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Pakistan vs Thailand

On research quality in 2022-now, Thailand ranks #39 in the world and Pakistan #72, of 189 countries. Pakistan stands higher in 3 of the 26 fields both publish in, Thailand in 23.

Research profiles alike: 0.71very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Pakistan

World rank, 2022-now
#72
#63 all time
Works, 2022-now
170k
fractional
Top-10% rate
8.5%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
61%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: General Dentistry, Drug Discovery, Modeling and Simulation.

Thailand

World rank, 2022-now
#39
#41 all time
Works, 2022-now
94k
fractional
Top-10% rate
8.8%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
49%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Parasitology, Biochemistry, Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management.

Who leads, measure by measure?

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

Pakistan 41 level4 Thailand
  1. #72Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#39
  2. 0.69×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.81×
  3. 170kOutputfractional works, 2022-now94k
  4. 8.5%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited8.8%
  5. 12.2Citations per workall time, per fractional work13.7
  6. 0World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 61%Open accessof its works free to read, all time49%
  8. 33%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time22%
  9. +50%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+34%

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?

Pakistan stands higher in 3 of 26 fields, Thailand in 23. Thailand leads most in Medicine (#34 against #100); Pakistan leads most in Energy (#38 against #44). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

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 Pakistan rankThailand rank Pakistan top 10%Thailand top 10% Pakistan worksThailand works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #58 #37 10.5% 10.7% 12k 6.8k
Arts and Humanities #78 #39 7.2% 12.1% 3.5k 1.7k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #65 #38 6.6% 7.6% 7.7k 5.5k
Business, Management and Accounting #64 #44 10.6% 9.0% 6.8k 4k
Chemical Engineering #36 #29 14.5% 6.8% 472 392
Chemistry #40 #36 13.5% 7.6% 2.7k 1.4k
Computer Science #49 #45 13.3% 8.2% 11k 6.3k
Decision Sciences #46 #38 13.2% 7.9% 2.1k 1.3k
Dentistry #54 #32 4.1% 12.5% 1.6k 913
Earth and Planetary Sciences #54 #49 12.5% 9.3% 1k 750
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #63 #52 8.9% 8.9% 5k 1.7k
Energy #38 #44 11.2% 6.1% 2k 956
Engineering #49 #44 12.6% 8.0% 18k 13k
Environmental Science #50 #34 10.5% 7.9% 6.9k 4.9k
Health Professions #67 #45 7.0% 10.4% 4.2k 2k
Immunology and Microbiology #62 #32 5.5% 9.8% 1.5k 1.3k
Materials Science #42 #41 10.8% 6.9% 6.4k 4.1k
Mathematics #42 #44 17.8% 9.0% 2.7k 1.2k
Medicine #100 #34 4.2% 8.7% 41k 20k
Neuroscience #63 #44 7.2% 7.3% 1.6k 941
Nursing #60 #39 6.8% 7.9% 1.4k 817
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics #38 #23 8.2% 10.3% 1.1k 765
Physics and Astronomy #48 #49 14.1% 6.9% 2.7k 959
Psychology #83 #47 4.8% 7.6% 6.6k 2.7k
Social Sciences #96 #47 6.8% 10.6% 19k 9.2k
Veterinary - #21 - 11.4% - 262

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.

Pakistan

▲ 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. Epidemiology11k▲ 1.46×140 topics
  2. Machine Learning7,392▲ 1.16×97 topics
  3. Deep Learning6,265◆ 0.95×85 topics
  4. Inflammation4,657◆ 1.15×83 topics
  5. Globalization4,341◆ 1.15×168 topics
  6. Oxidative Stress4,170▲ 1.33×63 topics
  7. Climate Change4,164▼ 0.80×123 topics
  8. Mental Health4,103▲ 1.50×48 topics
  9. Environmental Impact3,677◆ 1.13×74 topics
  10. Quality of Life3,491▲ 1.26×60 topics
  11. COVID-193,438▲ 1.38×34 topics
  12. Nanomaterials3,401▲ 1.70×21 topics
  13. Cardiovascular Disease3,262▲ 1.50×39 topics
  14. Renewable Energy3,241▲ 1.17×58 topics
  15. Treatment3,225▲ 1.39×52 topics
  16. Security3,087▲ 2.4×31 topics
  17. Heat Transfer3,071▲ 3.3×20 topics
  18. Nanoparticles3,028▲ 1.26×44 topics
  19. Social Media3,003◆ 1.14×39 topics
  20. Risk Factors2,945▲ 1.40×37 topics
  21. Depression2,907▲ 1.73×26 topics
  22. Healthcare2,846▲ 1.31×42 topics
  23. Metabolic Syndrome2,569▲ 1.66×24 topics
  24. Antioxidant2,432▲ 1.85×51 topics
  25. Conflict2,333▲ 7.5×11 topics
  26. Toxicity2,031▲ 2.4×20 topics
  27. Leadership1,955▲ 2.1×41 topics
  28. Stress1,951▲ 2.8×11 topics
  29. Reconstruction1,805▲ 5.5×6 topics
  30. Experimental Investigation1,729▲ 8.7×5 topics
  31. Central Asia1,609▲ 12×4 topics
  32. Nation-Building1,573▲ 15×4 topics
  33. State-Building1,569▲ 23×2 topics
  34. Afghanistan1,549▲ 34×1 topic
  35. Pakistan1,549▲ 34×1 topic
  36. Review1,287▲ 5.6×5 topics
  37. Viscosity1,162▲ 8.6×4 topics
  38. Nanofluids1,154▲ 7.3×2 topics
  39. Convective Transport1,106▲ 13×1 topic
  40. Enhancement1,106▲ 13×1 topic

Thailand

▲ 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. Epidemiology5,771▲ 1.34×139 topics
  2. Deep Learning3,350◆ 0.90×85 topics
  3. Machine Learning3,342◆ 0.93×97 topics
  4. Sustainability2,916◆ 1.10×132 topics
  5. Inflammation2,649◆ 1.15×83 topics
  6. Environmental Impact2,480▲ 1.35×72 topics
  7. Climate Change2,247▼ 0.76×125 topics
  8. Biomedical Applications2,236▲ 1.75×36 topics
  9. Oxidative Stress2,210▲ 1.24×63 topics
  10. Antioxidant1,937▲ 2.6×51 topics
  11. Nanoparticles1,735▲ 1.27×44 topics
  12. Renewable Energy1,714◆ 1.10×59 topics
  13. Globalization1,659▼ 0.78×156 topics
  14. Cardiovascular Disease1,633▲ 1.32×39 topics
  15. Quality of Life1,613◆ 1.03×59 topics
  16. Nanocomposites1,602▲ 1.88×22 topics
  17. Artificial Intelligence1,586◆ 1.03×64 topics
  18. Antioxidant Activity1,547▲ 2.3×32 topics
  19. Cancer1,532◆ 1.05×59 topics
  20. Educational Technology1,512▲ 1.18×46 topics
  21. Treatment1,505◆ 1.15×52 topics
  22. Neural Networks1,478◆ 0.89×42 topics
  23. Nanomaterials1,452▲ 1.28×21 topics
  24. COVID-191,411◆ 1.00×34 topics
  25. Tissue Engineering1,224▲ 1.87×13 topics
  26. Mechanical Properties1,219◆ 1.15×39 topics
  27. Diagnosis1,163◆ 1.15×41 topics
  28. Supply Chain Management1,150▲ 1.19×27 topics
  29. Antioxidants1,081▲ 2.3×17 topics
  30. Global Burden966▲ 1.64×12 topics
  31. Health Benefits946▲ 2.6×16 topics
  32. Anti-inflammatory932▲ 3.0×29 topics
  33. Pathogenesis929▲ 1.68×24 topics
  34. Gut Microbiota812▲ 2.2×7 topics
  35. Technology Integration789▲ 2.3×12 topics
  36. Flavonoids781▲ 2.8×12 topics
  37. Antimicrobial778▲ 2.5×14 topics
  38. Vaccine Development766▲ 2.8×11 topics
  39. Biomaterials706▲ 2.7×7 topics
  40. Biodegradable Polymers702▲ 3.8×4 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?

Pakistan has out-published Thailand every year since 2016, when it overtook it.

still counting20k40k60kPakistan50k in 2025Thailand28k 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 counting0.50%1.0%Pakistan0.86% in 2025Thailand0.48% 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%Thailand9.2% in 2025Pakistan7.4% 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.

Pakistan 05 level0 Thailand
  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, Pakistan or Thailand?

Pakistan publishes 1.8× as much research as Thailand in 2022-now (170k against 94k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Pakistan or Thailand?

8.8% of Thailand's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 8.5% for Pakistan.

Is Pakistan or Thailand growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +50% against 2018-21 for Pakistan, and +34% for Thailand.

Which has more open access research, Pakistan or Thailand?

61% of Pakistan's research is free to read, against 49% of Thailand's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Pakistan or Thailand?

Pakistan holds 0 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Thailand 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%.

Pakistan

  1. 1University of Management and Technology15.3% top 10% · 2k works
  2. 2COMSATS University Islamabad13.8% top 10% · 4.8k works
  3. 3University of Gujrat10.3% top 10% · 1.8k works
  4. 4Islamia University of Bahawalpur12.8% top 10% · 3.4k works
  5. 5National University of Sciences and Technology13.3% top 10% · 4.2k works
  6. 6Air University15.3% top 10% · 1.2k works

Thailand

  1. 1Chulalongkorn University9.7% top 10% · 9k works
  2. 2Mahidol University9.9% top 10% · 10k works
  3. 3Chiang Mai University10.3% top 10% · 6.5k works
  4. 4Ministry of Education17.7% top 10% · 535 works
  5. 5King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi9.9% top 10% · 2k works
  6. 6Khon Kaen University9.5% top 10% · 4.5k 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, 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.

Pakistan

  1. 1 Muhammad Qaiser Shahbaz #447 worldwide 62k citations · 849 works
  2. 2 Muhammad Faisal Irfan #968 worldwide 22k citations · 340 works
  3. 3 Asif Razzaq #2,269 worldwide 14k citations · 130 works
  4. 4 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta #3,000 worldwide 371k citations · 1,872 works
  5. 5 Abdul Rehman Javed #4,600 worldwide 9.6k citations · 132 works

Thailand

  1. 1 Omid Mahian #6,124 worldwide 24k citations · 323 works
  2. 2 Nicholas Day #9,058 worldwide 83k citations · 4,663 works
  3. 3 Jin Cao #9,597 worldwide 8.7k citations · 140 works
  4. 4 W. Mitthumsiri #10,824 worldwide 39k citations · 252 works
  5. 5 Philip Hallinger #12,771 worldwide 31k citations · 388 works

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