Table: Output and world shares of scientific publications by major field of science, 2015 and 2019

Number of publications

Environmental sciences
Agriculture, fisheries & Built environment & Cross-cutting strategic
Animal & plant biology Chemistry Engineering (NB: excluding Geosciences Health sciences ICTs, maths & statistics
forestry design technology
Geosciences)

2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015

World 69,534 87,419 65,038 73,409 21,921 26,949 156,273 185,514 351,447 467,883 224,740 267,250 77,789 113,317 31,118 37,054 782,853 891,797 177,790
High-income economies 42,106 48,682 41,940 44,137 17,222 18,554 90,891 97,672 212,582 244,026 136,496 140,901 56,624 73,040 22,685 25,814 611,915 673,809 120,741
Upper-middle-income economies 27,625 41,242 24,819 31,906 5,639 9,729 65,787 90,440 140,207 208,580 93,724 129,079 26,047 48,947 11,027 15,399 180,471 238,102 57,110
Lower-middle-income economies 7,071 9,604 7,880 10,010 983 2,373 17,812 24,328 33,977 75,894 14,828 30,276 5,810 11,720 2,065 2,889 45,134 61,341 18,858
Low-income economies 1,102 1,715 965 1,417 77 198 450 742 1,014 2,739 535 1,211 1,081 2,034 197 318 7,180 10,392 897
Americas 23,621 27,470 22,375 24,038 6,007 7,154 31,128 33,622 77,773 87,323 50,771 53,381 28,758 35,702 9,903 11,422 303,032 336,675 46,890
North America 14,373 16,764 15,136 16,087 5,356 6,164 25,717 26,539 66,316 71,063 43,841 44,925 24,961 29,396 8,338 9,087 269,163 297,850 41,733
Latin America 9,974 11,982 8,529 9,655 707 1,112 5,826 7,645 12,516 17,534 7,579 9,343 4,851 7,796 1,914 2,818 39,927 48,195 5,731
Caribbean 220 186 113 185 22 26 121 138 237 301 125 120 95 143 34 38 1,629 1,699 91
Europe 24,263 28,123 24,350 25,474 9,673 10,028 52,166 57,917 117,410 140,646 74,156 79,617 30,782 42,419 15,065 17,159 310,138 342,182 67,537
European Union 21,399 24,403 20,615 21,112 8,657 8,781 43,073 47,120 99,892 108,910 62,747 62,992 26,748 34,374 12,074 13,226 272,020 297,333 56,217
Southeast Europe 395 465 417 407 76 61 552 629 1,160 1,156 787 925 216 343 80 111 2,599 2,942 1,051
European Free Trade Assoc. 1,544 1,822 1,607 1,753 550 558 2,710 2,820 6,055 6,811 3,690 3,798 3,253 3,883 1,523 1,842 23,062 28,404 3,271
Other Europe & West Asia 4,094 5,987 5,308 6,198 1,073 1,805 13,997 17,882 23,965 41,608 16,048 24,671 4,728 10,324 3,578 4,911 47,094 61,335 15,386
Africa 3,086 5,163 3,083 4,273 527 1,034 4,390 6,938 8,966 14,537 4,972 7,885 3,027 5,654 1,220 1,662 22,181 29,435 4,926
Sub-Saharan Africa 2,012 3,113 2,068 2,819 320 688 1,517 2,240 3,112 5,916 1,475 2,859 2,193 3,982 644 933 14,012 19,125 1,564
Arab States in Africa 1,102 2,103 1,036 1,495 207 349 2,901 4,782 5,910 8,704 3,512 5,061 856 1,721 582 745 8,349 10,593 3,381
Asia 24,955 37,513 24,916 32,412 7,412 11,694 86,901 112,230 184,247 281,245 115,250 156,725 28,435 52,071 10,972 15,360 235,948 303,196 81,407
Central Asia 52 131 69 195 12 33 184 291 536 1,456 289 514 127 603 76 160 369 1,000 296
Arab States in Asia 697 1,145 895 1,973 389 708 2,865 4,348 6,923 12,443 3,181 5,120 1,008 2,007 672 714 8,891 16,986 4,024
Southeast Asia 17,644 29,061 17,203 22,944 6,054 9,023 66,908 86,763 147,103 211,303 96,160 127,516 22,411 41,731 8,648 12,338 179,485 227,794 59,030
South Asia 5,004 5,256 5,694 6,600 635 1,390 13,909 17,618 24,939 52,818 10,816 17,407 4,136 6,806 1,035 1,528 31,798 37,999 14,441
Oceania 3,353 4,226 4,157 4,213 1,166 1,611 3,490 3,959 9,298 11,924 5,988 6,944 5,538 6,639 2,019 2,497 35,159 44,018 5,254
Other groupings
Less developed countries 1,047 1,620 862 1,292 79 198 477 835 1,081 2,881 532 1,224 955 1,866 226 336 7,195 10,121 944
All Arab States 1,673 2,964 1,723 3,199 570 1,010 5,125 8,044 11,944 19,840 6,298 9,473 1,747 3,421 1,132 1,355 15,999 25,796 6,928
OECD 42,498 48,957 41,411 43,010 16,583 17,842 83,506 89,668 195,786 215,660 126,157 127,609 55,110 68,361 21,043 23,292 605,595 659,665 110,975
G20 62,872 78,087 58,137 65,707 19,750 23,926 142,678 168,998 316,697 419,013 204,342 241,461 72,480 103,776 29,065 34,689 722,246 815,350 158,777
Organization of Islamic Co-operation 7,321 11,514 7,269 9,193 1,783 3,375 15,192 22,210 33,640 59,098 18,387 33,755 5,786 12,933 2,755 3,782 57,781 82,143 17,371
Selected countries
Argentina 720 942 1,259 1,285 57 76 681 804 897 1,071 576 545 655 895 551 640 3,854 4,389 418
Australia 2,699 3,309 3,406 3,522 1,034 1,447 3,037 3,509 8,366 10,736 5,432 6,270 4,792 5,707 1,705 2,159 31,462 39,635 4,636
Brazil 7,173 8,162 4,288 5,006 339 483 3,490 4,437 6,699 8,596 4,154 5,026 2,114 3,776 753 1,302 24,000 28,050 3,239
Canada 2,865 3,374 2,321 2,701 826 1,027 3,593 3,827 9,533 10,699 7,279 7,743 4,498 5,569 1,701 1,884 36,778 44,143 6,984
China 11,298 20,705 9,904 14,958 3,337 5,992 45,709 64,058 98,669 149,832 67,876 93,535 16,137 31,906 6,935 9,977 89,645 124,928 36,259
Egypt 624 1,383 486 823 117 200 1,808 2,989 2,402 3,787 1,282 1,769 373 865 324 384 4,913 7,347 996
France 2,221 2,348 2,972 3,107 804 684 6,260 6,443 14,016 12,788 8,242 7,809 4,022 4,978 2,254 2,492 35,360 37,501 9,786
Germany 2,961 3,502 3,913 4,341 1,209 948 9,914 10,577 19,974 20,814 11,604 11,629 5,507 6,819 2,606 3,104 53,929 58,376 10,683
India 4,221 3,843 4,186 4,941 558 1,132 12,591 15,491 22,725 47,333 9,769 15,031 3,400 4,923 892 1,291 26,686 30,345 12,639
Indonesia 431 1,098 340 623 54 231 263 887 1,811 9,195 605 6,836 283 1,464 104 178 1,099 5,345 444
Iran, Islamic Rep. 1,842 2,720 1,341 1,408 299 743 4,664 6,400 6,629 9,091 5,408 8,652 1,140 2,549 674 899 11,772 17,548 3,447
Israel 274 331 533 545 119 130 643 719 1,852 1,949 974 940 427 564 143 211 7,304 8,763 1,686
Italy 2,856 3,605 2,642 2,684 1,152 1,130 4,887 5,710 12,500 13,718 8,967 9,334 2,984 3,906 1,839 2,005 35,669 42,486 7,035
Japan 2,165 2,617 3,019 3,132 833 758 9,409 9,696 17,564 18,129 11,008 9,885 2,680 3,395 1,119 1,337 44,669 46,579 7,488
Korea, Rep. 1,974 2,318 1,681 2,198 684 766 6,589 7,367 12,992 15,793 7,857 8,061 1,516 2,188 272 476 23,047 25,928 6,360
Malaysia 671 914 1,004 639 233 461 1,813 2,048 7,428 9,912 2,531 3,517 732 1,356 134 264 3,647 5,365 1,903
Mexico 1,020 1,487 1,523 1,859 90 141 944 1,435 2,662 3,414 1,486 1,820 1,148 1,490 321 414 5,772 7,454 894
Russian Fed. 407 988 1,992 2,716 112 265 5,528 6,841 9,558 20,666 5,844 10,091 2,111 5,104 2,169 3,126 9,932 15,680 5,549
Saudi Arabia 403 496 577 723 111 178 2,045 2,743 3,672 4,994 1,310 1,988 498 890 365 413 4,640 6,747 2,225
South Africa 645 942 1,168 1,433 164 297 903 1,192 1,622 2,623 945 1,666 1,029 1,708 303 456 5,484 7,483 962
Turkey 1,513 1,774 1,175 1,208 533 636 2,301 3,181 3,876 5,927 2,810 3,595 935 1,692 422 560 16,925 17,276 2,979
UK 2,610 3,497 3,987 4,364 2,064 2,401 6,656 7,025 16,960 19,316 9,749 10,772 6,386 7,881 2,866 3,305 65,929 75,341 9,430
USA 12,051 14,092 13,496 14,179 4,615 5,270 22,626 23,244 58,082 61,890 37,422 38,126 21,770 25,431 7,133 7,698 242,645 267,135 35,799

Note: The sum of the numbers for the various regions exceeds the total number because papers with multiple authors from different
regions contribute fully to each of these regions. The field of cross-cutting strategic technologies encompasses: artificial intelligence and
robotics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, blockchain technology, energy, Internet of Things, materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology,
optoelectronics and photonics and strategic, defence and security studies. The grouping under Eastern Europe refers to those countries
that are not members of the European Union: Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.

Source: UNESCO Science Report (2021) The Race Against Time for Smarter Development; data from Scopus (Elsevier), excluding Arts, Humanities and Social sciences; data treatment by Science-Metrix
 World share (%)

Environmental sciences
Agriculture, Animal & plant Built environment & Cross-cutting ICTs, maths & Physics &
ICTs, maths & statistics Physics & astronomy Chemistry Engineering (NB: excluding Geosciences Health sciences
fisheries & forestry biology design strategic technology statistics astronomy
Geosciences)

2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019

221,763 220,122 256,893 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
133,569 156,453 154,500 60.6 55.7 64.5 60.1 78.6 68.8 58.2 52.6 60.5 52.2 60.7 52.7 72.8 64.5 72.9 69.7 78.2 75.6 67.9 60.2 71.1 60.1
87,880 70,131 98,997 39.7 47.2 38.2 43.5 25.7 36.1 42.1 48.8 39.9 44.6 41.7 48.3 33.5 43.2 35.4 41.6 23.1 26.7 32.1 39.6 31.9 38.5
31,018 19,976 39,866 10.2 11.0 12.1 13.6 4.5 8.8 11.4 13.1 9.7 16.2 6.6 11.3 7.5 10.3 6.6 7.8 5.8 6.9 10.6 14.0 9.1 15.5
2,077 425 956 1.6 2.0 1.5 1.9 0.4 0.7 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.5 1.4 1.8 0.6 0.9 0.9 1.2 0.5 0.9 0.2 0.4
52,757 58,678 54,719 34.0 31.4 34.4 32.7 27.4 26.5 19.9 18.1 22.1 18.7 22.6 20.0 37.0 31.5 31.8 30.8 38.7 37.8 26.4 23.8 26.7 21.3
45,941 50,792 45,722 20.7 19.2 23.3 21.9 24.4 22.9 16.5 14.3 18.9 15.2 19.5 16.8 32.1 25.9 26.8 24.5 34.4 33.4 23.5 20.7 23.1 17.8
7,604 10,080 11,355 14.3 13.7 13.1 13.2 3.2 4.1 3.7 4.1 3.6 3.7 3.4 3.5 6.2 6.9 6.2 7.6 5.1 5.4 3.2 3.4 4.6 4.4
85 146 189 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
73,644 96,630 100,959 34.9 32.2 37.4 34.7 44.1 37.2 33.4 31.2 33.4 30.1 33.0 29.8 39.6 37.4 48.4 46.3 39.6 38.4 38.0 33.2 43.9 39.3
60,305 77,407 73,916 30.8 27.9 31.7 28.8 39.5 32.6 27.6 25.4 28.4 23.3 27.9 23.6 34.4 30.3 38.8 35.7 34.7 33.3 31.6 27.2 35.2 28.8
984 792 944 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.4
3,706 6,776 6,288 2.2 2.1 2.5 2.4 2.5 2.1 1.7 1.5 1.7 1.5 1.6 1.4 4.2 3.4 4.9 5.0 2.9 3.2 1.8 1.7 3.1 2.4
19,602 28,424 37,812 5.9 6.8 8.2 8.4 4.9 6.7 9.0 9.6 6.8 8.9 7.1 9.2 6.1 9.1 11.5 13.3 6.0 6.9 8.7 8.8 12.9 14.7
8,042 4,858 7,510 4.4 5.9 4.7 5.8 2.4 3.8 2.8 3.7 2.6 3.1 2.2 3.0 3.9 5.0 3.9 4.5 2.8 3.3 2.8 3.6 2.2 2.9
2,561 1,888 3,138 2.9 3.6 3.2 3.8 1.5 2.6 1.0 1.2 0.9 1.3 0.7 1.1 2.8 3.5 2.1 2.5 1.8 2.1 0.9 1.2 0.9 1.2
5,518 3,115 4,594 1.6 2.4 1.6 2.0 0.9 1.3 1.9 2.6 1.7 1.9 1.6 1.9 1.1 1.5 1.9 2.0 1.1 1.2 1.9 2.5 1.4 1.8
120,346 99,811 139,468 35.9 42.9 38.3 44.2 33.8 43.4 55.6 60.5 52.4 60.1 51.3 58.6 36.6 46.0 35.3 41.5 30.1 34.0 45.8 54.3 45.3 54.3
518 518 879 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.5 0.2 0.4 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3
6,839 2,869 5,870 1.0 1.3 1.4 2.7 1.8 2.6 1.8 2.3 2.0 2.7 1.4 1.9 1.3 1.8 2.2 1.9 1.1 1.9 2.3 3.1 1.3 2.3
87,551 78,729 108,603 25.4 33.2 26.5 31.3 27.6 33.5 42.8 46.8 41.9 45.2 42.8 47.7 28.8 36.8 27.8 33.3 22.9 25.5 33.2 39.5 35.8 42.3
22,369 13,894 21,847 7.2 6.0 8.8 9.0 2.9 5.2 8.9 9.5 7.1 11.3 4.8 6.5 5.3 6.0 3.3 4.1 4.1 4.3 8.1 10.1 6.3 8.5
6,485 5,562 5,788 4.8 4.8 6.4 5.7 5.3 6.0 2.2 2.1 2.6 2.5 2.7 2.6 7.1 5.9 6.5 6.7 4.5 4.9 3.0 2.9 2.5 2.3

2,177 428 1,022 1.5 1.9 1.3 1.8 0.4 0.7 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.5 1.2 1.6 0.7 0.9 0.9 1.1 0.5 1.0 0.2 0.4
11,476 5,308 9,239 2.4 3.4 2.6 4.4 2.6 3.7 3.3 4.3 3.4 4.2 2.8 3.5 2.2 3.0 3.6 3.7 2.0 2.9 3.9 5.2 2.4 3.6
122,151 141,244 133,042 61.1 56.0 63.7 58.6 75.6 66.2 53.4 48.3 55.7 46.1 56.1 47.7 70.8 60.3 67.6 62.9 77.4 74.0 62.4 55.1 64.2 51.8
196,495 202,674 234,460 90.4 89.3 89.4 89.5 90.1 88.8 91.3 91.1 90.1 89.6 90.9 90.4 93.2 91.6 93.4 93.6 92.3 91.4 89.3 88.6 92.1 91.3
27,905 15,958 34,326 10.5 13.2 11.2 12.5 8.1 12.5 9.7 12.0 9.6 12.6 8.2 12.6 7.4 11.4 8.9 10.2 7.4 9.2 9.8 12.6 7.2 13.4

510 1,314 1,123 1.0 1.1 1.9 1.8 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.8 0.8 1.8 1.7 0.5 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.6 0.4
5,622 5,122 5,271 3.9 3.8 5.2 4.8 4.7 5.4 1.9 1.9 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.3 6.2 5.0 5.5 5.8 4.0 4.4 2.6 2.5 2.3 2.1
4,407 4,757 5,025 10.3 9.3 6.6 6.8 1.5 1.8 2.2 2.4 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.9 2.7 3.3 2.4 3.5 3.1 3.1 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.0
7,329 6,217 6,282 4.1 3.9 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.8 2.3 2.1 2.7 2.3 3.2 2.9 5.8 4.9 5.5 5.1 4.7 4.9 3.9 3.3 2.8 2.4
61,186 45,885 67,578 16.2 23.7 15.2 20.4 15.2 22.2 29.2 34.5 28.1 32.0 30.2 35.0 20.7 28.2 22.3 26.9 11.5 14.0 20.4 27.6 20.8 26.3
1,612 1,403 2,065 0.9 1.6 0.7 1.1 0.5 0.7 1.2 1.6 0.7 0.8 0.6 0.7 0.5 0.8 1.0 1.0 0.6 0.8 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.8
9,613 15,554 13,318 3.2 2.7 4.6 4.2 3.7 2.5 4.0 3.5 4.0 2.7 3.7 2.9 5.2 4.4 7.2 6.7 4.5 4.2 5.5 4.3 7.1 5.2
11,977 21,901 20,261 4.3 4.0 6.0 5.9 5.5 3.5 6.3 5.7 5.7 4.4 5.2 4.4 7.1 6.0 8.4 8.4 6.9 6.5 6.0 5.4 9.9 7.9
17,873 12,615 18,863 6.1 4.4 6.4 6.7 2.5 4.2 8.1 8.4 6.5 10.1 4.3 5.6 4.4 4.3 2.9 3.5 3.4 3.4 7.1 8.1 5.7 7.3
1,669 646 9,987 0.6 1.3 0.5 0.8 0.2 0.9 0.2 0.5 0.5 2.0 0.3 2.6 0.4 1.3 0.3 0.5 0.1 0.6 0.2 0.8 0.3 3.9
4,934 4,076 5,618 2.6 3.1 2.1 1.9 1.4 2.8 3.0 3.4 1.9 1.9 2.4 3.2 1.5 2.2 2.2 2.4 1.5 2.0 1.9 2.2 1.9 2.2
2,174 2,438 2,345 0.4 0.4 0.8 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.1 0.9
7,623 11,364 11,376 4.1 4.1 4.1 3.7 5.3 4.2 3.1 3.1 3.6 2.9 4.0 3.5 3.8 3.4 5.9 5.4 4.6 4.8 4.0 3.4 5.2 4.4
8,029 17,066 15,790 3.1 3.0 4.6 4.3 3.8 2.8 6.0 5.2 5.0 3.9 4.9 3.7 3.4 3.0 3.6 3.6 5.7 5.2 4.2 3.6 7.8 6.1
7,443 8,747 8,789 2.8 2.7 2.6 3.0 3.1 2.8 4.2 4.0 3.7 3.4 3.5 3.0 1.9 1.9 0.9 1.3 2.9 2.9 3.6 3.4 4.0 3.4
2,273 2,309 3,423 1.0 1.0 1.5 0.9 1.1 1.7 1.2 1.1 2.1 2.1 1.1 1.3 0.9 1.2 0.4 0.7 0.5 0.6 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.3
1,142 2,461 2,852 1.5 1.7 2.3 2.5 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 1.5 1.3 1.0 1.1 0.7 0.8 0.5 0.5 1.1 1.1
6,920 16,954 23,997 0.6 1.1 3.1 3.7 0.5 1.0 3.5 3.7 2.7 4.4 2.6 3.8 2.7 4.5 7.0 8.4 1.3 1.8 3.1 3.1 7.7 9.3
3,135 1,835 2,898 0.6 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.5 0.7 1.3 1.5 1.0 1.1 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.1 0.6 0.8 1.3 1.4 0.8 1.1
1,284 1,481 1,978 0.9 1.1 1.8 2.0 0.7 1.1 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.6 1.3 1.5 1.0 1.2 0.7 0.8 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
3,653 2,839 3,743 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 2.4 2.4 1.5 1.7 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.5 1.4 1.5 2.2 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.3 1.5
11,394 15,197 14,878 3.8 4.0 6.1 5.9 9.4 8.9 4.3 3.8 4.8 4.1 4.3 4.0 8.2 7.0 9.2 8.9 8.4 8.4 5.3 5.1 6.9 5.8
39,864 46,466 41,330 17.3 16.1 20.8 19.3 21.1 19.6 14.5 12.5 16.5 13.2 16.7 14.3 28.0 22.4 22.9 20.8 31.0 30.0 20.1 18.0 21.1 16.1
Table: Scientific publications by major field of science, 2015 and 2019

Number of publica

Agriculture, fisheries & Built environment & Cross-cutting strategic

Animal & plant biology Chemistry
forestry design technology

2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019

World 69,534 87,419 65,038 73,409 21,921 26,949 156,273 185,514 351,447 467,883
High-income economies 42,106 48,682 41,940 44,137 17,222 18,554 90,891 97,672 212,582 244,026
Upper-middle-income economies 27,625 41,242 24,819 31,906 5,639 9,729 65,787 90,440 140,207 208,580
Lower-middle-income economies 7,071 9,604 7,880 10,010 983 2,373 17,812 24,328 33,977 75,894
Low-income economies 1,102 1,715 965 1,417 77 198 450 742 1,014 2,739
Americas 23,621 27,470 22,375 24,038 6,007 7,154 31,128 33,622 77,773 87,323
North America 14,373 16,764 15,136 16,087 5,356 6,164 25,717 26,539 66,316 71,063
Latin America 9,974 11,982 8,529 9,655 707 1,112 5,826 7,645 12,516 17,534
Caribbean 220 186 113 185 22 26 121 138 237 301
Europe 24,263 28,123 24,350 25,474 9,673 10,028 52,166 57,917 117,410 140,646
European Union 21,399 24,403 20,615 21,112 8,657 8,781 43,073 47,120 99,892 108,910
Southeast Europe 395 465 417 407 76 61 552 629 1,160 1,156
European Free Trade Assoc. 1,544 1,822 1,607 1,753 550 558 2,710 2,820 6,055 6,811
Other Europe & West Asia 4,094 5,987 5,308 6,198 1,073 1,805 13,997 17,882 23,965 41,608
Africa 3,086 5,163 3,083 4,273 527 1,034 4,390 6,938 8,966 14,537
Sub-Saharan Africa 2,012 3,113 2,068 2,819 320 688 1,517 2,240 3,112 5,916
Arab States in Africa 1,102 2,103 1,036 1,495 207 349 2,901 4,782 5,910 8,704
Asia 24,955 37,513 24,916 32,412 7,412 11,694 86,901 112,230 184,247 281,245
Central Asia 52 131 69 195 12 33 184 291 536 1,456
Arab States in Asia 697 1,145 895 1,973 389 708 2,865 4,348 6,923 12,443
Southeast Asia 17,644 29,061 17,203 22,944 6,054 9,023 66,908 86,763 147,103 211,303
South Asia 5,004 5,256 5,694 6,600 635 1,390 13,909 17,618 24,939 52,818
Oceania 3,353 4,226 4,157 4,213 1,166 1,611 3,490 3,959 9,298 11,924
Other groupings
Less developed countries 1,047 1,620 862 1,292 79 198 477 835 1,081 2,881
All Arab States 1,673 2,964 1,723 3,199 570 1,010 5,125 8,044 11,944 19,840
OECD 42,498 48,957 41,411 43,010 16,583 17,842 83,506 89,668 195,786 215,660
G20 62,872 78,087 58,137 65,707 19,750 23,926 142,678 168,998 316,697 419,013
Organization of Islamic Co-operation 7,321 11,514 7,269 9,193 1,783 3,375 15,192 22,210 33,640 59,098
Selected countries
Argentina 720 942 1,259 1,285 57 76 681 804 897 1,071
Australia 2,699 3,309 3,406 3,522 1,034 1,447 3,037 3,509 8,366 10,736
Brazil 7,173 8,162 4,288 5,006 339 483 3,490 4,437 6,699 8,596
Canada 2,865 3,374 2,321 2,701 826 1,027 3,593 3,827 9,533 10,699
China 11,298 20,705 9,904 14,958 3,337 5,992 45,709 64,058 98,669 149,832
Egypt 624 1,383 486 823 117 200 1,808 2,989 2,402 3,787
France 2,221 2,348 2,972 3,107 804 684 6,260 6,443 14,016 12,788
Germany 2,961 3,502 3,913 4,341 1,209 948 9,914 10,577 19,974 20,814
India 4,221 3,843 4,186 4,941 558 1,132 12,591 15,491 22,725 47,333
Indonesia 431 1,098 340 623 54 231 263 887 1,811 9,195
Iran, Islamic Rep. 1,842 2,720 1,341 1,408 299 743 4,664 6,400 6,629 9,091
Israel 274 331 533 545 119 130 643 719 1,852 1,949
Italy 2,856 3,605 2,642 2,684 1,152 1,130 4,887 5,710 12,500 13,718
Japan 2,165 2,617 3,019 3,132 833 758 9,409 9,696 17,564 18,129
Korea, Rep. 1,974 2,318 1,681 2,198 684 766 6,589 7,367 12,992 15,793
Malaysia 671 914 1,004 639 233 461 1,813 2,048 7,428 9,912
Mexico 1,020 1,487 1,523 1,859 90 141 944 1,435 2,662 3,414
Russian Fed. 407 988 1,992 2,716 112 265 5,528 6,841 9,558 20,666
Saudi Arabia 403 496 577 723 111 178 2,045 2,743 3,672 4,994
South Africa 645 942 1,168 1,433 164 297 903 1,192 1,622 2,623
Turkey 1,513 1,774 1,175 1,208 533 636 2,301 3,181 3,876 5,927
UK 2,610 3,497 3,987 4,364 2,064 2,401 6,656 7,025 16,960 19,316
USA 12,051 14,092 13,496 14,179 4,615 5,270 22,626 23,244 58,082 61,890

Note: The sum of the numbers for the various regions exceeds the total number because papers with multiple authors from different
regions contribute fully to each of these regions. The field of cross-cutting strategic technologies encompasses: artificial intelligence and
robotics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, blockchain technology, energy, Internet of Things, materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology,
optoelectronics and photonics and strategic, defence and security studies. The grouping under Eastern Europe refers to those countries
that are not members of the European Union: Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.

Source: UNESCO Science Report (2021) The Race Against Time for Smarter Development; data from Scopus (Elsevier), excluding Arts, Humanities and Social sciences; data treatment by Science-Metrix
Number of publications

Environmental sciences
Engineering (NB: excluding Geosciences Health sciences ICTs, maths & statistics Physics & astronomy
Geosciences)

2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019

224,740 267,250 77,789 113,317 31,118 37,054 782,853 891,797 177,790 221,763 220,122 256,893
136,496 140,901 56,624 73,040 22,685 25,814 611,915 673,809 120,741 133,569 156,453 154,500
93,724 129,079 26,047 48,947 11,027 15,399 180,471 238,102 57,110 87,880 70,131 98,997
14,828 30,276 5,810 11,720 2,065 2,889 45,134 61,341 18,858 31,018 19,976 39,866
535 1,211 1,081 2,034 197 318 7,180 10,392 897 2,077 425 956
50,771 53,381 28,758 35,702 9,903 11,422 303,032 336,675 46,890 52,757 58,678 54,719
43,841 44,925 24,961 29,396 8,338 9,087 269,163 297,850 41,733 45,941 50,792 45,722
7,579 9,343 4,851 7,796 1,914 2,818 39,927 48,195 5,731 7,604 10,080 11,355
125 120 95 143 34 38 1,629 1,699 91 85 146 189
74,156 79,617 30,782 42,419 15,065 17,159 310,138 342,182 67,537 73,644 96,630 100,959
62,747 62,992 26,748 34,374 12,074 13,226 272,020 297,333 56,217 60,305 77,407 73,916
787 925 216 343 80 111 2,599 2,942 1,051 984 792 944
3,690 3,798 3,253 3,883 1,523 1,842 23,062 28,404 3,271 3,706 6,776 6,288
16,048 24,671 4,728 10,324 3,578 4,911 47,094 61,335 15,386 19,602 28,424 37,812
4,972 7,885 3,027 5,654 1,220 1,662 22,181 29,435 4,926 8,042 4,858 7,510
1,475 2,859 2,193 3,982 644 933 14,012 19,125 1,564 2,561 1,888 3,138
3,512 5,061 856 1,721 582 745 8,349 10,593 3,381 5,518 3,115 4,594
115,250 156,725 28,435 52,071 10,972 15,360 235,948 303,196 81,407 120,346 99,811 139,468
289 514 127 603 76 160 369 1,000 296 518 518 879
3,181 5,120 1,008 2,007 672 714 8,891 16,986 4,024 6,839 2,869 5,870
96,160 127,516 22,411 41,731 8,648 12,338 179,485 227,794 59,030 87,551 78,729 108,603
10,816 17,407 4,136 6,806 1,035 1,528 31,798 37,999 14,441 22,369 13,894 21,847
5,988 6,944 5,538 6,639 2,019 2,497 35,159 44,018 5,254 6,485 5,562 5,788

532 1,224 955 1,866 226 336 7,195 10,121 944 2,177 428 1,022
6,298 9,473 1,747 3,421 1,132 1,355 15,999 25,796 6,928 11,476 5,308 9,239
126,157 127,609 55,110 68,361 21,043 23,292 605,595 659,665 110,975 122,151 141,244 133,042
204,342 241,461 72,480 103,776 29,065 34,689 722,246 815,350 158,777 196,495 202,674 234,460
18,387 33,755 5,786 12,933 2,755 3,782 57,781 82,143 17,371 27,905 15,958 34,326

576 545 655 895 551 640 3,854 4,389 418 510 1,314 1,123
5,432 6,270 4,792 5,707 1,705 2,159 31,462 39,635 4,636 5,622 5,122 5,271
4,154 5,026 2,114 3,776 753 1,302 24,000 28,050 3,239 4,407 4,757 5,025
7,279 7,743 4,498 5,569 1,701 1,884 36,778 44,143 6,984 7,329 6,217 6,282
67,876 93,535 16,137 31,906 6,935 9,977 89,645 124,928 36,259 61,186 45,885 67,578
1,282 1,769 373 865 324 384 4,913 7,347 996 1,612 1,403 2,065
8,242 7,809 4,022 4,978 2,254 2,492 35,360 37,501 9,786 9,613 15,554 13,318
11,604 11,629 5,507 6,819 2,606 3,104 53,929 58,376 10,683 11,977 21,901 20,261
9,769 15,031 3,400 4,923 892 1,291 26,686 30,345 12,639 17,873 12,615 18,863
605 6,836 283 1,464 104 178 1,099 5,345 444 1,669 646 9,987
5,408 8,652 1,140 2,549 674 899 11,772 17,548 3,447 4,934 4,076 5,618
974 940 427 564 143 211 7,304 8,763 1,686 2,174 2,438 2,345
8,967 9,334 2,984 3,906 1,839 2,005 35,669 42,486 7,035 7,623 11,364 11,376
11,008 9,885 2,680 3,395 1,119 1,337 44,669 46,579 7,488 8,029 17,066 15,790
7,857 8,061 1,516 2,188 272 476 23,047 25,928 6,360 7,443 8,747 8,789
2,531 3,517 732 1,356 134 264 3,647 5,365 1,903 2,273 2,309 3,423
1,486 1,820 1,148 1,490 321 414 5,772 7,454 894 1,142 2,461 2,852
5,844 10,091 2,111 5,104 2,169 3,126 9,932 15,680 5,549 6,920 16,954 23,997
1,310 1,988 498 890 365 413 4,640 6,747 2,225 3,135 1,835 2,898
945 1,666 1,029 1,708 303 456 5,484 7,483 962 1,284 1,481 1,978
2,810 3,595 935 1,692 422 560 16,925 17,276 2,979 3,653 2,839 3,743
9,749 10,772 6,386 7,881 2,866 3,305 65,929 75,341 9,430 11,394 15,197 14,878
37,422 38,126 21,770 25,431 7,133 7,698 242,645 267,135 35,799 39,864 46,466 41,330
Table: World shares of scientific publications by major field of science, 2015 and 2019

World share (%

Agriculture, fisheries & Built environment & Cross-cutting strategic

Animal & plant biology Chemistry
forestry design technology

2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019

World 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
High-income economies 60.6 55.7 64.5 60.1 78.6 68.8 58.2 52.6 60.5 52.2
Upper-middle-income economies 39.7 47.2 38.2 43.5 25.7 36.1 42.1 48.8 39.9 44.6
Lower-middle-income economies 10.2 11.0 12.1 13.6 4.5 8.8 11.4 13.1 9.7 16.2
Low-income economies 1.6 2.0 1.5 1.9 0.4 0.7 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.6
Americas 34.0 31.4 34.4 32.7 27.4 26.5 19.9 18.1 22.1 18.7
North America 20.7 19.2 23.3 21.9 24.4 22.9 16.5 14.3 18.9 15.2
Latin America 14.3 13.7 13.1 13.2 3.2 4.1 3.7 4.1 3.6 3.7
Caribbean 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
Europe 34.9 32.2 37.4 34.7 44.1 37.2 33.4 31.2 33.4 30.1
European Union 30.8 27.9 31.7 28.8 39.5 32.6 27.6 25.4 28.4 23.3
Southeast Europe 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.2
European Free Trade Assoc. 2.2 2.1 2.5 2.4 2.5 2.1 1.7 1.5 1.7 1.5
Eastern Europe & West Asia 5.9 6.8 8.2 8.4 4.9 6.7 9.0 9.6 6.8 8.9
Africa 4.4 5.9 4.7 5.8 2.4 3.8 2.8 3.7 2.6 3.1
Sub-Saharan Africa 2.9 3.6 3.2 3.8 1.5 2.6 1.0 1.2 0.9 1.3
Arab States in Africa 1.6 2.4 1.6 2.0 0.9 1.3 1.9 2.6 1.7 1.9
Asia 35.9 42.9 38.3 44.2 33.8 43.4 55.6 60.5 52.4 60.1
Central Asia 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.3
Arab States in Asia 1.0 1.3 1.4 2.7 1.8 2.6 1.8 2.3 2.0 2.7
Southeast Asia 25.4 33.2 26.5 31.3 27.6 33.5 42.8 46.8 41.9 45.2
South Asia 7.2 6.0 8.8 9.0 2.9 5.2 8.9 9.5 7.1 11.3
Oceania 4.8 4.8 6.4 5.7 5.3 6.0 2.2 2.1 2.6 2.5
Other groupings
Least developed countries 1.5 1.9 1.3 1.8 0.4 0.7 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.6
All Arab States 2.4 3.4 2.6 4.4 2.6 3.7 3.3 4.3 3.4 4.2
OECD 61.1 56.0 63.7 58.6 75.6 66.2 53.4 48.3 55.7 46.1
G20 90.4 89.3 89.4 89.5 90.1 88.8 91.3 91.1 90.1 89.6
Organization of Islamic Co-operation 10.5 13.2 11.2 12.5 8.1 12.5 9.7 12.0 9.6 12.6
Selected countries
Argentina 1.0 1.1 1.9 1.8 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.2
Australia 3.9 3.8 5.2 4.8 4.7 5.4 1.9 1.9 2.4 2.3
Brazil 10.3 9.3 6.6 6.8 1.5 1.8 2.2 2.4 1.9 1.8
Canada 4.1 3.9 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.8 2.3 2.1 2.7 2.3
China 16.2 23.7 15.2 20.4 15.2 22.2 29.2 34.5 28.1 32.0
Egypt 0.9 1.6 0.7 1.1 0.5 0.7 1.2 1.6 0.7 0.8
France 3.2 2.7 4.6 4.2 3.7 2.5 4.0 3.5 4.0 2.7
Germany 4.3 4.0 6.0 5.9 5.5 3.5 6.3 5.7 5.7 4.4
India 6.1 4.4 6.4 6.7 2.5 4.2 8.1 8.4 6.5 10.1
Indonesia 0.6 1.3 0.5 0.8 0.2 0.9 0.2 0.5 0.5 2.0
Iran, Islamic Rep. 2.6 3.1 2.1 1.9 1.4 2.8 3.0 3.4 1.9 1.9
Israel 0.4 0.4 0.8 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4
Italy 4.1 4.1 4.1 3.7 5.3 4.2 3.1 3.1 3.6 2.9
Japan 3.1 3.0 4.6 4.3 3.8 2.8 6.0 5.2 5.0 3.9
Korea, Rep. 2.8 2.7 2.6 3.0 3.1 2.8 4.2 4.0 3.7 3.4
Malaysia 1.0 1.0 1.5 0.9 1.1 1.7 1.2 1.1 2.1 2.1
Mexico 1.5 1.7 2.3 2.5 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.7
Russian Fed. 0.6 1.1 3.1 3.7 0.5 1.0 3.5 3.7 2.7 4.4
Saudi Arabia 0.6 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.5 0.7 1.3 1.5 1.0 1.1
South Africa 0.9 1.1 1.8 2.0 0.7 1.1 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.6
Turkey 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 2.4 2.4 1.5 1.7 1.1 1.3
UK 3.8 4.0 6.1 5.9 9.4 8.9 4.3 3.8 4.8 4.1
USA 17.3 16.1 20.8 19.3 21.1 19.6 14.5 12.5 16.5 13.2

Note: The sum of the numbers for the various regions exceeds the total number because papers with multiple authors from different regions contribute fully to each of these regions. The field of cross-cutting strategic technologies
encompasses: artificial intelligence and robotics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, blockchain technology, energy, Internet of Things, materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology, optoelectronics and photonics and strategic, defence and security
studies. The grouping under Eastern Europe refers to those countries that are not members of the European Union: Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine.

Source: UNESCO Science Report (2021) The Race Against Time for Smarter Development; data from Scopus (Elsevier), excluding Arts, Humanities and Social sciences; data treatment by Science-Metrix
 World share (%)

Environmental sciences
Engineering (NB: excluding Geosciences Health sciences ICTs, maths & statistics Physics & astronomy
Geosciences)

2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019 2015 2019

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
60.7 52.7 72.8 64.5 72.9 69.7 78.2 75.6 67.9 60.2 71.1 60.1
41.7 48.3 33.5 43.2 35.4 41.6 23.1 26.7 32.1 39.6 31.9 38.5
6.6 11.3 7.5 10.3 6.6 7.8 5.8 6.9 10.6 14.0 9.1 15.5
0.2 0.5 1.4 1.8 0.6 0.9 0.9 1.2 0.5 0.9 0.2 0.4
22.6 20.0 37.0 31.5 31.8 30.8 38.7 37.8 26.4 23.8 26.7 21.3
19.5 16.8 32.1 25.9 26.8 24.5 34.4 33.4 23.5 20.7 23.1 17.8
3.4 3.5 6.2 6.9 6.2 7.6 5.1 5.4 3.2 3.4 4.6 4.4
0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
33.0 29.8 39.6 37.4 48.4 46.3 39.6 38.4 38.0 33.2 43.9 39.3
27.9 23.6 34.4 30.3 38.8 35.7 34.7 33.3 31.6 27.2 35.2 28.8
0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.4
1.6 1.4 4.2 3.4 4.9 5.0 2.9 3.2 1.8 1.7 3.1 2.4
7.1 9.2 6.1 9.1 11.5 13.3 6.0 6.9 8.7 8.8 12.9 14.7
2.2 3.0 3.9 5.0 3.9 4.5 2.8 3.3 2.8 3.6 2.2 2.9
0.7 1.1 2.8 3.5 2.1 2.5 1.8 2.1 0.9 1.2 0.9 1.2
1.6 1.9 1.1 1.5 1.9 2.0 1.1 1.2 1.9 2.5 1.4 1.8
51.3 58.6 36.6 46.0 35.3 41.5 30.1 34.0 45.8 54.3 45.3 54.3
0.1 0.2 0.2 0.5 0.2 0.4 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3
1.4 1.9 1.3 1.8 2.2 1.9 1.1 1.9 2.3 3.1 1.3 2.3
42.8 47.7 28.8 36.8 27.8 33.3 22.9 25.5 33.2 39.5 35.8 42.3
4.8 6.5 5.3 6.0 3.3 4.1 4.1 4.3 8.1 10.1 6.3 8.5
2.7 2.6 7.1 5.9 6.5 6.7 4.5 4.9 3.0 2.9 2.5 2.3

0.2 0.5 1.2 1.6 0.7 0.9 0.9 1.1 0.5 1.0 0.2 0.4
2.8 3.5 2.2 3.0 3.6 3.7 2.0 2.9 3.9 5.2 2.4 3.6
56.1 47.7 70.8 60.3 67.6 62.9 77.4 74.0 62.4 55.1 64.2 51.8
90.9 90.4 93.2 91.6 93.4 93.6 92.3 91.4 89.3 88.6 92.1 91.3
8.2 12.6 7.4 11.4 8.9 10.2 7.4 9.2 9.8 12.6 7.2 13.4

0.3 0.2 0.8 0.8 1.8 1.7 0.5 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.6 0.4
2.4 2.3 6.2 5.0 5.5 5.8 4.0 4.4 2.6 2.5 2.3 2.1
1.8 1.9 2.7 3.3 2.4 3.5 3.1 3.1 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.0
3.2 2.9 5.8 4.9 5.5 5.1 4.7 4.9 3.9 3.3 2.8 2.4
30.2 35.0 20.7 28.2 22.3 26.9 11.5 14.0 20.4 27.6 20.8 26.3
0.6 0.7 0.5 0.8 1.0 1.0 0.6 0.8 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.8
3.7 2.9 5.2 4.4 7.2 6.7 4.5 4.2 5.5 4.3 7.1 5.2
5.2 4.4 7.1 6.0 8.4 8.4 6.9 6.5 6.0 5.4 9.9 7.9
4.3 5.6 4.4 4.3 2.9 3.5 3.4 3.4 7.1 8.1 5.7 7.3
0.3 2.6 0.4 1.3 0.3 0.5 0.1 0.6 0.2 0.8 0.3 3.9
2.4 3.2 1.5 2.2 2.2 2.4 1.5 2.0 1.9 2.2 1.9 2.2
0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.1 0.9
4.0 3.5 3.8 3.4 5.9 5.4 4.6 4.8 4.0 3.4 5.2 4.4
4.9 3.7 3.4 3.0 3.6 3.6 5.7 5.2 4.2 3.6 7.8 6.1
3.5 3.0 1.9 1.9 0.9 1.3 2.9 2.9 3.6 3.4 4.0 3.4
1.1 1.3 0.9 1.2 0.4 0.7 0.5 0.6 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.3
0.7 0.7 1.5 1.3 1.0 1.1 0.7 0.8 0.5 0.5 1.1 1.1
2.6 3.8 2.7 4.5 7.0 8.4 1.3 1.8 3.1 3.1 7.7 9.3
0.6 0.7 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.1 0.6 0.8 1.3 1.4 0.8 1.1
0.4 0.6 1.3 1.5 1.0 1.2 0.7 0.8 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
1.3 1.3 1.2 1.5 1.4 1.5 2.2 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.3 1.5
4.3 4.0 8.2 7.0 9.2 8.9 8.4 8.4 5.3 5.1 6.9 5.8
16.7 14.3 28.0 22.4 22.9 20.8 31.0 30.0 20.1 18.0 21.1 16.1

ing strategic technologies

cs and strategic, defence and security