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Science in Nigeria

Nigeria ranks #44 of 192 countries on research quality in 2022–2025 (#51 all time), with 134k research works and 9.7% of them in the world's top 10%.

World rank, 2022–2025
#44
of 192 · #51 all time
Works, 2022–2025
134k
▲ 97% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate
9.7%
record average 16.5%
In the world top 100
0
0 in the top 1,000
Open access
70%
world 63%

What is Nigeria strongest at in science?

On research quality in 2022–2025, Nigeria ranks highest in Agricultural and Biological Sciences (#18 of 126), Social Sciences (#25 of 151) and Pollution (#14 of 60). Relative to its size it is most specialised in Library and Information Sciences, Drug Discovery and Forestry.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorks
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #18 of 126 7.6%14,371 Institutions
Social SciencesField #25 of 151 12.3%19,760 Institutions
PollutionSubfield #14 of 60 8.1%2,046 Institutions
Environmental ScienceField #30 of 125 9.3%10,176 Institutions
Economics, Econometrics and FinanceField #28 of 110 15.8%6,486 Institutions
Economics and EconometricsSubfield #26 of 101 17.1%4,840 Institutions
MathematicsField #23 of 82 9.7%1,950 Institutions
Water Science and TechnologySubfield #18 of 62 8.0%1,618 Institutions
Arts and HumanitiesField #33 of 106 18.3%2,751 Institutions
MedicineField #49 of 155 7.4%20,768 Institutions
Food ScienceSubfield #24 of 73 6.6%2,497 Institutions
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational HealthSubfield #29 of 86 11.2%2,635 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. Library and Information SciencesSubfield · 389.0 works15×
  2. Drug DiscoverySubfield · 62.8 works5.5×
  3. ForestrySubfield · 626.7 works4.5×
  4. Animal Science and ZoologySubfield · 1,307.5 works4.4×
  5. PharmacologySubfield · 1,065.4 works4.3×
  6. HorticultureSubfield · 73.8 works4.1×
  7. PollutionSubfield · 2,045.5 works3.9×
  8. General Social SciencesSubfield · 503.2 works3.4×
← 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: 2.25× its world share, 14k worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.64× its world share, 4,582 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.93× its world share, 1,261 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.34× its world share, 739 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 2.75× its world share, 1,300 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.43× its world share, 200 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.75× its world share, 1,575 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.77× its world share, 8,023 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.71× its world share, 1,500 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 1.37× its world share, 1,696 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.67× its world share, 14k worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.53× its world share, 10k worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.59× its world share, 2,753 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.23× its world share, 1,950 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.23× its world share, 673 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.63× its world share, 409 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.23× its world share, 4,349 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.80× its world share, 21k worksMedicineNursing: 2.91× its world share, 1,917 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.40× its world share, 255 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.71× its world share, 2,751 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 1.77× its world share, 7,671 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.57× its world share, 2,038 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 2.26× its world share, 6,486 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.85× its world share, 3,497 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 1.16× its world share, 20k worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Nursing, 2.9×. Every wedge is a field page.

Which keywords describe research in Nigeria?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Environmental Impact, Economic Growth, Sustainability, Epidemiology, Education, Antioxidant, Gender Equality and Sustainable Development.

▲ 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. Epidemiology6,032◆ 1.14×140 topics
  2. Sustainability4,981▲ 1.52×130 topics
  3. Environmental Impact4,937▲ 2.2×72 topics
  4. Machine Learning4,578◆ 1.04×97 topics
  5. Education4,237▲ 1.84×141 topics
  6. Climate Change4,141◆ 1.15×127 topics
  7. Globalization4,090▲ 1.55×168 topics
  8. Sustainable Development3,960▲ 1.86×106 topics
  9. Renewable Energy3,718▲ 1.92×61 topics
  10. Economic Growth3,633▲ 3.2×38 topics
  11. Oxidative Stress3,218▲ 1.47×63 topics
  12. Antioxidant2,960▲ 3.2×51 topics
  13. COVID-192,748▲ 1.50×34 topics
  14. Risk Management2,485▲ 3.8×20 topics
  15. Antioxidant Activity2,420▲ 2.8×32 topics
  16. Corporate Governance2,268▲ 2.3×32 topics
  17. Development2,219▲ 4.8×23 topics
  18. Medicinal Plants2,194▲ 4.1×21 topics
  19. Gender Equality2,161▲ 5.8×18 topics
  20. Genetic Diversity2,149▲ 3.6×22 topics
  21. Social Capital2,047▲ 2.9×20 topics
  22. Curriculum Development2,000▲ 2.1×20 topics
  23. Antioxidants1,871▲ 3.1×17 topics
  24. Information Technology1,811▲ 2.8×30 topics
  25. Toxicity1,772▲ 3.0×20 topics
  26. Nigeria1,740▲ 74×3 topics
  27. Fiscal Policy1,703▲ 5.9×11 topics
  28. Bioactive Compounds1,668▲ 4.9×15 topics
  29. Governance1,532▲ 3.5×19 topics
  30. Smallholder Farmers1,426▲ 4.8×6 topics
  31. Teacher Education1,378▲ 8.1×8 topics
  32. Quality Assurance1,362▲ 6.0×9 topics
  33. ICT1,320▲ 7.5×5 topics
  34. Institutional Quality1,282▲ 9.0×3 topics
  35. Youth Unemployment1,206▲ 97×1 topic
  36. Phytochemicals1,182▲ 8.0×8 topics
  37. Income Tax1,102▲ 10×2 topics
  38. Taxation1,086▲ 9.4×5 topics
  39. Transport Infrastructure1,069▲ 9.3×3 topics
  40. Mobile Phones1,035▲ 18×3 topics

Which universities in Nigeria lead research?

University of Nigeria, University of Ibadan and University of Ilorin rank highest in Nigeria on research quality in 2022–2025.

0%10%20%mean 11.4333%fractional works (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Nigeria: 5,246, 15.4%University of Ibadan: 5,107, 13.0%University of Ilorin: 3,090, 13.4%Federal University of Technology: 3,069, 10.0%Osun State University: 1,491, 12.7%Ahmadu Bello University: 2,907, 10.7%University of Lagos: 3,282, 11.0%University of Calabar: 2,489, 12.4%Obafemi Awolowo University: 2,688, 14.3%Covenant University: 1,622, 19.1%Nnamdi Azikiwe University: 3,565, 8.3%Delta State University: 2,564, 7.6%University of Benin: 2,311, 7.7%Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University: 1,194, 10.3%University of Port Harcourt: 3,483, 5.6%University of NigeriaUniversity of IlorinUniversity of IbadanFederal 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 NigeriaUniversity · Nsukka · #1,290 worldwide15.4% top 10% · 5.2k works
  2. 2University of IbadanUniversity · Ibadan · #1,465 worldwide13.0% top 10% · 5.1k works
  3. 3University of IlorinUniversity · Ilorin · #1,755 worldwide13.4% top 10% · 3.1k works
  4. 4Federal University of TechnologyUniversity · Akure · #2,160 worldwide10.0% top 10% · 3.1k works
  5. 5Osun State UniversityUniversity · Osogbo · #2,166 worldwide12.7% top 10% · 1.5k works
  6. 6Ahmadu Bello UniversityUniversity · Zaria · #2,170 worldwide10.7% top 10% · 2.9k works
  7. 7University of LagosUniversity · Lagos · #2,540 worldwide11.0% top 10% · 3.3k works
  8. 8University of CalabarUniversity · Calabar · #2,891 worldwide12.4% top 10% · 2.5k works
  9. 9Obafemi Awolowo UniversityUniversity · Ile-Ife · #2,956 worldwide14.3% top 10% · 2.7k works
  10. 10Covenant UniversityUniversity · Ota · #3,005 worldwide19.1% top 10% · 1.6k works
  11. 11Nnamdi Azikiwe UniversityUniversity · Awka · #3,034 worldwide8.3% top 10% · 3.6k works
  12. 12Delta State UniversityUniversity · Abraka · #3,192 worldwide7.6% top 10% · 2.6k works
  13. 13University of BeninUniversity · Benin City · #3,435 worldwide7.7% top 10% · 2.3k works
  14. 14Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu UniversityUniversity · Ihiala · #3,509 worldwide10.3% top 10% · 1.2k works
  15. 15University of Port HarcourtUniversity · Port Harcourt · #3,517 worldwide5.6% top 10% · 3.5k 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 Nigeria

Who are the top researchers in Nigeria?

Mayowa Owolabi, Oye Gureje and Obinna Onwujekwe rank highest among researchers based in Nigeria.

  1. 1 Mayowa Owolabi · #786 worldwide 6.5k citations · 92 works
  2. 2 Oye Gureje · #1,611 worldwide 1.9k citations · 102 works
  3. 3 Obinna Onwujekwe · #2,261 worldwide 1.4k citations · 87 works
  4. 4 Morẹ́nikẹ́ Oluwátóyìn Foláyan · #5,424 worldwide 886 citations · 74 works
  5. 5 Erwin Panofsky · #9,784 worldwide 226 citations · 71 works
  6. 6 Rufus Akinyemi · #11,256 worldwide 1.6k citations · 46 works
  7. 7 Adeniyi Francis Fagbamigbe · #15,834 worldwide 776 citations · 45 works
  8. 8 H. C. Gugnani · #21,100 worldwide 4.1k citations · 37 works
  9. 9 Rufus Adesoji Adedoyin · #21,774 worldwide 1.2k citations · 38 works
  10. 10 Chikwe Ihekweazu · #22,973 worldwide 447 citations · 50 works
Top researchers in Nigeria

Which cities in Nigeria are research hubs?

  1. 1 Ibadan Nigeria 42k works
  2. 2 Lagos Nigeria 26k works
  3. 3 Port Harcourt Nigeria 23k works
  4. 4 Nsukka Nigeria 19k works

How much of it is in the largest

The same cities as shares of everything these twelve account for.

Ibadan: 38.2%Lagos: 24.0%Port Harcourt: 20.5%Nsukka: 17.3%38%largest
Ibadan42k · 38.2%Lagos26k · 24.0%Port Harcourt23k · 20.5%Nsukka19k · 17.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

How open and international is Nigeria's research?

70% of its research is openly available (world: 40%), and 16% is written with international co-authors (world: 18%).

openly available69.8%not open30.2%

World: 63% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors15.6%domestic only84.4%

World: 22% is written across borders.

How has Nigeria's research grown?

Output in 2018–2022 was 97% 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 Nigeria