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Nicaragua vs Panama

On research quality in 2022-now, Panama ranks #67 in the world and Nicaragua #82, of 189 countries. Nicaragua stands higher in 1 of the 11 fields both publish in, Panama in 10.

Research profiles alike: 0.89very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Nicaragua

World rank, 2022-now
#82
#79 all time
Works, 2022-now
2.7k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
79%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Horticulture, General Social Sciences, General Agricultural and Biological Sciences.

Panama

World rank, 2022-now
#67
#65 all time
Works, 2022-now
6.5k
fractional
Top-10% rate
6.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
72%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology, Life-span and Life-course Studies, Computer Science Applications.

Who leads, measure by measure?

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

Nicaragua 21 level6 Panama
  1. #82Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#67
  2. 0.80×Excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.82×
  3. 2.7kOutputfractional works, 2022-now6.5k
  4. 5.9%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited6.7%
  5. 4.0Citations per workall time, per fractional work13.9
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 79%Open accessof its works free to read, all time72%
  8. 34%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time26%
  9. +4%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+92%

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?

Nicaragua stands higher in 1 of 11 fields, Panama in 10. Panama leads most in Social Sciences (#56 against #62); Nicaragua leads most in Agricultural and Biological Sciences (#60 against #61). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Nicaragua 110 Panama
  1. #60Agricultural and Biological Sciences#61
  2. -Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#59
  3. -Business, Management and Accounting#73
  4. -Computer Science#82
  5. -Economics, Econometrics and Finance#67
  6. -Engineering#76
  7. -Environmental Science#53
  8. -Health Professions#56
  9. #69Medicine#64
  10. -Psychology#69
  11. #62Social Sciences#56

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 Nicaragua rankPanama rank Nicaragua top 10%Panama top 10% Nicaragua worksPanama works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #60 #61 5.1% 6.5% 355 526
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology - #59 - 7.0% - 217
Business, Management and Accounting - #73 - 5.4% - 358
Computer Science - #82 - 6.7% - 589
Economics, Econometrics and Finance - #67 - 5.9% - 271
Engineering - #76 - 4.6% - 234
Environmental Science - #53 - 7.6% - 509
Health Professions - #56 - 4.9% - 288
Medicine #69 #64 5.4% 4.3% 259 895
Psychology - #69 - 6.7% - 258
Social Sciences #62 #56 6.9% 8.6% 768 1.8k

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.

Nicaragua

▲ 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. Education295▲ 5.5×90 topics
  2. Sustainability220▲ 2.9×89 topics
  3. Innovation201▲ 6.2×54 topics
  4. Globalization194▲ 3.2×97 topics
  5. Climate Change171▲ 2.0×99 topics
  6. Sustainable Development153▲ 3.1×71 topics
  7. Environmental Impact151▲ 2.8×58 topics
  8. Educational Technology135▲ 3.6×35 topics
  9. Public Health131▲ 2.9×58 topics
  10. Food Security119▲ 7.0×23 topics
  11. E-Learning117▲ 3.9×20 topics
  12. Teacher Training117▲ 6.1×22 topics
  13. Latin America114▲ 19×22 topics
  14. Knowledge Management107▲ 6.1×27 topics
  15. Biodiversity104▲ 4.4×31 topics
  16. Digital Marketing101▲ 8.3×4 topics
  17. Public Policy96▲ 6.5×22 topics
  18. Sustainable Agriculture96▲ 10.0×16 topics
  19. Pedagogy95▲ 6.0×19 topics
  20. Rural Development88▲ 8.2×16 topics
  21. Competitiveness87▲ 35×6 topics
  22. Small and Medium Enterprises86▲ 15×6 topics
  23. Health Promotion82▲ 8.3×15 topics
  24. Social Responsibility81▲ 11×11 topics
  25. Distance Learning77▲ 7.1×11 topics
  26. Nutrition75▲ 5.4×16 topics
  27. Urban Development75▲ 6.8×14 topics
  28. Innovation Ecosystems73▲ 23×3 topics
  29. Social Impact72▲ 5.9×16 topics
  30. Inclusive Education71▲ 6.3×15 topics
  31. Agroecology70▲ 16×6 topics
  32. Climate Change Adaptation69▲ 12×6 topics
  33. Community Participation68▲ 6.1×15 topics
  34. Rural Communities67▲ 38×5 topics
  35. Globalization Effects65▲ 30×2 topics
  36. Psychopharmacology Education64▲ 33×1 topic
  37. Tourism Management64▲ 29×1 topic
  38. Soil Management62▲ 51×2 topics
  39. Crop Production62▲ 17×4 topics
  40. Organic Farming60▲ 29×2 topics

Panama

▲ 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. Education1,073▲ 8.1×78 topics
  2. Innovation593▲ 7.4×42 topics
  3. E-Learning508▲ 6.8×17 topics
  4. Educational Technology483▲ 5.3×36 topics
  5. Climate Change475▲ 2.2×100 topics
  6. Sustainability460▲ 2.4×91 topics
  7. Pedagogy438▲ 11×17 topics
  8. Competitiveness414▲ 67×6 topics
  9. COVID-19402▲ 4.0×28 topics
  10. Teacher Training400▲ 8.4×20 topics
  11. Globalization397▲ 2.6×85 topics
  12. Digital Marketing392▲ 13×6 topics
  13. Distance Learning361▲ 13×10 topics
  14. Knowledge Management357▲ 8.3×22 topics
  15. Small and Medium Enterprises329▲ 24×8 topics
  16. Social Responsibility329▲ 18×10 topics
  17. Digital Divide311▲ 16×8 topics
  18. Digital Competence308▲ 45×3 topics
  19. Online Education307▲ 20×4 topics
  20. ICT306▲ 29×4 topics
  21. Virtual Teaching304▲ 73×1 topic
  22. Innovation Ecosystems277▲ 35×2 topics
  23. Inclusive Education275▲ 9.8×15 topics
  24. Urban Development271▲ 9.9×15 topics
  25. Economic Impact269▲ 6.5×9 topics
  26. Globalization Effects252▲ 47×2 topics
  27. Tourism Management252▲ 47×2 topics
  28. City Branding250▲ 52×1 topic
  29. Psychopharmacology Education250▲ 52×1 topic
  30. Technology250▲ 6.2×20 topics
  31. Social Impact239▲ 7.9×14 topics
  32. Communication228▲ 9.3×16 topics
  33. Teacher Development221▲ 46×2 topics
  34. Educational Leadership218▲ 22×4 topics
  35. Student Performance216▲ 26×4 topics
  36. Organizational Commitment216▲ 14×5 topics
  37. Curriculum Design216▲ 40×2 topics
  38. Quality Education214▲ 77×1 topic
  39. School Culture214▲ 77×1 topic
  40. Informal Learning212▲ 21×5 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?

Panama has out-published Nicaragua every year since 1980.

still counting1k2k3kPanama2,375 in 2025Nicaragua797 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 counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Panama0.040% in 2025Nicaragua0.014% 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%Nicaragua7.3% in 2025Panama6.9% 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.

Nicaragua 05 level0 Panama
  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, Nicaragua or Panama?

Panama publishes 2.4× as much research as Nicaragua in 2022-now (6.5k against 2.7k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Nicaragua or Panama?

6.7% of Panama's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 5.9% for Nicaragua.

Is Nicaragua or Panama growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +92% against 2018-21 for Panama, and +4% for Nicaragua.

Which has more open access research, Nicaragua or Panama?

79% of Nicaragua's research is free to read, against 72% of Panama's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Nicaragua or Panama?

Nicaragua holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Panama 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%.

Nicaragua

  1. 1National Autonomous University of Nicaragua6.5% top 10% · 839 works
  2. 2National Agrarian University4.6% top 10% · 338 works
  3. 3Universidad del Valle7.5% top 10% · 240 works
  4. 4Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua-León4.7% top 10% · 122 works
  5. 5Universidad de las Américas10.9% top 10% · 114 works
  6. 6National University of Engineering3.0% top 10% · 119 works

Panama

  1. 1Universidad de Panamá5.7% top 10% · 2.2k works
  2. 2Universidad Metropolitana de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología9.4% top 10% · 1.2k works
  3. 3Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá5.0% top 10% · 451 works
  4. 4Universidad de Santander4.6% top 10% · 232 works
  5. 5Quality Leadership University Panama6.1% top 10% · 210 works
  6. 6Hospital del Niño4.4% top 10% · 245 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.

Nicaragua

  1. 1 María Ángeles Pérez #787,667 worldwide 1.8k citations · 21 works
  2. 2 Félix Espinoza #819,809 worldwide 4.7k citations · 55 works
  3. 3 Eliette C. Valladares #837,359 worldwide 3.5k citations · 40 works
  4. 4 Aurora Aragón #874,577 worldwide 2.5k citations · 83 works
  5. 5 Armando Saballos #1,129,075 worldwide 663 citations · 36 works

Panama

  1. 1 Stephen P. Hubbell #1,469 worldwide 56k citations · 353 works
  2. 2 S. Joseph Wright‬ #4,590 worldwide 58k citations · 585 works
  3. 3 Dolores R. Piperno #5,646 worldwide 16k citations · 174 works
  4. 4 Helene C. Muller‐Landau #10,654 worldwide 29k citations · 271 works
  5. 5 Richard Condit #11,184 worldwide 27k citations · 257 works