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Nicaragua vs Zambia

On research quality in 2022-now, Zambia ranks #81 in the world and Nicaragua #82, of 189 countries. Nicaragua stands higher in 2 of the 10 fields both publish in, Zambia in 8.

Research profiles alike: 0.79very 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.

Zambia

World rank, 2022-now
#81
#70 all time
Works, 2022-now
6.6k
fractional
Top-10% rate
5.9%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
71%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Insect Science, Aquatic Science, Business and International Management.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Zambia leads on 5 of 9 measures: research quality, output, citations per work, international co-authorship and growth. Nicaragua leads on 1 of 9 measures: open access. The two are level on citation excellence for its fields, top-10% rate and institutions in the world top 100.

Nicaragua 13 level5 Zambia
  1. #82Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#81
  2. 0.80×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.80×
  3. 2.7kOutputfractional works, 2022-now6.6k
  4. 5.9%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited5.9%
  5. 4.0Citations per workall time, per fractional work9.8
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 79%Open accessof its works free to read, all time71%
  8. 34%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time44%
  9. +4%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+97%

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, citation excellence and the top-10% rate are explained in the methodology.

Who leads in each field?

Nicaragua stands higher in 2 of 10 fields, Zambia in 8. Zambia leads most in Medicine (#66 against #69); Nicaragua leads most in Social Sciences (#62 against #98). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Nicaragua 28 Zambia
  1. #60Agricultural and Biological Sciences#77
  2. -Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#67
  3. -Business, Management and Accounting#86
  4. -Computer Science#110
  5. -Economics, Econometrics and Finance#76
  6. -Engineering#103
  7. -Environmental Science#83
  8. -Health Professions#74
  9. #69Medicine#66
  10. #62Social Sciences#98

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 rankZambia rank Nicaragua top 10%Zambia top 10% Nicaragua worksZambia works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #60 #77 5.1% 4.0% 355 1.1k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology - #67 - 3.8% - 410
Business, Management and Accounting - #86 - 5.1% - 530
Computer Science - #110 - 6.5% - 236
Economics, Econometrics and Finance - #76 - 4.8% - 329
Engineering - #103 - 6.2% - 331
Environmental Science - #83 - 5.8% - 480
Health Professions - #74 - 6.5% - 262
Medicine #69 #66 5.4% 7.2% 259 1.2k
Social Sciences #62 #98 6.9% 7.4% 768 887

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

Zambia

▲ 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. Epidemiology502▲ 1.57×133 topics
  2. Biodiversity393▲ 6.4×34 topics
  3. Sustainability366▲ 1.86×95 topics
  4. Climate Change347▲ 1.59×107 topics
  5. Phylogeny319▲ 24×16 topics
  6. Invasive Species310▲ 9.1×21 topics
  7. DNA Barcoding306▲ 22×9 topics
  8. Conservation299▲ 8.7×21 topics
  9. Taxonomy294▲ 25×13 topics
  10. Evolution291▲ 14×15 topics
  11. Environmental Impact277▲ 2.0×59 topics
  12. Biological Control267▲ 22×9 topics
  13. Cryptic Species240▲ 117×2 topics
  14. Lepidoptera238▲ 156×1 topic
  15. Molecular Phylogenetics238▲ 156×1 topic
  16. Host Specificity220▲ 24×5 topics
  17. Ecological Impact202▲ 48×3 topics
  18. Pest Management200▲ 30×5 topics
  19. Sustainable Energy198▲ 13×4 topics
  20. Social Capital197▲ 4.7×20 topics
  21. Economic Assessment191▲ 87×2 topics
  22. Environmental Challenge191▲ 193×1 topic
  23. Water Hyacinth191▲ 193×1 topic
  24. Economic Growth179▲ 2.7×31 topics
  25. Economic Development171▲ 2.7×40 topics
  26. Food Security166▲ 3.8×21 topics
  27. Poverty Reduction159▲ 15×6 topics
  28. Pheromones142▲ 33×3 topics
  29. Genetic Diversity140▲ 4.0×21 topics
  30. Chemical Ecology139▲ 182×1 topic
  31. Odor Source Localization139▲ 182×1 topic
  32. Antiretroviral Therapy136▲ 10×6 topics
  33. Maternal Mortality132▲ 7.3×5 topics
  34. Vaccine132▲ 4.1×11 topics
  35. Community Health Workers121▲ 17×2 topics
  36. Health Inequalities114▲ 12×5 topics
  37. Socio-economic Factors111▲ 12×3 topics
  38. Child Mortality109▲ 19×1 topic
  39. Health Systems109▲ 19×1 topic
  40. Morphology106▲ 7.4×9 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?

Zambia has out-published Nicaragua every year since 2018, when it overtook it.

still counting1k2k3kZambia1,889 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%Zambia0.032% 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 2025Zambia7.0% 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 Zambia
  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 Zambia?

Zambia publishes 2.5× as much research as Nicaragua in 2022-now (6.6k against 2.7k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Nicaragua or Zambia?

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

Is Nicaragua or Zambia growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +97% against 2018-21 for Zambia, and +4% for Nicaragua.

Which has more open access research, Nicaragua or Zambia?

79% of Nicaragua's research is free to read, against 71% of Zambia's.

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

Nicaragua holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Zambia 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

Zambia

  1. 1University of Zambia4.1% top 10% · 3k works
  2. 2Copperbelt University9.9% top 10% · 442 works
  3. 3University of Lusaka7.1% top 10% · 297 works
  4. 4Kwame Nkrumah University5.9% top 10% · 419 works
  5. 5University Teaching Hospital4.8% top 10% · 423 works
  6. 6Mulungushi University7.8% top 10% · 196 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

Zambia

  1. 1 Ramasamy Subbaiya #37,734 worldwide 6.1k citations · 110 works
  2. 2 Matthew Bates #121,851 worldwide 9.2k citations · 157 works
  3. 3 Duncan M Chanda #189,837 worldwide 4.7k citations · 83 works
  4. 4 Enock Siankwilimba #204,647 worldwide 585 citations · 58 works
  5. 5 Monde Muyoyeta #219,462 worldwide 3.4k citations · 135 works