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North Korea vs Russia

On research quality in 2022-now, Russia ranks #49 in the world and North Korea #183, of 189 countries. North Korea stands higher in 0 of the 26 fields both publish in, Russia in 26.

Research profiles alike: 0.64similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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North Korea

World rank, 2022-now
#183
#191 all time
Works, 2022-now
841
fractional
Top-10% rate
4.4%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
54%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes, Condensed Matter Physics, Geometry and Topology.

Russia

World rank, 2022-now
#49
#38 all time
Works, 2022-now
544k
fractional
Top-10% rate
4.4%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
41%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Nuclear Energy and Engineering, Fuel Technology, General Materials Science.

Who leads, measure by measure?

North Korea leads on 5 of 9 measures: citation excellence for its fields, citations per work, open access, international co-authorship and growth. Russia leads on 2 of 9 measures: research quality and output. The two are level on top-10% rate and institutions in the world top 100.

North Korea 52 level2 Russia
  1. #183Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#49
  2. 0.81×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.34×
  3. 841Outputfractional works, 2022-now544k
  4. 4.4%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited4.4%
  5. 8.1Citations per workall time, per fractional work7.0
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 54%Open accessof its works free to read, all time41%
  8. 48%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time14%
  9. +168%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change-10%

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?

North Korea stands higher in 0 of 26 fields, Russia in 26. Russia leads most in Engineering (#43 against #120). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

North Korea 026 Russia
  1. -Agricultural and Biological Sciences#57
  2. -Arts and Humanities#37
  3. -Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#52
  4. -Business, Management and Accounting#56
  5. -Chemical Engineering#35
  6. -Chemistry#37
  7. -Computer Science#46
  8. -Decision Sciences#43
  9. -Dentistry#55
  10. -Earth and Planetary Sciences#56
  11. -Economics, Econometrics and Finance#42
  12. -Energy#53
  13. #120Engineering#43
  14. -Environmental Science#86
  15. -Health Professions#73
  16. -Immunology and Microbiology#58
  17. -Materials Science#30
  18. -Mathematics#13
  19. -Medicine#68
  20. -Neuroscience#57
  21. -Nursing#51
  22. -Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#42
  23. -Physics and Astronomy#30
  24. -Psychology#64
  25. -Social Sciences#37
  26. -Veterinary#27

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 North Korea rankRussia rank North Korea top 10%Russia top 10% North Korea worksRussia works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences - #57 - 4.6% - 31k
Arts and Humanities - #37 - 7.1% - 14k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology - #52 - 3.2% - 23k
Business, Management and Accounting - #56 - 5.6% - 16k
Chemical Engineering - #35 - 2.4% - 2.5k
Chemistry - #37 - 2.7% - 14k
Computer Science - #46 - 5.3% - 33k
Decision Sciences - #43 - 5.8% - 3.8k
Dentistry - #55 - 2.5% - 1.8k
Earth and Planetary Sciences - #56 - 3.1% - 19k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance - #42 - 5.9% - 16k
Energy - #53 - 4.0% - 5.1k
Engineering #120 #43 3.1% 3.5% 262 97k
Environmental Science - #86 - 3.6% - 25k
Health Professions - #73 - 3.3% - 5.8k
Immunology and Microbiology - #58 - 2.5% - 4k
Materials Science - #30 - 2.9% - 28k
Mathematics - #13 - 5.7% - 10k
Medicine - #68 - 3.2% - 72k
Neuroscience - #57 - 2.4% - 7k
Nursing - #51 - 3.0% - 1.4k
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics - #42 - 2.5% - 1.6k
Physics and Astronomy - #30 - 3.0% - 24k
Psychology - #64 - 4.7% - 9.5k
Social Sciences - #37 - 7.8% - 80k
Veterinary - #27 - 2.4% - 426

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.

North Korea

▲ 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. Machine Learning45▲ 1.25×70 topics
  2. Deep Learning42◆ 1.15×65 topics
  3. Climate Change30◆ 1.02×66 topics
  4. Neural Networks30▲ 1.77×33 topics
  5. Mechanical Properties24▲ 2.3×28 topics
  6. Biomedical Applications24▲ 1.86×30 topics
  7. Nanoparticles23▲ 1.72×37 topics
  8. Environmental Impact20◆ 1.10×38 topics
  9. Nanomaterials20▲ 1.78×17 topics
  10. Nanocomposites20▲ 2.3×21 topics
  11. Renewable Energy19▲ 1.24×31 topics
  12. Oxidative Stress18◆ 1.05×47 topics
  13. Energy Efficiency18▲ 1.76×22 topics
  14. Remote Sensing17▲ 1.32×31 topics
  15. Graphene16▲ 2.3×11 topics
  16. Vibration Analysis15▲ 5.3×9 topics
  17. Catalysis15▲ 2.1×22 topics
  18. Nonlinear Systems14▲ 6.1×8 topics
  19. Microstructure13▲ 2.3×19 topics
  20. Biosensors12▲ 2.4×11 topics
  21. Metal Recovery12▲ 5.5×3 topics
  22. Numerical Simulation11▲ 3.6×12 topics
  23. Artificial Neural Networks11▲ 2.2×9 topics
  24. Buckling Behavior11▲ 14×2 topics
  25. Nonlinear Dynamics10▲ 4.4×6 topics
  26. Finite Element Method10▲ 9.8×6 topics
  27. Stability Analysis10▲ 5.7×6 topics
  28. Molecular Dynamics9▲ 4.8×7 topics
  29. Fluid-Structure Interaction9▲ 5.6×6 topics
  30. Materials9▲ 3.5×6 topics
  31. Rare Earth Elements8▲ 5.1×4 topics
  32. Superconductivity8▲ 4.4×9 topics
  33. Entanglement8▲ 4.9×4 topics
  34. Metamaterials8▲ 4.9×5 topics
  35. Microstructural Evolution8▲ 4.8×4 topics
  36. Optical Modulators7▲ 4.8×3 topics
  37. Composite Plates7▲ 21×1 topic
  38. Functionally Graded Materials7▲ 21×1 topic
  39. Battery Recycling6▲ 7.2×1 topic
  40. Hydrometallurgical Processes6▲ 7.2×1 topic

Russia

▲ 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. Sustainable Development37k▲ 3.9×113 topics
  2. Climate Change33k▲ 2.0×132 topics
  3. Digital Transformation24k▲ 7.3×32 topics
  4. Innovation24k▲ 3.8×91 topics
  5. Artificial Intelligence23k▲ 2.7×67 topics
  6. Globalization23k▲ 1.94×186 topics
  7. Sustainability18k▲ 1.20×140 topics
  8. Energy Efficiency16k▲ 3.0×45 topics
  9. Regional Development16k▲ 8.0×21 topics
  10. Digital Economy15k▲ 12×20 topics
  11. Economic Development15k▲ 3.1×57 topics
  12. Food Security13k▲ 4.0×25 topics
  13. Educational Technology13k▲ 1.80×48 topics
  14. E-Learning11k▲ 1.97×27 topics
  15. Legal Regulation11k▲ 8.3×8 topics
  16. Digitalization11k▲ 9.0×16 topics
  17. Language11k▲ 7.1×15 topics
  18. Pedagogy9,445▲ 3.1×30 topics
  19. Economic Security8,448▲ 6.6×7 topics
  20. Migration8,418▲ 4.1×35 topics
  21. Ethnicity8,272▲ 3.7×25 topics
  22. International Relations7,912▲ 5.4×31 topics
  23. Global Economy7,846▲ 10×7 topics
  24. Geopolitics7,489▲ 8.2×12 topics
  25. Media7,153▲ 7.9×19 topics
  26. Cyber-Physical Systems6,922▲ 4.4×9 topics
  27. Arctic6,854▲ 10×4 topics
  28. Blockchain Technology6,746▲ 20×4 topics
  29. Linguistics6,575▲ 6.9×9 topics
  30. Youth6,520▲ 7.8×10 topics
  31. Geographical Analysis6,050▲ 24×2 topics
  32. Information Security6,016▲ 10×4 topics
  33. Digital Technologies5,999▲ 7.4×6 topics
  34. Knowledge Clusters5,806▲ 25×2 topics
  35. Agricultural Development5,664▲ 6.2×7 topics
  36. Macroeconomic Assessment5,469▲ 25×1 topic
  37. Russian Economy5,469▲ 25×1 topic
  38. Phraseology5,279▲ 12×3 topics
  39. Spatial Patterns5,109▲ 9.1×4 topics
  40. Cultural Communication4,923▲ 24×1 topic

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?

Russia has out-published North Korea every year since 1981.

still counting100k200kRussia112k in 2025North Korea408 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 counting2.0%4.0%Russia1.9% in 2025North Korea0.0069% 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%Russia4.7% in 2025North Korea3.6% 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.

North Korea 05 level0 Russia
  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, North Korea or Russia?

Russia publishes 647.4× as much research as North Korea in 2022-now (544k against 841 fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, North Korea or Russia?

4.4% of North Korea's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 4.4% for Russia.

Is North Korea or Russia growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +168% against 2018-21 for North Korea, and -10% for Russia.

Which has more open access research, North Korea or Russia?

54% of North Korea's research is free to read, against 41% of Russia's.

Which has more world-class institutions, North Korea or Russia?

North Korea holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Russia 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%.

North Korea

  1. 1Kim Il-sung University2.5% top 10% · 173 works
  2. 2Kim Chaek University of Technology1.4% top 10% · 232 works
  3. 3Institute of Natural Science9.3% top 10% · 287 works
  4. 4Pyongyang University of Science and Technology1.7% top 10% · 104 works

Russia

  1. 1Russian Academy of Sciences4.1% top 10% · 132k works
  2. 2National Research University Higher School of Economics8.0% top 10% · 8.5k works
  3. 3Financial University9.5% top 10% · 4.6k works
  4. 4ITMO University4.7% top 10% · 3.5k works
  5. 5Ural State University of Economics4.1% top 10% · 951 works
  6. 6Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology8.6% top 10% · 1.6k 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.

North Korea

  1. 1 Un-Gi Jong #589,064 worldwide 2k citations · 71 works
  2. 2 Yun-Hyok Kye #951,780 worldwide 1.1k citations · 38 works
  3. 3 Chol‐Jun Yu #1,569,436 worldwide 2.7k citations · 144 works
  4. 4 Sunghyok Kim #1,881,333 worldwide 656 citations · 15 works
  5. 5 O Hyong-Chol #2,399,720 worldwide 182 citations · 44 works

Russia

  1. 1 S. L. Danilishin #1,207 worldwide 94k citations · 319 works
  2. 2 A. Khanzadeev #1,297 worldwide 45k citations · 397 works
  3. 3 V. Barret #2,233 worldwide 23k citations · 184 works
  4. 4 I. Novikov #4,043 worldwide 38k citations · 135 works
  5. 5 V. Punin #4,147 worldwide 27k citations · 248 works