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Singapore vs United Arab Emirates

On research quality in 2022-now, Singapore ranks #13 in the world and the United Arab Emirates #37, of 189 countries. Singapore stands higher in 24 of the 24 fields both publish in, the United Arab Emirates in 0.

Research profiles alike: 0.43similar 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.

United Arab Emirates

World rank, 2022-now
#37
#40 all time
Works, 2022-now
46k
fractional
Top-10% rate
13.7%
share of its work among the world's most cited
Open access
46%
of its works free to read

Strongest relative focus: Health Informatics, Ocean Engineering, General Dentistry.

Who leads, measure by measure?

Singapore leads on 6 of 9 measures: research quality, citation excellence for its fields, output, top-10% rate, citations per work and institutions in the world top 100. The United Arab Emirates leads on 3 of 9 measures: open access, international co-authorship and growth.

Singapore 63 United Arab Emirates
  1. #13Research qualityworld rank of 189 countries, 2022-now#37
  2. 1.42×Citation excellence for its fieldsits top-10% rate against what its topics predict; 1.00× is as expected1.16×
  3. 70kOutputfractional works, 2022-now46k
  4. 16.7%Top-10% rateshare of its works among the world's most cited13.7%
  5. 30.0Citations per workall time, per fractional work14.4
  6. 2World top 100institutions it holds among the world's best 1000
  7. 33%Open accessof its works free to read, all time46%
  8. 34%Internationalof its works written with co-authors abroad, all time42%
  9. +7%Growthworks in 2022-25 against 2018-21; half a bar is no change+75%

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 24 of 24 fields, United Arab Emirates in 0. Singapore leads most in Immunology and Microbiology (#13 against #50). Each bar is that side's standing among all countries ranked in the field: the full bar is first place.

Singapore 240 United Arab Emirates
  1. #20Agricultural and Biological Sciences#49
  2. #29Arts and Humanities#66
  3. #14Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#42
  4. #17Business, Management and Accounting#34
  5. #8Chemical Engineering-
  6. #9Chemistry#31
  7. #9Computer Science#25
  8. #15Decision Sciences#33
  9. #20Dentistry#34
  10. #21Earth and Planetary Sciences#36
  11. #14Economics, Econometrics and Finance#40
  12. #5Energy#29
  13. #6Engineering#32
  14. #15Environmental Science#48
  15. #15Health Professions#46
  16. #13Immunology and Microbiology#50
  17. #5Materials Science#34
  18. #20Mathematics#39
  19. #15Medicine#47
  20. #15Neuroscience#34
  21. #14Nursing-
  22. #17Physics and Astronomy#43
  23. #15Psychology#38
  24. #16Social Sciences#45

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 rankUnited Arab Emirates rank Singapore top 10%United Arab Emirates top 10% Singapore worksUnited Arab Emirates works
Agricultural and Biological Sciences #20 #49 17.3% 18.7% 1.1k 1.1k
Arts and Humanities #29 #66 16.9% 12.9% 892 891
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology #14 #42 15.2% 12.5% 3.7k 1.6k
Business, Management and Accounting #17 #34 14.4% 17.9% 1.6k 2.5k
Chemical Engineering #8 - 20.9% - 311 -
Chemistry #9 #31 18.6% 15.2% 1.1k 490
Computer Science #9 #25 18.4% 15.8% 9.1k 6k
Decision Sciences #15 #33 16.3% 14.1% 724 762
Dentistry #20 #34 16.6% 14.2% 224 439
Earth and Planetary Sciences #21 #36 20.0% 12.0% 594 436
Economics, Econometrics and Finance #14 #40 12.8% 17.2% 1.3k 1.2k
Energy #5 #29 19.7% 13.1% 797 776
Engineering #6 #32 19.3% 13.0% 14k 9.5k
Environmental Science #15 #48 17.1% 13.3% 2.3k 1.9k
Health Professions #15 #46 17.5% 13.4% 1.5k 1.1k
Immunology and Microbiology #13 #50 14.8% 10.1% 624 286
Materials Science #5 #34 19.0% 14.8% 3k 1.4k
Mathematics #20 #39 12.2% 13.6% 592 548
Medicine #15 #47 14.1% 10.0% 14k 7.4k
Neuroscience #15 #34 16.3% 11.7% 1.2k 611
Nursing #14 - 16.7% - 236 -
Physics and Astronomy #17 #43 15.7% 10.4% 1.7k 682
Psychology #15 #38 16.0% 12.6% 2.2k 1.3k
Social Sciences #16 #45 15.6% 15.8% 6.2k 4.6k

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

United Arab Emirates

▲ 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 Learning3,882▲ 2.2×97 topics
  2. Deep Learning3,442▲ 1.86×85 topics
  3. Epidemiology1,799▼ 0.84×138 topics
  4. Sustainability1,737▲ 1.33×123 topics
  5. Healthcare1,692▲ 2.8×38 topics
  6. Supply Chain Management1,467▲ 3.0×25 topics
  7. Renewable Energy1,342▲ 1.73×58 topics
  8. Artificial Intelligence1,338▲ 1.75×65 topics
  9. Neural Networks1,315▲ 1.59×42 topics
  10. Internet of Things1,099▲ 2.4×31 topics
  11. Big Data1,071▲ 2.1×36 topics
  12. Environmental Impact1,006◆ 1.10×70 topics
  13. Security904▲ 2.5×30 topics
  14. Social Media882▲ 1.19×38 topics
  15. Nanoparticles848▲ 1.26×44 topics
  16. COVID-19840▲ 1.21×33 topics
  17. Energy Efficiency825▲ 1.67×45 topics
  18. Smart Cities789▲ 5.6×8 topics
  19. IoT786▲ 3.9×19 topics
  20. Convolutional Neural Networks766▲ 1.97×14 topics
  21. Risk Management725▲ 2.9×20 topics
  22. Nanomaterials700▲ 1.25×21 topics
  23. Digital Transformation686▲ 2.4×30 topics
  24. Data Mining658▲ 1.68×25 topics
  25. Customer Satisfaction621▲ 3.6×10 topics
  26. Medical Imaging609▲ 2.2×9 topics
  27. Organizational Performance607▲ 4.3×12 topics
  28. Corporate Governance604▲ 1.53×32 topics
  29. Knowledge Management585▲ 1.97×39 topics
  30. IoT Security576▲ 3.5×3 topics
  31. Optimization495▲ 2.1×26 topics
  32. Privacy481▲ 3.1×11 topics
  33. Social Networks430▲ 3.0×13 topics
  34. Social Media Marketing414▲ 16×1 topic
  35. Human Resource Management401▲ 4.9×8 topics
  36. Localization331▲ 5.2×4 topics
  37. Guanxi267▲ 23×1 topic
  38. Wasta267▲ 23×1 topic
  39. Closed-Loop Control256▲ 11×1 topic
  40. Well Placement256▲ 11×1 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?

Singapore has out-published the United Arab Emirates every year since 1980.

still counting10k20kSingapore19k in 2025United Arab Emirates14k 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 counting0.20%0.40%0.60%Singapore0.32% in 2025United Arab Emirates0.24% 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 2025United Arab Emirates12.9% 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 United Arab Emirates
  1. 2In the world top 500
  2. 2In the top 1000
  3. 3In the top 5000
  4. 6In the top 1,0001
  5. #15Elite capacityrank among 204 countries#43

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 United Arab Emirates?

Singapore publishes 1.5× as much research as the United Arab Emirates in 2022-now (70k against 46k fractional works).

Whose research has more impact, Singapore or United Arab Emirates?

16.7% of Singapore's research reaches the world's top 10% most cited, against 13.7% for the United Arab Emirates.

Is Singapore or United Arab Emirates growing faster?

Output in 2022-25 was +75% against 2018-21 for the United Arab Emirates, and +7% for Singapore.

Which has more open access research, Singapore or United Arab Emirates?

46% of the United Arab Emirates's research is free to read, against 33% of Singapore's.

Which has more world-class institutions, Singapore or United Arab Emirates?

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

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

United Arab Emirates

  1. 1Khalifa University of Science and Technology18.1% top 10% · 5k works
  2. 2Zayed University16.8% top 10% · 1.6k works
  3. 3Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence21.9% top 10% · 826 works
  4. 4United Arab Emirates University18.1% top 10% · 4.9k works
  5. 5University of Sharjah15.0% top 10% · 5.4k works
  6. 6Al Ain University16.2% top 10% · 1.4k 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

United Arab Emirates

  1. 1 Yaser Mohammed Al‐Worafi #120 worldwide 56k citations · 1,033 works
  2. 2 Mostafa Al‐Emran #508 worldwide 14k citations · 172 works
  3. 3 Ibrar Yaqoob #750 worldwide 19k citations · 162 works
  4. 4 Enas Taha Sayed #1,210 worldwide 22k citations · 234 works
  5. 5 Abdul Ghani Olabi #1,240 worldwide 57k citations · 850 works

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