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Science in Estonia

Estonia ranks #78 of 192 countries on research quality in 2022–2025 (#70 all time), with 11k research works and 20.5% of them in the world's top 10%.

World rank, 2022–2025
#78
of 192 · #70 all time
Works, 2022–2025
11k
▲ 13% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate
20.5%
record average 16.5%
In the world top 100
0
0 in the top 1,000
Open access
47%
world 63%

What is Estonia strongest at in science?

On research quality in 2022–2025, Estonia ranks highest in Political Science and International Relations (#43 of 97), Social Sciences (#73 of 151) and Medicine (#84 of 155). Relative to its size it is most specialised in Nature and Landscape Conservation, Paleontology and Language and Linguistics.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorks
Political Science and International RelationsSubfield #43 of 97 28.5%415 Institutions
Social SciencesField #73 of 151 25.2%1,946 Institutions
MedicineField #84 of 155 15.3%1,083 Institutions
PsychologyField #60 of 109 18.8%564 Institutions
Computer ScienceField #74 of 131 22.8%1,008 Institutions
Arts and HumanitiesField #61 of 106 19.5%697 Institutions
EngineeringField #78 of 134 14.2%1,573 Institutions
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #78 of 126 30.4%664 Institutions
Sociology and Political ScienceSubfield #76 of 122 22.8%567 Institutions
Environmental ScienceField #79 of 125 22.3%751 Institutions
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #71 of 108 21.6%542 Institutions
EducationSubfield #85 of 115 29.0%291 Institutions

Where its research is concentrated

Location quotient: how much more — or less — of each node it does than its size predicts. Drawn around 1×, where “twice the world share” and “half of it” are the same distance apart in opposite directions. A volume reading, which on a country axis is largely population and industrial structure.

  1. Nature and Landscape ConservationSubfield · 83.9 works3.1×
  2. PaleontologySubfield · 42.2 works3.1×
  3. Language and LinguisticsSubfield · 152.3 works3.0×
  4. OceanographySubfield · 92.9 works2.9×
  5. General PsychologySubfield · 3.3 works2.8×
  6. Linguistics and LanguageSubfield · 36.4 works2.8×
  7. CommunicationSubfield · 85.5 works2.7×
  8. SoftwareSubfield · 18.8 works2.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

The whole field profile

All 26 fields at once. A specialist and a generalist produce the same ranked list and a completely different shape.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 1.23× its world share, 664 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.89× its world share, 542 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.59× its world share, 68 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.75× its world share, 138 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.54× its world share, 22 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.87× its world share, 35 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.78× its world share, 139 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.14× its world share, 1,008 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.55× its world share, 278 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 1.00× its world share, 105 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.92× its world share, 1,573 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.33× its world share, 751 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.70× its world share, 281 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.99× its world share, 132 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.21× its world share, 307 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.25× its world share, 14 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.90× its world share, 272 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.49× its world share, 1,082 worksMedicineNursing: 0.77× its world share, 43 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.10× its world share, 17 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 2.12× its world share, 697 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 1.04× its world share, 382 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.12× its world share, 123 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.92× its world share, 226 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.62× its world share, 564 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.35× its world share, 1,946 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Arts and Humanities, 2.1×. Every wedge is a field page.

Which keywords describe research in Estonia?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Climate Change, Globalization, Machine Learning, Sustainability, Power Electronics, Biodiversity, Invasive Species and European Union.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this country's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Climate Change524▲ 1.71×112 topics
  2. Machine Learning396◆ 1.06×88 topics
  3. Globalization338▲ 1.51×135 topics
  4. Sustainability335▲ 1.21×114 topics
  5. Deep Learning285▼ 0.73×81 topics
  6. Environmental Impact202◆ 1.04×67 topics
  7. Education196◆ 1.00×117 topics
  8. Renewable Energy196▲ 1.19×52 topics
  9. Artificial Intelligence195▲ 1.25×56 topics
  10. Social Media191▲ 1.17×35 topics
  11. Biodiversity180▲ 2.1×35 topics
  12. Big Data179▲ 1.73×30 topics
  13. Identity167▲ 2.0×64 topics
  14. Public Health160◆ 0.97×60 topics
  15. Human Rights147▲ 1.26×69 topics
  16. Ethics146▲ 2.6×52 topics
  17. Invasive Species146▲ 3.0×21 topics
  18. Power Electronics138▲ 3.6×8 topics
  19. Internet of Things137▲ 1.38×24 topics
  20. Renewable Energy Integration128▲ 3.3×6 topics
  21. Security123▲ 1.66×27 topics
  22. Religion122▲ 2.3×40 topics
  23. European Union114▲ 4.4×25 topics
  24. Conservation114▲ 2.3×24 topics
  25. International Relations110▲ 4.0×25 topics
  26. Governance107▲ 2.9×18 topics
  27. Ecosystem Functioning102▲ 4.7×7 topics
  28. Social Interaction96▲ 2.1×11 topics
  29. Corpus Linguistics95▲ 3.9×5 topics
  30. Migration92▲ 2.4×26 topics
  31. Global Change87▲ 2.9×7 topics
  32. Model Predictive Control83▲ 2.8×6 topics
  33. European Integration81▲ 13×6 topics
  34. Habitat Fragmentation79▲ 3.1×5 topics
  35. Soviet Union70▲ 11×3 topics
  36. Diplomacy65▲ 6.0×8 topics
  37. Folklore64▲ 11×3 topics
  38. Literary Analysis62▲ 28×2 topics
  39. Eastern Europe59▲ 9.3×3 topics
  40. Cold War52▲ 7.2×4 topics

Which universities in Estonia lead research?

University of Tartu, Tallinn University of Technology and Tallinn University rank highest in Estonia on research quality in 2022–2025.

0%20%40%mean 19.6267%fractional works (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Tartu: 3,886, 22.7%Tallinn University of Technology: 2,616, 19.5%Tallinn University: 1,104, 24.6%Ministry of Agriculture: 413, 35.2%National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics: 170, 32.2%Estonian University of Life Sciences: 562, 23.0%Praxis: 986, 6.5%Tartu University Hospital: 158, 19.7%Estonian Academy of Sciences: 65, 17.5%North Estonia Medical Centre: 65, 15.4%Estonian Business School: 110, 18.7%Institute of the Estonian Language: 81, 15.6%Tallinn University of Applied Sciences: 68, 14.1%Estonian Academy of Arts: 67, 16.3%Estonian Literary Museum: 106, 13.4%Ministry of Agricult…Tallinn UniversityUniversity of TartuTallinn University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per institution in the list below. The upper left is the interesting corner.

  1. 1University of TartuUniversity · Tartu · #1,019 worldwide22.7% top 10% · 3.9k works
  2. 2Tallinn University of TechnologyUniversity · Tallinn · #1,771 worldwide19.5% top 10% · 2.6k works
  3. 3Tallinn UniversityUniversity · Tallinn · #4,581 worldwide24.6% top 10% · 1.1k works
  4. 4Ministry of AgricultureGovernment institution · Tallinn · #5,413 worldwide35.2% top 10% · 413 works
  5. 5National Institute of Chemical Physics and BiophysicsResearch facility · Tallinn · #5,686 worldwide32.2% top 10% · 170 works
  6. 6Estonian University of Life SciencesUniversity · Tartu · #6,766 worldwide23.0% top 10% · 562 works
  7. 7PraxisNonprofit · Tallinn · #9,486 worldwide6.5% top 10% · 986 works
  8. 8Tartu University HospitalHospital / health system · Tartu · #10,552 worldwide19.7% top 10% · 158 works
  9. 9Estonian Academy of SciencesGovernment institution · Tallinn · #16,274 worldwide17.5% top 10% · 65 works
  10. 10North Estonia Medical CentreHospital / health system · Tallinn · #22,286 worldwide15.4% top 10% · 65 works
  11. 11Estonian Business SchoolUniversity · Tallinn · #23,465 worldwide18.7% top 10% · 110 works
  12. 12Institute of the Estonian LanguageResearch facility · Tallinn · #25,510 worldwide15.6% top 10% · 81 works
  13. 13Tallinn University of Applied SciencesUniversity · Tallinn · #26,435 worldwide14.1% top 10% · 68 works
  14. 14Estonian Academy of ArtsUniversity · Tallinn · #26,512 worldwide16.3% top 10% · 67 works
  15. 15Estonian Literary MuseumArchive · Tartu · #26,691 worldwide13.4% top 10% · 106 works

The track on each row is its top-10% rate; the tick is the world’s rate in this record, 16.5% — teal above it, red below.

All ranked institutions in Estonia

Who are the top researchers in Estonia?

Tōnu Esko, Andres Metspalu and Reedik Mägi rank highest among researchers based in Estonia.

  1. 1 Tōnu Esko · #445 worldwide 3.7k citations · 142 works
  2. 2 Andres Metspalu · #536 worldwide 3k citations · 131 works
  3. 3 Reedik Mägi · #2,342 worldwide 1.5k citations · 87 works
  4. 4 Marlon Dumas · #2,716 worldwide 1.5k citations · 128 works
  5. 5 Jacques Brès · #4,249 worldwide 406 citations · 78 works
  6. 6 Ülo Niinemets · #6,703 worldwide 1.7k citations · 86 works
  7. 7 Lili Milani · #6,765 worldwide 1.1k citations · 71 works
  8. 8 Leho Tedersoo · #7,703 worldwide 1.7k citations · 54 works
  9. 9 Fabrizio Maria Maggi · #10,063 worldwide 897 citations · 89 works
  10. 10 Evelin Mihailov · #18,219 worldwide 941 citations · 42 works
Top researchers in Estonia

Which cities in Estonia are research hubs?

  1. 1 Tallinn Estonia 30k works
  2. 2 Tartu Estonia 27k works

How open and international is Estonia's research?

47% of its research is openly available (world: 40%), and 31% is written with international co-authors (world: 18%).

openly available46.9%not open53.1%

World: 63% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors30.9%domestic only69.1%

World: 22% is written across borders.

How has Estonia's research grown?

Output in 2018–2022 was 13% higher than in 2013–2017.

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Research fields in Estonia