Science Explorer Question CatalogueQuestions Back to mapMap
Science domain explorer
Compare · Countries

Nigeria vs South Africa

On research quality in 2022-now, South Africa ranks #26 in the world and Nigeria #58, of 189 countries. Nigeria stands higher in 2 of the 26 fields both publish in, South Africa in 24.

Nigeria

World rank, 2022-now
#58
#69 all time
Works, 2022-now
134k
fractional
Top-10% rate
9.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
70%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Library and Information Sciences, Drug Discovery, Chemical Health and Safety.

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?

Nigeria stands higher in 2 of 26 fields, South Africa in 24. Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Nigeria 224 South Africa
  1. #72Agricultural and Biological Sciences#18
  2. #44Arts and Humanities#8
  3. #60Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#35
  4. #74Business, Management and Accounting#29
  5. #37Chemical Engineering#39
  6. #40Chemistry#28
  7. #66Computer Science#35
  8. #64Decision Sciences#26
  9. #58Dentistry#48
  10. #53Earth and Planetary Sciences#27
  11. #61Economics, Econometrics and Finance#11
  12. #64Energy#36
  13. #65Engineering#38
  14. #60Environmental Science#29
  15. #52Health Professions#32
  16. #56Immunology and Microbiology#34
  17. #47Materials Science#28
  18. #63Mathematics#30
  19. #65Medicine#32
  20. #61Neuroscience#42
  21. #54Nursing#50
  22. #41Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#24
  23. #56Physics and Astronomy#36
  24. #72Psychology#24
  25. #59Social Sciences#18
  26. #30Veterinary-

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?

20k40kNigeria40k in 2025South Africa31k in 20251990200020102020

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

Which publishes more research, Nigeria or South Africa?

Nigeria publishes 1.2× as much research as South Africa in 2022-now (134k against 113k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Nigeria or South Africa?

21.5% of South Africa's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 9.7% for Nigeria.

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%.

Nigeria

  1. 1University of Nigeria15.4% top 10% · 5.2k works
  2. 2Covenant University19.1% top 10% · 1.6k works
  3. 3University of Ibadan13.0% top 10% · 5.1k works
  4. 4University of Ilorin13.4% top 10% · 3.1k works
  5. 5University of Calabar12.4% top 10% · 2.5k works
  6. 6Ahmadu Bello University10.7% top 10% · 2.9k 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.

Other comparisons

Compare any two

Questions people ask

Which is stronger in research, Nigeria or South Africa?

On research quality in 2022-now, South Africa ranks #26 in the world and Nigeria #58, of 189 countries. Nigeria stands higher in 2 of the 26 fields both publish in, South Africa in 24.

All 1,268 questions in the Question Catalogue