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Saudi Arabia vs South Korea

On research quality in 2022–now, South Korea ranks #11 in the world and Saudi Arabia #15, of 192 countries. Saudi Arabia stands higher in 10 of the 26 fields both publish in, South Korea in 16.

Saudi Arabia

World rank, 2022–now
#15
#31 all time
Works, 2022–now
156k
fractional
Top-10% rate
23.4%
share of its work among the world’s most cited
Open access
58%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: General Dentistry, Orthodontics, Modeling and Simulation.

South Korea

World rank, 2022–now
#11
#15 all time
Works, 2022–now
358k
fractional
Top-10% rate
18.2%
share of its work among the world’s most cited
Open access
43%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Leadership and Management, Polymers and Plastics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Who leads in each field?

Saudi Arabia stands higher in 10 of 26 fields, South Korea in 16. Each bar is that side’s standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Saudi Arabia 1016 South Korea
  1. #24Agricultural and Biological Sciences#29
  2. #37Arts and Humanities#25
  3. #25Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#12
  4. #16Business, Management and Accounting#17
  5. #11Chemical Engineering#6
  6. #6Chemistry#10
  7. #13Computer Science#9
  8. #18Decision Sciences#13
  9. #3Dentistry#18
  10. #24Earth and Planetary Sciences#17
  11. #15Economics, Econometrics and Finance#20
  12. #9Energy#11
  13. #11Engineering#6
  14. #16Environmental Science#18
  15. #9Health Professions#14
  16. #24Immunology and Microbiology#14
  17. #10Materials Science#5
  18. #6Mathematics#9
  19. #24Medicine#13
  20. #21Neuroscience#10
  21. #10Nursing#3
  22. #14Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#16
  23. #26Physics and Astronomy#14
  24. #31Psychology#14
  25. #28Social Sciences#24
  26. —Veterinary#24

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?

50k100kSouth Korea93k in 2025Saudi Arabia45k in 20251990200020102020

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

Which publishes more research, Saudi Arabia or South Korea?

South Korea publishes 2.3× as much research as Saudi Arabia in 2022–now (358k against 156k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Saudi Arabia or South Korea?

23.4% of Saudi Arabia's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 18.2% for South Korea.

Where does their research happen?

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