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Singapore vs Taiwan

On research quality in 2022-now, Singapore ranks #13 in the world and Taiwan #24, of 189 countries. Singapore stands higher in 23 of the 25 fields both publish in, Taiwan in 2.

Research profiles alike: 0.74very similar shapes of research, whatever their size. How it is measured

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Singapore

World rank, 2022-now
#13
#11 all time
Works, 2022-now
70k
fractional
Top-10% rate
16.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
33%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Health Informatics, Hardware and Architecture, Acoustics and Ultrasonics.

Taiwan

World rank, 2022-now
#24
#24 all time
Works, 2022-now
143k
fractional
Top-10% rate
9.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
29%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Bioengineering, Hardware and Architecture, Otorhinolaryngology.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Singapore leads on 7 of 9 measures: research quality, citation excellence for its fields, top-10% rate, citations per work, institutions in the world top 100, open access and international co-authorship. Taiwan leads on 1 of 9 measures: output. The two are level on growth.

Singapore 71 level1 Taiwan
  1. #13Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#24
  2. 1.42×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected0.88×
  3. 70kOutputfractional works, 2022-now143k
  4. 16.7%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited9.7%
  5. 30.0Citations per workall time, per fractional work18.9
  6. 2World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 33%Open accessof its works free to read, all time29%
  8. 34%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time17%
  9. +7%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+8%

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?

Singapore stands higher in 23 of 25 fields, Taiwan in 2. Singapore leads most in Chemical Engineering (#8 against #22); Taiwan leads most in Dentistry (#15 against #20). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Singapore 232 Taiwan
  1. #20Agricultural and Biological Sciences#30
  2. #29Arts and Humanities#33
  3. #14Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#24
  4. #17Business, Management and Accounting#22
  5. #8Chemical Engineering#22
  6. #9Chemistry#23
  7. #9Computer Science#21
  8. #15Decision Sciences#20
  9. #20Dentistry#15
  10. #21Earth and Planetary Sciences#27
  11. #14Economics, Econometrics and Finance#27
  12. #5Energy#26
  13. #6Engineering#26
  14. #15Environmental Science#25
  15. #15Health Professions#25
  16. #13Immunology and Microbiology#25
  17. #5Materials Science#23
  18. #20Mathematics#25
  19. #15Medicine#22
  20. #15Neuroscience#22
  21. #14Nursing#24
  22. -Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics#19
  23. #17Physics and Astronomy#28
  24. #15Psychology#21
  25. #16Social Sciences#33

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 Singapore rankTaiwan rank Singapore top 10%Taiwan top 10% Singapore worksTaiwan works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #20 #30 17.3% 10.2% 1.1k 3.6k
Arts and Humanities #29 #33 16.9% 15.4% 892 1.4k
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #14 #24 15.2% 7.8% 3.7k 9.2k
Business, Management and Accounting #17 #22 14.4% 13.0% 1.6k 3.6k
Chemical Engineering #8 #22 20.9% 9.1% 311 685
Chemistry #9 #23 18.6% 7.6% 1.1k 2.1k
Computer Science #9 #21 18.4% 9.8% 9.1k 13k
Decision Sciences #15 #20 16.3% 13.3% 724 1.6k
Dentistry #20 #15 16.6% 13.0% 224 782
Earth and Planetary Sciences #21 #27 20.0% 6.8% 594 1.7k
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #14 #27 12.8% 9.6% 1.3k 2.1k
Energy #5 #26 19.7% 9.6% 797 1.7k
Engineering #6 #26 19.3% 8.1% 14k 28k
Environmental Science #15 #25 17.1% 8.0% 2.3k 5.7k
Health Professions #15 #25 17.5% 13.8% 1.5k 2.6k
Immunology and Microbiology #13 #25 14.8% 8.0% 624 1.8k
Materials Science #5 #23 19.0% 7.4% 3k 7k
Mathematics #20 #25 12.2% 12.9% 592 1.5k
Medicine #15 #22 14.1% 10.5% 14k 36k
Neuroscience #15 #22 16.3% 8.3% 1.2k 3k
Nursing #14 #24 16.7% 11.3% 236 657
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics - #19 - 8.5% - 492
Physics and Astronomy #17 #28 15.7% 7.4% 1.7k 3.3k
Psychology #15 #21 16.0% 13.4% 2.2k 4.2k
Social Sciences #16 #33 15.6% 13.7% 6.2k 6.8k

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.

Singapore

▲ 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. Deep Learning5,202▲ 1.91×85 topics
  2. Machine Learning3,492▲ 1.33×97 topics
  3. Epidemiology3,267◆ 1.04×137 topics
  4. Neural Networks2,630▲ 2.2×40 topics
  5. Inflammation1,732◆ 1.03×83 topics
  6. Sustainability1,359▼ 0.71×122 topics
  7. Globalization1,296▼ 0.84×141 topics
  8. Biomedical Applications1,179▲ 1.26×36 topics
  9. Nanoparticles1,138◆ 1.15×44 topics
  10. Quality of Life1,134◆ 1.00×58 topics
  11. Artificial Intelligence1,038◆ 0.92×65 topics
  12. Healthcare988◆ 1.10×40 topics
  13. Public Health972▼ 0.85×72 topics
  14. Convolutional Neural Networks965▲ 1.68×14 topics
  15. Nanomaterials954▲ 1.16×21 topics
  16. Treatment951◆ 0.99×52 topics
  17. Cardiovascular Disease949◆ 1.06×39 topics
  18. Mechanical Properties890◆ 1.15×39 topics
  19. Security859▲ 1.63×28 topics
  20. Energy Efficiency849▲ 1.17×46 topics
  21. Risk Factors845◆ 0.97×37 topics
  22. Big Data843◆ 1.12×35 topics
  23. Energy Storage803▲ 1.57×13 topics
  24. Catalysis791▲ 1.51×29 topics
  25. Nanocomposites746▲ 1.20×22 topics
  26. Graphene733▲ 1.38×12 topics
  27. Tissue Engineering674▲ 1.41×13 topics
  28. Biosensors673▲ 1.74×12 topics
  29. Aging661▲ 1.54×19 topics
  30. Medical Imaging624▲ 1.50×9 topics
  31. Precision Medicine603▲ 1.54×8 topics
  32. Cathode Materials596▲ 1.95×3 topics
  33. Additive Manufacturing565▲ 2.3×8 topics
  34. Representation Learning507▲ 4.1×3 topics
  35. Unsupervised Learning478▲ 4.0×3 topics
  36. Semi-Supervised Learning415▲ 4.3×3 topics
  37. Authoritarianism333▲ 4.8×5 topics
  38. Social Cohesion283▲ 6.0×6 topics
  39. State Intervention282▲ 11×3 topics
  40. Singapore254▲ 37×1 topic

Taiwan

▲ 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. Deep Learning7,865▲ 1.41×85 topics
  2. Epidemiology7,791▲ 1.21×140 topics
  3. Inflammation5,362▲ 1.56×83 topics
  4. Machine Learning5,144◆ 0.95×97 topics
  5. Neural Networks3,546▲ 1.42×42 topics
  6. Oxidative Stress3,466▲ 1.30×63 topics
  7. Cancer3,041▲ 1.40×59 topics
  8. Cardiovascular Disease2,938▲ 1.59×39 topics
  9. Nanomaterials2,863▲ 1.69×21 topics
  10. Quality of Life2,852▲ 1.22×59 topics
  11. Biomedical Applications2,838▲ 1.48×36 topics
  12. Climate Change2,619▼ 0.60×126 topics
  13. Treatment2,563▲ 1.30×52 topics
  14. Nanoparticles2,557▲ 1.25×44 topics
  15. Graphene2,017▲ 1.85×12 topics
  16. Chemotherapy1,962▲ 1.71×25 topics
  17. Diagnosis1,924▲ 1.28×41 topics
  18. Convolutional Neural Networks1,880▲ 1.60×14 topics
  19. Metabolic Syndrome1,835▲ 1.40×24 topics
  20. Risk Factors1,826◆ 1.03×37 topics
  21. Nanocomposites1,805▲ 1.41×22 topics
  22. Energy Efficiency1,738▲ 1.16×44 topics
  23. Management1,711▲ 1.32×39 topics
  24. Biomarkers1,678▲ 1.49×18 topics
  25. Biosensors1,644▲ 2.1×12 topics
  26. Tissue Engineering1,615▲ 1.65×13 topics
  27. Energy Storage1,546▲ 1.47×12 topics
  28. Mortality1,483▲ 1.61×13 topics
  29. Immunotherapy1,478▲ 1.26×19 topics
  30. Aging1,473▲ 1.67×19 topics
  31. Semiconductors1,435▲ 3.0×6 topics
  32. Nanostructures1,432▲ 2.2×17 topics
  33. Immune Response1,407▲ 1.53×23 topics
  34. Clinical Practice Guidelines1,381▲ 1.55×14 topics
  35. Semiconductor1,171▲ 2.2×7 topics
  36. Thermal Management1,093▲ 2.1×8 topics
  37. Thin Films959▲ 3.1×10 topics
  38. Field-Effect Transistors920▲ 3.6×4 topics
  39. Solar Cells919▲ 2.8×7 topics
  40. Nanowires874▲ 3.8×5 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?

Taiwan has out-published Singapore every year since 1980.

still counting20k40kTaiwan38k in 2025Singapore19k 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%1.5%Taiwan0.65% in 2025Singapore0.32% 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 counting10%20%Singapore15.6% in 2025Taiwan10.0% 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.

Singapore 50 Taiwan
  1. 2In the world top 500
  2. 2In the top 1000
  3. 3In the top 5002
  4. 6In the top 1,0005
  5. #15Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#27

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, Singapore or Taiwan?

Taiwan publishes 2.0× as much research as Singapore in 2022-now (143k against 70k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Singapore or Taiwan?

16.7% of Singapore's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 9.7% for Taiwan.

Is Singapore or Taiwan growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +8% against 2018-21 for Taiwan, and +7% for Singapore.

Which has more open access research, Singapore or Taiwan?

33% of Singapore's research is free to read, against 29% of Taiwan's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Singapore or Taiwan?

Singapore holds 2 of the world's top 100 research institutions and Taiwan 0; in the top 1,000 it is 6 against 5.

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%.

Singapore

  1. 1National University of Singapore17.6% top 10% · 25k works
  2. 2Nanyang Technological University20.6% top 10% · 17k works
  3. 3Agency for Science, Technology and Research17.8% top 10% · 6.9k works
  4. 4Singapore University of Technology and Design18.2% top 10% · 1.9k works
  5. 5National University Health System18.2% top 10% · 1.3k works
  6. 6Singapore Management University16.9% top 10% · 2.2k works

Taiwan

  1. 1National Taiwan University9.0% top 10% · 14k works
  2. 2Academia Sinica9.7% top 10% · 4.1k works
  3. 3National Cheng Kung University9.1% top 10% · 8.4k works
  4. 4National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University9.3% top 10% · 8.4k works
  5. 5National Tsing Hua University9.3% top 10% · 5k works
  6. 6National Sun Yat-sen University9.4% top 10% · 3.2k 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.

Singapore

  1. 1 Xiong Wen Lou #2 worldwide 155k citations · 583 works
  2. 2 Chen Change Loy #50 worldwide 86k citations · 611 works
  3. 3 Florent Ginhoux #118 worldwide 98k citations · 704 works
  4. 4 Kanyi Pu #240 worldwide 52k citations · 393 works
  5. 5 Cheng‐Wei Qiu #607 worldwide 67k citations · 973 works

Taiwan

  1. 1 Gwo‐Jen Hwang #196 worldwide 39k citations · 649 works
  2. 2 Ming‐Lang Tseng #3,104 worldwide 30k citations · 538 works
  3. 3 Sung‐Fu Hung #3,573 worldwide 30k citations · 198 works
  4. 4 Jien‐Wei Yeh #3,654 worldwide 43k citations · 279 works
  5. 5 Chin‐Chung Tsai #5,063 worldwide 38k citations · 549 works

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