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Kenya vs Zimbabwe

On research quality in 2022-now, Kenya ranks #57 in the world and Zimbabwe #75, of 189 countries. Kenya stands higher in 17 of the 17 fields both publish in, Zimbabwe in 0.

Research profiles alike: 0.94very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Kenya

World rank, 2022-now
#57
#58 all time
Works, 2022-now
29k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
70%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Safety Research, Business and International Management, Library and Information Sciences.

Zimbabwe

World rank, 2022-now
#75
#82 all time
Works, 2022-now
7.2k
fractional
Top-10% rate
6.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
52%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Fuel Technology, Archeology, Public Administration.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Kenya leads on 4 of 9 measures: research quality, output, citations per work and open access. Zimbabwe leads on 4 of 9 measures: excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, international co-authorship and growth. The two are level on institutions in the world top 100.

Kenya 41 level4 Zimbabwe
  1. #57Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#75
  2. 0.73×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.83×
  3. 29kOutputfractional works, 2022-now7.2k
  4. 5.7%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited6.9%
  5. 12.3Citations per workall time, per fractional work10.3
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 70%Open accessof its works free to read, all time52%
  8. 26%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time31%
  9. +28%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+51%

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?

Kenya stands higher in 17 of 17 fields, Zimbabwe in 0. Kenya leads most in Agricultural and Biological Sciences (#39 against #74). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Kenya 170 Zimbabwe
  1. #39Agricultural and Biological Sciences#74
  2. #64Arts and Humanities-
  3. #57Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology-
  4. #69Business, Management and Accounting#76
  5. #73Computer Science#87
  6. #66Decision Sciences-
  7. #65Economics, Econometrics and Finance#70
  8. #79Engineering#97
  9. #58Environmental Science#85
  10. #57Health Professions#72
  11. #36Immunology and Microbiology-
  12. #77Materials Science-
  13. #52Mathematics-
  14. #44Medicine#62
  15. #41Nursing-
  16. #70Psychology#79
  17. #71Social Sciences#72

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 Kenya rankZimbabwe rank Kenya top 10%Zimbabwe top 10% Kenya worksZimbabwe works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #39 #74 9.6% 7.3% 3.1k 623
Arts and Humanities #64 - 7.2% - 720 -
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #57 - 8.2% - 705 -
Business, Management and Accounting #69 #76 2.6% 6.0% 3.3k 548
Computer Science #73 #87 4.8% 6.8% 1.3k 336
Decision Sciences #66 - 3.1% - 710 -
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #65 #70 3.4% 4.6% 1.8k 367
Engineering #79 #97 5.8% 4.3% 1.4k 677
Environmental Science #58 #85 6.5% 4.8% 2k 509
Health Professions #57 #72 7.5% 9.9% 1.1k 276
Immunology and Microbiology #36 - 9.0% - 308 -
Materials Science #77 - 5.0% - 232 -
Mathematics #52 - 5.7% - 352 -
Medicine #44 #62 7.1% 9.9% 3.9k 785
Nursing #41 - 6.2% - 393 -
Psychology #70 #79 5.0% 4.9% 1.1k 210
Social Sciences #71 #72 4.7% 7.3% 6.1k 2k

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.

Kenya

▲ 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. Climate Change1,810▲ 1.98×120 topics
  2. Sustainability1,751▲ 2.1×122 topics
  3. Epidemiology1,518◆ 1.13×136 topics
  4. Globalization1,252▲ 1.90×144 topics
  5. Supply Chain Management1,068▲ 3.5×25 topics
  6. Innovation1,016▲ 2.9×76 topics
  7. Poverty Reduction982▲ 22×6 topics
  8. Risk Management961▲ 6.0×17 topics
  9. Social Capital923▲ 5.3×20 topics
  10. Sustainable Development899▲ 1.71×96 topics
  11. Education894▲ 1.55×120 topics
  12. Economic Growth864▲ 3.1×32 topics
  13. Leadership820▲ 5.0×33 topics
  14. Corporate Governance798▲ 3.2×29 topics
  15. Development713▲ 5.9×20 topics
  16. Economic Development671▲ 2.5×50 topics
  17. Gender Equality655▲ 6.9×19 topics
  18. Sustainable Agriculture606▲ 5.8×16 topics
  19. Gender Inequality578▲ 12×7 topics
  20. Food Security577▲ 3.2×25 topics
  21. Smallholder Farmers569▲ 8.0×6 topics
  22. Social Networks560▲ 6.1×13 topics
  23. Community Health Workers555▲ 19×2 topics
  24. Rural Development550▲ 4.8×21 topics
  25. Adaptation547▲ 5.5×15 topics
  26. Maternal Mortality542▲ 7.2×5 topics
  27. Performance Measurement483▲ 5.4×7 topics
  28. Health Inequalities478▲ 12×5 topics
  29. Social Protection469▲ 31×2 topics
  30. Primary Education469▲ 35×2 topics
  31. Conditional Cash Transfers469▲ 39×1 topic
  32. School Subsidies469▲ 39×1 topic
  33. Socio-economic Factors463▲ 12×3 topics
  34. Child Mortality458▲ 19×1 topic
  35. Health Systems458▲ 19×1 topic
  36. Empowerment383▲ 12×6 topics
  37. Financial Constraints374▲ 11×2 topics
  38. Poverty Alleviation365▲ 11×3 topics
  39. Financial Inclusion365▲ 21×1 topic
  40. Microfinance365▲ 21×1 topic

Zimbabwe

▲ 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. Colonialism557▲ 14×23 topics
  2. Social Justice455▲ 9.1×35 topics
  3. Nationalism444▲ 12×15 topics
  4. Sustainability430▲ 2.1×96 topics
  5. Political Economy415▲ 19×14 topics
  6. Climate Change406▲ 1.79×108 topics
  7. Land Reform389▲ 99×2 topics
  8. History388▲ 6.7×13 topics
  9. Agrarian Relations362▲ 470×1 topic
  10. Zimbabwe362▲ 470×1 topic
  11. Sustainable Development355▲ 2.7×84 topics
  12. Globalization319▲ 1.94×104 topics
  13. Social Capital236▲ 5.4×18 topics
  14. Environmental Impact225▲ 1.58×65 topics
  15. Mental Health203▲ 1.70×41 topics
  16. COVID-19196▲ 1.81×29 topics
  17. Economic Growth190▲ 2.8×30 topics
  18. Higher Education180▲ 4.0×27 topics
  19. Human Rights179▲ 2.1×51 topics
  20. Poverty Reduction175▲ 16×6 topics
  21. Innovation173▲ 2.0×56 topics
  22. Digital Transformation161▲ 3.6×22 topics
  23. Economic Development157▲ 2.4×38 topics
  24. Development142▲ 4.8×17 topics
  25. Sustainable Agriculture134▲ 5.2×14 topics
  26. Gender Inequality128▲ 11×6 topics
  27. Social Impact128▲ 3.9×15 topics
  28. Vulnerability125▲ 6.4×8 topics
  29. Poverty Alleviation124▲ 16×2 topics
  30. Antiretroviral Therapy122▲ 9.0×6 topics
  31. Rural Development122▲ 4.2×15 topics
  32. Health Equity115▲ 4.7×6 topics
  33. Land Tenure114▲ 33×2 topics
  34. Smallholder Farmers107▲ 6.1×6 topics
  35. Postcolonialism93▲ 7.8×10 topics
  36. Urban Poverty87▲ 24×2 topics
  37. Housing Policy87▲ 37×1 topic
  38. Slum Upgrading87▲ 37×1 topic
  39. Decolonization86▲ 13×7 topics
  40. Community Health Workers84▲ 11×2 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?

Kenya has out-published Zimbabwe every year since 1980.

still counting5k10kKenya7,818 in 2025Zimbabwe2,138 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 counting0.050%0.10%0.15%Kenya0.13% in 2025Zimbabwe0.036% 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%Zimbabwe7.9% in 2025Kenya6.3% 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.

Kenya 05 level0 Zimbabwe
  1. 0In the world top 500
  2. 0In the top 1000
  3. 0In the top 5000
  4. 0In the top 1,0000
  5. #51Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#51

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, Kenya or Zimbabwe?

Kenya publishes 4.1× as much research as Zimbabwe in 2022-now (29k against 7.2k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Kenya or Zimbabwe?

6.9% of Zimbabwe's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 5.7% for Kenya.

Is Kenya or Zimbabwe growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +51% against 2018-21 for Zimbabwe, and +28% for Kenya.

Which has more open access research, Kenya or Zimbabwe?

70% of Kenya's research is free to read, against 52% of Zimbabwe's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Kenya or Zimbabwe?

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

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%.

Kenya

  1. 1Kenya Medical Research Institute12.2% top 10% · 708 works
  2. 2University of Nairobi4.8% top 10% · 3.1k works
  3. 3Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology3.7% top 10% · 2.4k works
  4. 4Moi University4.9% top 10% · 1.2k works
  5. 5Kisii University4.7% top 10% · 571 works
  6. 6Kenyatta University3.1% top 10% · 2.9k works

Zimbabwe

  1. 1University of Zimbabwe6.5% top 10% · 1.5k works
  2. 2National University of Science and Technology6.3% top 10% · 1.2k works
  3. 3Great Zimbabwe University5.6% top 10% · 524 works
  4. 4Midlands State University6.6% top 10% · 1.1k works
  5. 5Chinhoyi University of Technology6.9% top 10% · 389 works
  6. 6Harare Institute of Technology3.4% top 10% · 228 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.

Kenya

  1. 1 Robert William Snow #6,135 worldwide 58k citations · 677 works
  2. 2 Edwine Barasa #13,107 worldwide 9.2k citations · 311 works
  3. 3 Kevin Marsh #18,105 worldwide 58k citations · 689 works
  4. 4 J. Anthony G. Scott #24,316 worldwide 21k citations · 396 works
  5. 5 Menale B. Kassie #24,373 worldwide 14k citations · 263 works

Zimbabwe

  1. 1 Jephat Chifamba #20,133 worldwide 23k citations · 165 works
  2. 2 Brighton Nyagadza #68,624 worldwide 1.6k citations · 133 works
  3. 3 Régis Chikowo #103,612 worldwide 6.2k citations · 178 works
  4. 4 Christian Thierfelder #135,188 worldwide 10k citations · 271 works
  5. 5 Willis Gwenzi #170,977 worldwide 8.2k citations · 219 works