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University · Leuven · Belgium

KU Leuven

In research, KU Leuven stands highest in Health Sciences (#34 of 11,982 worldwide), Medicine (#45 of 10,443 worldwide) and Social Sciences (#86 of 10,521 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Classics, Transplantation and Hardware and Architecture — Classics is 3.6× its share of world research.

kuleuven.beROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#108
of 28,054 · #89 all time
Rank in Belgium
#1
of 138
Research works
144k
◆ 1% vs 2013–17
Citations
4.1M
28.9 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
22.9%
record average 16.5%
Open access
41%
world 28%

What is KU Leuven known for in research?

The fields where it stands highest, 2022–2025, ranked among every institution above the floor in each field.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Health SciencesDomain #34 of 11,982 23.2%4,245 #39
MedicineField #45 of 10,443 22.3%3,627 #43
Social SciencesDomain #86 of 10,521 26.8%4,592 #66
Physical SciencesDomain #185 of 12,888 19.6%6,992 #108
Life SciencesDomain #121 of 7,800 24.6%2,136 #105
Social SciencesField #111 of 6,365 28.0%1,949 #91
Arts and HumanitiesField #36 of 1,998 20.5%930 #29
Health ProfessionsField #40 of 1,928 26.7%389 #43
EngineeringField #166 of 6,636 17.6%2,923 #67
SurgerySubfield #51 of 1,816 20.3%495 #46

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where KU Leuven sits in it, in the colour of the band that rank falls in. The track under the rate is the rate itself: it carries no world mark, because the world rate differs by field (from about 6% to 21% in this record).

Which of those standings moved

The same fields on both windows: where it stood over the whole record, and where it stands in 2022–2025. The distance is the story, and it is the one thing the two rank columns above cannot show.

  1. Health Sciences#39 #34
  2. Medicine#43 #45
  3. Social Sciences#66 #86
  4. Physical Sciences#108 #185
  5. Life Sciences#105 #121
  6. Social Sciences#91 #111
  7. Arts and Humanities#29 #36
  8. Health Professions#43 #40
  9. Engineering#67 #166
  10. Surgery#46 #51
all time2022–2025, better2022–2025, worse

A dot further right is a better standing. Fields it was not ranked in over the whole record are left out.

What does KU Leuven specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Classics takes 3.6× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. ClassicsSubfield · 38.8 works3.6×
  2. TransplantationSubfield · 25.2 works3.1×
  3. Hardware and ArchitectureSubfield · 63.1 works3.1×
  4. Public AdministrationSubfield · 30.0 works3.1×
  5. Statistics and ProbabilitySubfield · 101.4 works2.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient, a volume reading rather than an impact one. It surfaces small, lopsided specialities.

Field profile

Location quotient across every field it publishes in: outside the ring is more than an institution of this size would be expected to publish, inside it is less.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.60× its world share, 508 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.96× its world share, 922 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 0.95× its world share, 172 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.69× its world share, 493 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.65× its world share, 41 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 1.05× its world share, 66 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.06× its world share, 300 worksChemistryComputer Science: 1.03× its world share, 1,433 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.56× its world share, 158 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.66× its world share, 110 worksEnergyEngineering: 1.08× its world share, 2,922 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.72× its world share, 641 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.77× its world share, 483 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.57× its world share, 331 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.37× its world share, 549 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 1.13× its world share, 98 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.82× its world share, 389 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.05× its world share, 3,627 worksMedicineNursing: 1.19× its world share, 104 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.07× its world share, 26 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 1.79× its world share, 930 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.66× its world share, 383 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.10× its world share, 191 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.01× its world share, 390 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.37× its world share, 749 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.86× its world share, 1,949 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Arts and Humanities, 1.8×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at KU Leuven?

Ranked on the composite score, Jens‐Uwe Voigt, Tinne Tuytelaars and Jozef Deckers lead among researchers whose main affiliation is KU Leuven.

  1. 1 Jens‐Uwe Voigt Belgium · #280 worldwide 2.4k citations · 142 works
  2. 2 Tinne Tuytelaars Belgium · #772 worldwide 4.3k citations · 160 works
  3. 3 Jozef Deckers Belgium · #849 worldwide 2.8k citations · 132 works
  4. 4 Tatiana Kuznetsova Belgium · #1,749 worldwide 2.2k citations · 80 works
  5. 5 Lieven De Lathauwer Belgium · #2,579 worldwide 1.9k citations · 113 works
  6. 6 Patrizia Agostinis Belgium · #2,812 worldwide 2k citations · 87 works
  7. 7 Eric Van Cutsem Belgium · #2,907 worldwide 2.7k citations · 284 works
  8. 8 Peter Verhamme Belgium · #3,274 worldwide 1.4k citations · 138 works
  9. 9 Rik Gosselink Belgium · #3,917 worldwide 796 citations · 98 works
  10. 10 Marion Delcroix Belgium · #5,028 worldwide 641 citations · 106 works
All ranked researchers at KU Leuven

Which keywords describe research at KU Leuven?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Globalization, Inflammation, Quality of Life, Religion and Ethics.

▲ 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 institution'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. Epidemiology710◆ 1.00×130 topics
  2. Deep Learning530▼ 0.86×76 topics
  3. Machine Learning488▼ 0.83×87 topics
  4. Globalization384◆ 1.09×137 topics
  5. Inflammation377◆ 1.01×83 topics
  6. Climate Change345▼ 0.71×104 topics
  7. Sustainability312▼ 0.71×102 topics
  8. Quality of Life296◆ 1.14×57 topics
  9. Neural Networks268◆ 0.97×38 topics
  10. Environmental Impact244▼ 0.80×58 topics
  11. Mental Health234◆ 0.89×46 topics
  12. Treatment212◆ 0.97×51 topics
  13. Human Rights208◆ 1.13×74 topics
  14. Renewable Energy206▼ 0.80×47 topics
  15. Genetics191▲ 1.52×26 topics
  16. Biomedical Applications186◆ 0.87×35 topics
  17. Cardiovascular Disease182◆ 0.91×38 topics
  18. Religion180▲ 2.1×42 topics
  19. Energy Efficiency177◆ 1.05×39 topics
  20. Ethics177▲ 2.0×55 topics
  21. Diagnosis173◆ 1.04×39 topics
  22. History164▲ 1.30×60 topics
  23. Management162◆ 1.15×36 topics
  24. Mechanical Properties160◆ 0.92×38 topics
  25. Catalysis156▲ 1.30×27 topics
  26. Identity154▲ 1.18×64 topics
  27. Gender137▲ 1.41×49 topics
  28. Neurological Disorders135▲ 1.32×20 topics
  29. Emotion Regulation127▲ 2.3×9 topics
  30. Heart Failure127▲ 1.64×14 topics
  31. Philosophy126▲ 1.59×45 topics
  32. Nationalism120▲ 1.45×30 topics
  33. Democracy114▲ 1.78×26 topics
  34. Security Analysis90▲ 2.9×4 topics
  35. Inflammatory Bowel Disease84▲ 4.1×5 topics
  36. Cryptanalysis74▲ 5.0×4 topics
  37. Theology68▲ 3.9×6 topics
  38. Side-Channel Attacks67▲ 8.0×3 topics
  39. Metaphysics53▲ 6.7×5 topics
  40. Hardware Implementations50▲ 9.9×2 topics

Which research topics does KU Leuven publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Building Energy and Comfort Optimization, Mental Health Research Topics and Cryptographic Implementations and Security.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease50Inflammatory Bowel Disease: 50 fractional worksBuilding Energy and Comf…49Building Energy and Comfort Optimization: 49 fractional worksMental Health Research Topics: 43 fractional worksCryptographic Implementations and Security: 43 fractional worksEEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces: 40 fractional worksHealth Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life: 40 fractional worksChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research: 36 fractional worksStructural Health Monito…36Structural Health Monitoring Techniques: 36 fractional worksAdditive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies: 36 fractional worksSemiconductor materials and devices: 36 fractional works
GeneticsBuilding and ConstructionExperimental and Cognitive PsychologyArtificial Intelligence6 others

Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.

  1. 1 Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics 50 works
  2. 2 Building Energy and Comfort Optimization Building and Construction 49 works
  3. 3 Mental Health Research Topics Experimental and Cognitive Psychology 43 works
  4. 4 Cryptographic Implementations and Security Artificial Intelligence 43 works
  5. 5 EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces Cognitive Neuroscience 40 works
  6. 6 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life Economics and Econometrics 40 works
  7. 7 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Research Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine 36 works
  8. 8 Structural Health Monitoring Techniques Civil and Structural Engineering 36 works
  9. 9 Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies Automotive Engineering 36 works
  10. 10 Semiconductor materials and devices Electrical and Electronic Engineering 36 works

How open and international is its research?

Against the world’s own shares — the tick on each track. Both are shares of its output, so they sit on one scale and can be read against each other as well as against the world.

openly available41.4%not open58.6%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors27.8%domestic only72.2%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has KU Leuven's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 1% higher 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.

Other research institutions in Leuven

All research institutions in Leuven

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners are in the interactive view on the map.