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Science in Belgium

Belgium ranks #29 of 192 countries on research quality in 2022–2025 (#17 all time), with 106k research works and 19.4% of them in the world's top 10%.

World rank, 2022–2025
#29
of 192 · #17 all time
Works, 2022–2025
106k
▼ 5% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate
19.4%
record average 16.5%
In the world top 100
0
8 in the top 1,000
Open access
43%
world 63%

What is Belgium strongest at in science?

On research quality in 2022–2025, Belgium ranks highest in Medicine (#22 of 155), Political Science and International Relations (#16 of 97) and Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (#20 of 108). Relative to its size it is most specialised in Medical Terminology, Equine and Insect Science.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorks
MedicineField #22 of 155 18.4%23,397 Institutions
Political Science and International RelationsSubfield #16 of 97 24.8%2,527 Institutions
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #20 of 108 21.5%6,102 Institutions
Pulmonary and Respiratory MedicineSubfield #16 of 74 15.5%2,079 Institutions
Immunology and MicrobiologyField #16 of 73 24.0%1,314 Institutions
Molecular BiologySubfield #20 of 87 22.5%3,105 Institutions
Social SciencesField #35 of 151 22.5%12,955 Institutions
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #30 of 126 22.7%5,139 Institutions
SurgerySubfield #21 of 88 15.7%3,026 Institutions
Decision SciencesField #19 of 79 22.3%1,014 Institutions
Arts and HumanitiesField #26 of 106 17.1%4,661 Institutions
Infectious DiseasesSubfield #18 of 72 22.7%853 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. Medical TerminologySubfield · 11.8 works3.7×
  2. EquineSubfield · 48.8 works3.5×
  3. Insect ScienceSubfield · 859.6 works2.9×
  4. Public AdministrationSubfield · 156.3 works2.7×
  5. ClassicsSubfield · 164.8 works2.6×
  6. Computational MathematicsSubfield · 24.7 works2.6×
  7. Linguistics and LanguageSubfield · 287.4 works2.4×
  8. History and Philosophy of ScienceSubfield · 364.1 works2.2×
← 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: 1.02× its world share, 5,139 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.08× its world share, 6,102 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.23× its world share, 1,314 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.38× its world share, 2,375 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.71× its world share, 264 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 1.07× its world share, 395 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.87× its world share, 1,452 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.72× its world share, 5,946 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.93× its world share, 1,550 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.66× its world share, 645 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.88× its world share, 14k worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.96× its world share, 5,060 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.76× its world share, 2,820 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.10× its world share, 1,369 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.19× its world share, 2,808 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.81× its world share, 419 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 1.04× its world share, 2,896 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.15× its world share, 23k worksMedicineNursing: 0.88× its world share, 456 worksNursingVeterinary: 2.07× its world share, 298 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.52× its world share, 4,662 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.70× its world share, 2,387 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.99× its world share, 1,014 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.05× its world share, 2,390 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.19× its world share, 3,857 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.97× its world share, 13k worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Veterinary, 2.1×. Every wedge is a field page.

Which keywords describe research in Belgium?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Climate Change, Globalization, Quality of Life, Inflammation, Sustainability, Biodiversity and Public Health.

▲ 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. Epidemiology5,040▲ 1.20×140 topics
  2. Climate Change3,028◆ 1.06×127 topics
  3. Globalization2,464▲ 1.18×179 topics
  4. Machine Learning2,372▼ 0.68×94 topics
  5. Deep Learning2,238▼ 0.62×82 topics
  6. Sustainability2,238◆ 0.87×138 topics
  7. Inflammation2,131◆ 0.97×83 topics
  8. Quality of Life1,874▲ 1.23×61 topics
  9. Public Health1,685◆ 1.09×76 topics
  10. Mental Health1,642◆ 1.06×48 topics
  11. Environmental Impact1,629◆ 0.90×73 topics
  12. Treatment1,482◆ 1.15×52 topics
  13. Biodiversity1,378▲ 1.74×38 topics
  14. Oxidative Stress1,374▼ 0.79×63 topics
  15. Human Rights1,204◆ 1.10×90 topics
  16. Diagnosis1,178▲ 1.19×41 topics
  17. Cardiovascular Disease1,171◆ 0.99×39 topics
  18. Invasive Species1,022▲ 2.3×21 topics
  19. Identity948▲ 1.23×79 topics
  20. Gender934▲ 1.63×58 topics
  21. Management925◆ 1.11×40 topics
  22. Genetics916▲ 1.24×27 topics
  23. Clinical Trials878▲ 1.23×19 topics
  24. Social Justice864▲ 1.39×55 topics
  25. Religion841▲ 1.67×43 topics
  26. Evolution796▲ 3.0×19 topics
  27. Conservation787▲ 1.72×24 topics
  28. Colonialism782▲ 1.56×51 topics
  29. Ethics735▲ 1.43×61 topics
  30. Democracy718▲ 1.90×30 topics
  31. Community Engagement708▲ 2.0×21 topics
  32. Phylogeny698▲ 4.4×17 topics
  33. European Union656▲ 2.7×29 topics
  34. Taxonomy609▲ 4.4×15 topics
  35. DNA Barcoding601▲ 3.5×9 topics
  36. Territorial Governance517▲ 3.9×4 topics
  37. Local Development495▲ 4.1×2 topics
  38. Biological Control482▲ 3.0×10 topics
  39. Institutionalization422▲ 4.3×5 topics
  40. Cryptic Species310▲ 13×2 topics

How many world-class institutions does Belgium hold?

Average quality and elite capacity disagree by construction, and both are worth knowing: the first is decided by a country’s whole institution population, the second counts the institutions it holds at the top. One square per institution.

101st to 500th3501st to 1,000th5

Bands are exclusive, so the squares add up to 8 — the institutions it holds in the world top 1,000 — and not to four times it.

Which universities in Belgium lead research?

KU Leuven, Ghent University and University of Antwerp rank highest in Belgium on research quality in 2022–2025.

0%20%40%mean 22.66%fractional works (log) →share in the world top 10% →KU Leuven: 18k, 22.9%Ghent University: 11k, 25.0%University of Antwerp: 5,912, 24.4%Vrije Universiteit Brussel: 5,327, 23.8%Université Libre de Bruxelles: 5,164, 20.4%UCLouvain: 5,234, 19.3%University of Liège: 5,809, 16.2%Ghent University Hospital: 4,129, 19.1%IMEC: 1,856, 13.5%Hasselt University: 1,753, 23.1%University of Mons: 3,855, 7.9%VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research: 196, 35.8%European Commission: 756, 28.4%VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research: 337, 32.7%Rega Institute for Medical Research: 367, 27.4%Ghent UniversityUniversity of AntwerpVrije Universiteit B…KU Leuven
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per institution in the list below. The upper left is the interesting corner.

  1. 1KU LeuvenUniversity · Leuven · #108 worldwide22.9% top 10% · 18k works
  2. 2Ghent UniversityUniversity · Ghent · #168 worldwide25.0% top 10% · 11k works
  3. 3University of AntwerpUniversity · Antwerp · #450 worldwide24.4% top 10% · 5.9k works
  4. 4Vrije Universiteit BrusselUniversity · Brussels · #652 worldwide23.8% top 10% · 5.3k works
  5. 5Université Libre de BruxellesUniversity · Brussels · #666 worldwide20.4% top 10% · 5.2k works
  6. 6UCLouvainUniversity · Louvain-la-Neuve · #790 worldwide19.3% top 10% · 5.2k works
  7. 7University of LiègeUniversity · Liège · #834 worldwide16.2% top 10% · 5.8k works
  8. 8Ghent University HospitalHospital / health system · Ghent · #844 worldwide19.1% top 10% · 4.1k works
  9. 9IMECNonprofit · Leuven · #1,834 worldwide13.5% top 10% · 1.9k works
  10. 10Hasselt UniversityUniversity · Hasselt · #1,890 worldwide23.1% top 10% · 1.8k works
  11. 11University of MonsUniversity · Mons · #1,960 worldwide7.9% top 10% · 3.9k works
  12. 12VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation ResearchResearch facility · Ghent · #1,993 worldwide35.8% top 10% · 196 works
  13. 13European CommissionGovernment institution · Brussels · #2,324 worldwide28.4% top 10% · 756 works
  14. 14VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease ResearchResearch facility · Leuven · #2,968 worldwide32.7% top 10% · 337 works
  15. 15Rega Institute for Medical ResearchResearch facility · Leuven · #3,077 worldwide27.4% top 10% · 367 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 Belgium

Who are the top researchers in Belgium?

Patrizio Lancellotti, William Wijns and Marco Dorigo rank highest among researchers based in Belgium.

  1. 1 Patrizio Lancellotti · #86 worldwide 4.1k citations · 241 works
  2. 2 William Wijns · #227 worldwide 3.8k citations · 167 works
  3. 3 Marco Dorigo · #246 worldwide 4.5k citations · 145 works
  4. 4 Jens‐Uwe Voigt · #280 worldwide 2.4k citations · 142 works
  5. 5 Emanuele Barbato · #311 worldwide 3k citations · 139 works
  6. 6 Tinne Tuytelaars · #772 worldwide 4.3k citations · 160 works
  7. 7 Jozef Deckers · #849 worldwide 2.8k citations · 132 works
  8. 8 Konrad Reinhart · #1,521 worldwide 1.4k citations · 113 works
  9. 9 Jo Vandesompele · #1,646 worldwide 2k citations · 114 works
  10. 10 Tatiana Kuznetsova · #1,749 worldwide 2.2k citations · 80 works
Top researchers in Belgium

Which cities in Belgium are research hubs?

  1. 1 Brussels Belgium 211k works
  2. 2 Leuven Belgium 169k works
  3. 3 Liège Belgium 155k works
  4. 4 Ghent Belgium 116k works
  5. 5 Antwerp Belgium 54k works
  6. 6 Louvain-la-Neuve Belgium 48k works
  7. 7 Mons Belgium 20k works

How much of it is in the largest

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

Brussels: 27.3%Leuven: 21.9%Liège: 20.0%Ghent: 15.0%3 others listed: 15.8%27%largest
Brussels211k · 27.3%Leuven169k · 21.9%Liège155k · 20.0%Ghent116k · 15.0%3 others listed122k · 15.8%

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

How open and international is Belgium's research?

43% of its research is openly available (world: 40%), and 27% is written with international co-authors (world: 18%).

openly available43.0%not open57.0%

World: 63% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors27.1%domestic only72.9%

World: 22% is written across borders.

How has Belgium's research grown?

Output in 2018–2022 was 5% lower 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 Belgium