,391▼ 0.67×85 topics
  8. Public Health3,222▲ 1.52×77 topics
  9. Education3,088▲ 1.23×158 topics
  10. Environmental Impact2,956▲ 1.19×74 topics
  11. Mental Health2,953▲ 1.42×48 topics
  12. Inflammation2,668▼ 0.86×83 topics
  13. Treatment2,488▲ 1.40×52 topics
  14. Healthcare2,230▲ 1.34×44 topics
  15. Risk Factors2,220▲ 1.38×37 topics
  16. Oxidative Stress2,204◆ 0.92×63 topics
  17. Renewable Energy2,198◆ 1.04×61 topics
  18. Educational Technology2,062▲ 1.20×47 topics
  19. Public Policy1,963▲ 2.8×34 topics
  20. Cardiovascular Disease1,857◆ 1.12×39 topics
  21. Diagnosis1,844▲ 1.36×41 topics
  22. Innovation1,818▲ 1.21×88 topics
  23. Qualitative Research1,719▲ 1.39×46 topics
  24. Depression1,714▲ 1.34×26 topics
  25. Big Data1,684▲ 1.21×37 topics
  26. Teacher Training1,635▲ 1.83×30 topics
  27. Internet of Things1,598▲ 1.28×33 topics
  28. Supply Chain Management1,568▲ 1.20×27 topics
  29. Cultural Heritage1,535▲ 1.98×40 topics
  30. Identity1,534▲ 1.45×80 topics
  31. History1,505▲ 1.49×66 topics
  32. Economic Growth1,485▲ 1.25×37 topics
  33. Biodiversity1,437▲ 1.29×37 topics
  34. Social Support1,353▲ 1.72×20 topics
  35. Colonialism1,327▲ 1.92×52 topics
  36. Prevalence1,140▲ 1.91×15 topics
  37. Healthcare Access1,047▲ 2.6×13 topics
  38. Aging Population876▲ 6.8×5 topics
  39. Brazil744▲ 5.5×5 topics
  40. Anthropology697▲ 5.1×11 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?

Portugal has out-published Ireland every year since 1997, when it overtook it.

still counting20k40kPortugal31k in 2025Ireland15k 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%Portugal0.53% in 2025Ireland0.26% 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%Ireland11.9% in 2025Portugal10.5% 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.

Ireland 03 level2 Portugal
  1. 0In the world top 500
  2. 0In the top 1000
  3. 2In the top 5002
  4. 6In the top 1,0007
  5. #26Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#24

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, Ireland or Portugal?

Portugal publishes 2.3× as much research as Ireland in 2022-now (129k against 57k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Ireland or Portugal?

12.5% of Ireland's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 10.2% for Portugal.

Is Ireland or Portugal growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +4% against 2018-21 for Ireland, and +4% for Portugal.

Which has more open access research, Ireland or Portugal?

58% of Portugal's research is free to read, against 42% of Ireland's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Ireland or Portugal?

Ireland holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Portugal 0; in the top 1,000 it is 6 against 7.

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%.

Ireland

  1. 1Trinity College Dublin12.5% top 10% · 8.7k works
  2. 2University College Dublin13.3% top 10% · 11k works
  3. 3University College Cork12.4% top 10% · 6.3k works
  4. 4University of Limerick13.4% top 10% · 4k works
  5. 5Dublin City University14.9% top 10% · 3.6k works
  6. 6Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway13.3% top 10% · 4.6k works

Portugal

  1. 1University of Lisbon11.2% top 10% · 16k works
  2. 2Universidade do Porto11.5% top 10% · 14k works
  3. 3University of Coimbra10.0% top 10% · 10k works
  4. 4University of Aveiro10.8% top 10% · 6.7k works
  5. 5University of Minho11.1% top 10% · 7.3k works
  6. 6Universidade Nova de Lisboa11.5% top 10% · 6k 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.

Ireland

  1. 1 John F. Cryan #7,253 worldwide 121k citations · 1,303 works
  2. 2 Daniel G. Bradley #7,738 worldwide 31k citations · 297 works
  3. 3 Sarbast Moslem #8,647 worldwide 4.1k citations · 161 works
  4. 4 Liam O’Mahony #8,737 worldwide 35k citations · 369 works
  5. 5 John Gerard Laffey #9,250 worldwide 42k citations · 705 works

Portugal

  1. 1 Vítor Cardoso #3,266 worldwide 36k citations · 480 works
  2. 2 A. Amorim #9,306 worldwide 109k citations · 1,277 works
  3. 3 João Conde #10,125 worldwide 35k citations · 221 works
  4. 4 Zachary F. Mainen #11,337 worldwide 18k citations · 163 works
  5. 5 Tiago Oliveira #12,660 worldwide 25k citations · 335 works

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