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🎓 Top Research Universities in Costa Rica

Universities and colleges in Costa Rica ranked by the total citations their research has received (OpenAlex).

📅 2026📏 citations50 entries🇨🇷 See all of this country’s rankings →
Every dot is one entry, placed by its value (citations, logarithmic scale); the vertical bar marks each row’s median.
1
Universidad de Costa Rica43,038 papers
785,530
2
Universidad Nacional9,786 papers
190,442
3
Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza Catie2,741 papers
180,626
4
Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica5,219 papers
67,181
5
Universidad del Valle6,315 papers
25,975
6
Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas532 papers
15,636
7
Distance State University3,765 papers
14,813
8
Latin University of Costa Rica565 papers
12,111
9
Earth University360 papers
9,652
10
Universidad de Ciencias Medicas1,905 papers
8,290
11
University for Peace288 papers
3,704
12
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Costa Rica708 papers
2,722
13
Iberoamerican University293 papers
2,396
14
Universidad Autónoma de Centro América242 papers
2,013
15
Universidad Hispanoamerica471 papers
1,255
16
Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología453 papers
1,075
17
International Christian University170 papers
1,048
18
Universidad Veritas93 papers
560
19
Universidad para la Cooperación Internacional84 papers
459
20
Universidad de San Jose55 papers
412
21
Universidad Internacional de las Américas119 papers
335
22
Universidad Católica de Costa Rica139 papers
317
23
Universidad Central240 papers
247
24
Quetzal Education and Research Center18 papers
236
25
Universidad San Marcos242 papers
203
26
University of Tourism59 papers
190
27
Universidad La Salle Costa Rica111 papers
188
28
Business University of Costa Rica55 papers
180
29
Fidélitas University164 papers
178
30
Instituto Centroamericano de Administración Pública162 papers
154
31
Universidad Santa Paula96 papers
119
32
Universidad Libre de Costa Rica29 papers
80
33
Universidad Metropolitana Castro Carazo8 papers
63
34
Universidad Creativa6 papers
57
35
Universidad Escuela Libre de Derecho71 papers
52
36
Universidad Independiente283 papers
52
37
Universidad Florencio del Castillo206 papers
39
38
Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana65 papers
27
39
Universidad Centroamericana de Ciencias Sociales4 papers
25
40
Central American Adventist University13 papers
21
41
Universidad Americana19 papers
19
42
Universidad Santa Lucía4 papers
16
43
Universidad de las Ciencias y el Arte de Costa Rica8 papers
13
44
Universidad Braulio Carrillo10 papers
11
45
Universidad Autónoma Monterrey42 papers
8
46
Universidad Evangélica de las Américas4 papers
7
47
Colegio Metodista de Costa Rica12 papers
5
48
Universidad Juan Pablo II12 papers
5
49
Universidad Fundepos35 papers
4
50
Universidad Internacional San Isidro Labrador50 papers
4

Highlights

Within Costa Rica, Universidad de Costa Rica ranks first in 2026 with 785,530, followed by Universidad Nacional (190,442) and Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza Catie (180,626).

Universidad de Costa Rica is 4.1 times higher than Universidad Nacional, the runner-up.

Across 50 entries, values run from 785,530 (Universidad de Costa Rica) to 4 (Universidad Internacional San Isidro Labrador), with a median of 197.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers, 2026. Unit: citations.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers · CC0 1.0 (OpenAlex) · fetched Oct 13, 2026 — Counts every citation to papers by authors affiliated with the institution, so large and old universities score high. It measures research impact, not teaching quality.