Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has quickly risen to become one of the most important players in scientific research in the Middle East, thanks to generous funding from the government and an ambitious plan to shift the country from an oil-based economy to a knowledge economy. Over the past decade, the kingdom has overhauled its research institutes, created top-tier universities and invested in one of the largest overseas education scholarships to meet its target.

Today, the country has managed to attract top expertise from around the world to its institutes, and Saudi researchers are heavily involved in research collaborations with their international peers. Over the past four years, the country has risen in the Nature Index ratings to have the second highest WFC in the Western Asia region.

Research

Date range: 1 August 2022 - 31 July 2023

Subject/journal group: All

The table to the right includes counts of all research outputs for Saudi Arabia published between 1 August 2022 - 31 July 2023 which are tracked by the Nature Index.

Hover over the donut graph to view the Share for each subject. Below, the same research outputs are grouped by subject. Click on the subject to drill-down into a list of articles organized by journal, and then by title.

Note: Articles may be assigned to more than one subject area.

Article Count and Share for Saudi Arabia
Count Share
434 121.89

Outputs by subject (Share)

Outputs by subject
Subject Count Share
86 13.15
189 65.83
47 14.41
60 7.31
152 48.15

Share output for the past 5 years

Share per year
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022*
134.06 135.62 138.43 125.84 133.71

Compare Saudi Arabia with other countries/territories

*Note: 2022 data contains Share for article affiliations from newly added health sciences journals.

Collaboration

View the connected world of international research collaboration. Visualize collaborations by subject or region.

Collaborations between countries

Date range: 1 August 2022 - 31 July 2023

Collaboration by percentage of Share

Hover over the graph to view collaboration by percentage of Share.

Collaboration by percentage of Share
Country Share (%)
China 32.31
USA 24.81
UK 11.63
Germany 8.57
Canada 4.48
Australia 4.15
Japan 3.99
France 3.6
Spain 3.56
Italy 2.89

Top 10 collaborators with Saudi Arabia by Share

  1. Saudi Arabia and China (116.40)
    Saudi Arabia41.29
    China75.11
  2. Saudi Arabia and United States of America (USA) (89.38)
    Saudi Arabia25.20
    United States of America (USA)64.18
  3. Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom (UK) (41.88)
    Saudi Arabia10.13
    United Kingdom (UK)31.76
  4. Saudi Arabia and Germany (30.88)
    Saudi Arabia9.63
    Germany21.25
  5. Saudi Arabia and Canada (16.13)
    Saudi Arabia4.88
    Canada11.26
  6. Saudi Arabia and Australia (14.94)
    Saudi Arabia3.86
    Australia11.08
  7. Saudi Arabia and Japan (14.36)
    Saudi Arabia6.94
    Japan7.42
  8. Saudi Arabia and France (12.98)
    Saudi Arabia4.35
    France8.63
  9. Saudi Arabia and Spain (12.83)
    Saudi Arabia5.59
    Spain7.24
  10. Saudi Arabia and Italy (10.43)
    Saudi Arabia3.72
    Italy6.70

Collaboration is determined by the combined fractional count (Share) of Saudi Arabia and the collaborating country.

Top 10 institutions from Saudi Arabia by Share

Institution Count Share
1. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) 243 98.59
2. King Saud University (KSU) 43 3.72
3. Saudi Aramco 12 2.83
4. King Abdulaziz University (KAU) 47 2.71
5. Saudi Arabia Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNG-HA) 22 2.44
6. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) 10 1.79
7. King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) 21 1.79
8. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) 10 1.28
9. Taif University 7 1.22
10. Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health 3 1.20

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