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Japan vs South Africa

On research quality in 2022-now, South Africa ranks #26 in the world and Japan #27, of 189 countries. Japan stands higher in 14 of the 26 fields both publish in, South Africa in 12.

Japan

World rank, 2022-now
#27
#14 all time
Works, 2022-now
558k
fractional
Top-10% rate
10.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
42%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Condensed Matter Physics, Structural Biology, Gastroenterology.

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?

Japan stands higher in 14 of 26 fields, South Africa in 12. Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Japan 1412 South Africa
  1. #41Agricultural and Biological Sciences#18
  2. #36Arts and Humanities#8
  3. #21Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#35
  4. #61Business, Management and Accounting#29
  5. #25Chemical Engineering#39
  6. #27Chemistry#28
  7. #37Computer Science#35
  8. #51Decision Sciences#26
  9. #21Dentistry#48
  10. #25Earth and Planetary Sciences#27
  11. #34Economics, Econometrics and Finance#11
  12. #28Energy#36
  13. #33Engineering#38
  14. #33Environmental Science#29
  15. #46Health Professions#32
  16. #17Immunology and Microbiology#34
  17. #26Materials Science#28
  18. #24Mathematics#30
  19. #16Medicine#32
  20. #26Neuroscience#42
  21. #52Nursing#50
  22. #31Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#24
  23. #11Physics and Astronomy#36
  24. #38Psychology#24
  25. #44Social Sciences#18
  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.

How has their output grown?

50k100k150kJapan144k in 2025South Africa31k in 20251990200020102020

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

Which publishes more research, Japan or South Africa?

Japan publishes 4.9× as much research as South Africa in 2022-now (558k against 113k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Japan or South Africa?

21.5% of South Africa's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 10.7% for Japan.

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%.

Japan

  1. 1The University of Tokyo15.7% top 10% · 25k works
  2. 2Kyoto University15.1% top 10% · 15k works
  3. 3The University of Osaka12.4% top 10% · 13k works
  4. 4Tohoku University13.9% top 10% · 13k works
  5. 5Nagoya University13.0% top 10% · 9.7k works
  6. 6Kyushu University13.0% top 10% · 11k 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.

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