China vs Iran: Annual articles published in scientific and technical journals per million people

China

661.16 articles per million people

in 2023

Iran

607.95 articles per million people

in 2023

China rank

49th

Iran rank

50th

Annual articles published in scientific and technical journals per million people over time

China
Iran

How they compare

China currently reports 661.16 articles per million people against 607.95 articles per million people in Iran, a difference of 53.22 articles per million people.

That makes China's figure about 1.1 times Iran's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 28 shared years of data; in 1996 it was China ahead.

China ranks 49th and Iran ranks 50th of 196 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Annual articles published in scientific and technical journals per million people
Unit: articles per million people
Source: National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators, via World Bank (2026); United Nations Population Division, national statistical offices, and Eurostat, via World Bank (2026) – processed
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 196 places, 5,488 data points, 1996–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Scientific and technical journal articles per million people. Disciplines include physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, clinical medicine, biomedical research, engineering and technology, and earth and space sciences.