Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Company · Brussels · Belgium

Sciensano (Belgium)

In research, Sciensano (Belgium) stands highest in Health Sciences (#2,281 of 9,902 worldwide), Life Sciences (#1,956 of 6,403 worldwide) and Medicine (#2,772 of 8,541 worldwide), 2022-now. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Infectious Diseases (Infectious Diseases is 10.2× its share of world research).

World rank, 2022-now
#4,810
of 22,385 · #5,290 all time
Rank in Belgium
#19
of 105
Research works
775
▲ 28% vs 2018-21
Citations
12k
16.0 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
13.6%
all institutions 10.0%
vs its own fields
1.16×
1.00× is exactly expected
Open access
84%
world 40%
International
37%
world 18%

What is Sciensano (Belgium) known for in research?

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

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Health SciencesDomain #2,281 of 9,902 15.1%179 #3094
Life SciencesDomain #1,956 of 6,403 18.2%99 #2471
MedicineField #2,772 of 8,541 15.7%149 #3643
Social SciencesDomain #8,473 of 9,585 11.0%61 -

Each strip is that field's whole ranked pool, with the notch where Sciensano (Belgium) 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 average mark, because the average differs by field (from about 6% in Dentistry to 21% in Economics).

Which of those standings moved

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

  1. Health Sciences#3,094 #2,281
  2. Life Sciences#2,471 #1,956
  3. Medicine#3,643 #2,772
all time2022-now, better2022-now, worse

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

Which fields of science does Sciensano (Belgium) work in?

In 2022-now, 46% of research at Sciensano (Belgium) is in Health Sciences, 24% in Life Sciences. Its largest fields are Medicine (38%), Agricultural and Biological Sciences (9%), Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (9%). It does 2.0× the world's share of Health Sciences.

Health Sciences: 212 fractional works · 46.2% of its workMedicine: 174 fractional works · 37.9% of its workEpidemiology: 38 fractional works · 8.2% of its workPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health: 36 fractional works · 7.9% of its workInfectious Diseases: 32 fractional works · 6.9% of its workOncology: 11 fractional works · 2.4% of its workPulmonary and Respiratory Medicine: 5 fractional works · 1.2% of its workPhysiology: 5 fractional works · 1.2% of its workNeurology: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workEndocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workRadiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging: 5 fractional works · 1.0% of its workSurgery: 4 fractional works · 1.0% of its workPharmacology: 3 fractional works · 0.8% of its workCritical Care and Intensive Care Medicine: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workCardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workPediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workImmunology and Allergy: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workPsychiatry and Mental health: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workRheumatology: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workDermatology: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workPathology and Forensic Medicine: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workRehabilitation: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workEmergency Medicine: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workHepatology: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workObstetrics and Gynecology: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 6 fractional works · 1.2% of its workHealth Professions: 32 fractional works · 6.9% of its workGeneral Health Professions: 22 fractional works · 4.8% of its workHealth Information Management: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workSpeech and Hearing: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workNursing: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workNutrition and Dietetics: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workVeterinary: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workSmall Animals: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workDentistry: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workLife Sciences: 109 fractional works · 23.8% of its workAgricultural and Biological Sciences: 41 fractional works · 9.0% of its workPlant Science: 12 fractional works · 2.6% of its workFood Science: 12 fractional works · 2.6% of its workEcology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics: 7 fractional works · 1.6% of its workAgronomy and Crop Science: 4 fractional works · 0.8% of its workAnimal Science and Zoology: 4 fractional works · 0.8% of its workInsect Science: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 40 fractional works · 8.8% of its workMolecular Biology: 16 fractional works · 3.5% of its workGenetics: 8 fractional works · 1.6% of its workEndocrinology: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workCancer Research: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workBiotechnology: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workMolecular Medicine: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workClinical Biochemistry: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workBiophysics: 2 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workImmunology and Microbiology: 24 fractional works · 5.2% of its workImmunology: 7 fractional works · 1.4% of its workMicrobiology: 6 fractional works · 1.3% of its workVirology: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workParasitology: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workApplied Microbiology and Biotechnology: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workToxicology: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workNeuroscience: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSocial Sciences: 71 fractional works · 15.4% of its workSocial Sciences: 25 fractional works · 5.5% of its workHealth: 11 fractional works · 2.4% of its workSociology and Political Science: 8 fractional works · 1.8% of its workPolitical Science and International Relations: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workTransportation: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workSmaller subfields together: 3 fractional works · 0.8% of its workPsychology: 14 fractional works · 3.1% of its workClinical Psychology: 10 fractional works · 2.2% of its workSocial Psychology: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workApplied Psychology: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 13 fractional works · 2.9% of its workEconomics and Econometrics: 13 fractional works · 2.8% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.1% of its workBusiness, Management and Accounting: 9 fractional works · 1.9% of its workOrganizational Behavior and Human Resource Management: 7 fractional works · 1.5% of its workMarketing: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workDecision Sciences: 8 fractional works · 1.7% of its workManagement Science and Operations Research: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workStatistics, Probability and Uncertainty: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workInformation Systems and Management: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workArts and Humanities: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workPhysical Sciences: 67 fractional works · 14.6% of its workEnvironmental Science: 38 fractional works · 8.3% of its workHealth, Toxicology and Mutagenesis: 17 fractional works · 3.8% of its workEcology: 7 fractional works · 1.4% of its workPollution: 5 fractional works · 1.1% of its workEnvironmental Chemistry: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workManagement, Monitoring, Policy and Law: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workEnvironmental Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workIndustrial and Manufacturing Engineering: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workWater Science and Technology: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workMathematics: 8 fractional works · 1.7% of its workModeling and Simulation: 6 fractional works · 1.4% of its workStatistics and Probability: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workComputer Science: 6 fractional works · 1.4% of its workInformation Systems: 3 fractional works · 0.7% of its workArtificial Intelligence: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEngineering: 6 fractional works · 1.3% of its workBiomedical Engineering: 4 fractional works · 0.8% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workChemistry: 4 fractional works · 0.9% of its workAnalytical Chemistry: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 2 fractional works · 0.5% of its workMaterials Science: 3 fractional works · 0.6% of its workMaterials Chemistry: 2 fractional works · 0.4% of its workSmaller subfields together: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1 fractional works · 0.3% of its workOceanography: 1 fractional works · 0.2% of its workSmaller subfields together: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workChemical Engineering: 0 fractional works · 0.1% of its workPhysics and Astronomy: 0 fractional works · 0.0% of its workALL ITS WORKSciensano(Belgium)459fractional works, 2022-now
Life Sciences24%Physical Sciences15%Health Sciences46%Social Sciences15%

Each ring splits the one inside it: the four domains of science, their fields, their subfields. Size is fractional works in 2022-now. Every slice is a page; the interactive view zooms down to single topics and colours each by how much more of it this institution does than the world.

Its 4 domains and 26 fields, with their numbers
    1. Medicine17437.9%
    2. Health Professions326.9%
    3. Nursing30.7%
    4. Veterinary30.7%
    5. Dentistry00.0%
    1. Agricultural and Biological Sciences419.0%
    2. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology408.8%
    3. Immunology and Microbiology245.2%
    4. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics20.5%
    5. Neuroscience20.4%
    1. Social Sciences255.5%
    2. Psychology143.1%
    3. Economics, Econometrics and Finance132.9%
    4. Business, Management and Accounting91.9%
    5. Decision Sciences81.7%
    6. Arts and Humanities10.2%
    1. Environmental Science388.3%
    2. Mathematics81.7%
    3. Computer Science61.4%
    4. Engineering61.3%
    5. Chemistry40.9%
    6. Materials Science30.6%
    7. Earth and Planetary Sciences10.3%
    8. Chemical Engineering00.1%
    9. Physics and Astronomy00.0%
    10. Energy00.0%
All of science, and how each field's share has moved since 1950: the Science domain explorer

What does Sciensano (Belgium) specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Infectious Diseases takes 10.2× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Infectious DiseasesSubfield · 31.9 works10×
← 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: 1.88× its world share, 41 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 1.64× its world share, 40 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 5.18× its world share, 24 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.25× its world share, 2 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 1.39× its world share, 2 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.18× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.57× its world share, 4 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.18× its world share, 6 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.20× its world share, 1 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.09× its world share, 6 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 1.67× its world share, 38 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.17× its world share, 3 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 1.44× its world share, 8 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.06× its world share, 0 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 2.61× its world share, 32 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 1.97× its world share, 174 worksMedicineNursing: 1.47× its world share, 3 worksNursingVeterinary: 5.01× its world share, 3 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.06× its world share, 1 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.59× its world share, 9 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 1.78× its world share, 8 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 1.36× its world share, 13 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 1.03× its world share, 14 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.44× its world share, 25 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Immunology and Microbiology, 5.2×. Every wedge is a field page.

All 26 fields, with their numbers
  1. Immunology and Microbiology5.18×24 works
  2. Veterinary5.01×3 works
  3. Health Professions2.61×32 works
  4. Medicine1.97×174 works
  5. Agricultural and Biological Sciences1.88×41 works
  6. Decision Sciences1.78×8 works
  7. Environmental Science1.67×38 works
  8. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology1.64×40 works
  9. Nursing1.47×3 works
  10. Mathematics1.44×8 works
  11. Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics1.39×2 works
  12. Economics, Econometrics and Finance1.36×13 works
  13. Psychology1.03×14 works
  14. Business, Management and Accounting0.59×9 works
  15. Chemistry0.57×4 works
  16. Social Sciences0.44×25 works
  17. Neuroscience0.25×2 works
  18. Earth and Planetary Sciences0.20×1 works
  19. Chemical Engineering0.18×0 works
  20. Computer Science0.18×6 works
  21. Materials Science0.17×3 works
  22. Engineering0.09×6 works
  23. Dentistry0.06×0 works
  24. Arts and Humanities0.06×1 works
  25. Energy0.02×0 works
  26. Physics and Astronomy0.02×0 works

Who are the top researchers at Sciensano (Belgium)?

Ranked on the quality score, Marc Arbyn, Stefanie Vandevijvere and Johan Van der Heyden lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Sciensano (Belgium).

  1. 1 Marc Arbyn Belgium · #52,412 worldwide 22k citations · 305 works
  2. 2 Stefanie Vandevijvere Belgium · #188,466 worldwide 17k citations · 459 works
  3. 3 Johan Van der Heyden Belgium · #226,674 worldwide 13k citations · 177 works
  4. 4 Laura Cornelissen Belgium · #312,170 worldwide 882 citations · 37 works
  5. 5 Victoria Nyawira Nyaga Belgium · #388,079 worldwide 3.5k citations · 49 works
  6. 6 Kevin Vanneste Belgium · #475,883 worldwide 7.4k citations · 150 works
  7. 7 Dieter Van Cauteren Belgium · #512,872 worldwide 2.2k citations · 72 works
  8. 8 Rana Charafeddine Belgium · #573,487 worldwide 2k citations · 110 works
  9. 9 Toon Braeye Belgium · #585,342 worldwide 1.3k citations · 72 works
  10. 10 Marie Delnord Belgium · #590,341 worldwide 1.4k citations · 75 works
All ranked researchers at Sciensano (Belgium)

What are the most cited papers from Sciensano (Belgium)?

The most cited paper from Sciensano (Belgium) is "Estimates of incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in 2018: a worldwide analysis" (Marc Arbyn, Elisabete Weiderpass, Laia Bruni et al., 2019), with 4,260 citations. Next come "The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report" (3,118) and "Attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU and the European Economic Area in 2015: a population-level modelling analysis" (3,025).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Estimates of incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in 2018: a worldwide analysis Marc Arbyn, Elisabete Weiderpass, Laia Bruni et al. · The Lancet Global Health Open access 4 Dec 2019 4,260
2 The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report Boyd Anthony Swinburn et al. · The Lancet Open access 27 Jan 2019 3,118
3 Attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU and the European Economic Area in 2015: a population-level modelling analysis Alessandro Cassini et al. · The Lancet Infectious Diseases Open access 5 Nov 2018 3,025
4 Prevalence of healthcare-associated infections, estimated incidence and composite antimicrobial resistance index in acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities: results from two European point prevalence surveys, 2016 to 2017 C. Suetens, Katrien Latour, Tommi Kärki et al. · Eurosurveillance Open access 15 Nov 2018 1,088
5 Detecting cervical precancer and reaching underscreened women by using HPV testing on self samples: updated meta-analyses Marc Arbyn, Sara Boblick Smith, Sarah Temin et al. · BMJ Open access 5 Dec 2018 906
All 58 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Which keywords describe research at Sciensano (Belgium)?

By fractional works in 2022-now, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Public Health, Pathogenesis, Vaccine, Pandemic, Health Effects, COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2.

▲ 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-now 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. Epidemiology101▲ 5.5×78 topics
  2. Public Health46▲ 6.8×42 topics
  3. Pandemic27▲ 5.9×8 topics
  4. Pathogenesis25▲ 11×19 topics
  5. Vaccine25▲ 14×10 topics
  6. COVID-1924▲ 4.1×15 topics
  7. Health Effects22▲ 7.9×15 topics
  8. SARS-CoV-218▲ 13×5 topics
  9. Immune Response18▲ 6.7×14 topics
  10. Mental Health17▲ 2.5×20 topics
  11. Quality of Life15▲ 2.2×18 topics
  12. Infectious Diseases14▲ 9.3×8 topics
  13. Vaccine Development14▲ 12×9 topics
  14. ACE2 Receptor13▲ 13×2 topics
  15. Health Disparities13▲ 11×6 topics
  16. Depression12▲ 3.1×12 topics
  17. Antimicrobial Resistance12▲ 13×9 topics
  18. Primary Care12▲ 7.0×11 topics
  19. Viral Transmission12▲ 19×4 topics
  20. Obesity12▲ 3.3×15 topics
  21. Food Safety11▲ 8.4×12 topics
  22. Coronavirus11▲ 12×2 topics
  23. Global Burden11▲ 4.2×10 topics
  24. Mortality10▲ 4.0×7 topics
  25. Immunity10▲ 5.6×6 topics
  26. Physical Activity10▲ 4.6×7 topics
  27. Cancer Incidence9▲ 15×4 topics
  28. Infection9▲ 8.1×9 topics
  29. Health Outcomes9▲ 7.0×7 topics
  30. Mutation8▲ 9.6×4 topics
  31. Preventive Services8▲ 29×2 topics
  32. Health Equity8▲ 5.8×4 topics
  33. antibody8▲ 17×1 topic
  34. spike protein8▲ 17×1 topic
  35. Psychological Distress8▲ 6.6×4 topics
  36. Vaccines8▲ 29×3 topics
  37. Healthcare Workers7▲ 6.8×4 topics
  38. Economic Evaluation7▲ 14×2 topics
  39. Chronic Disease7▲ 9.3×4 topics
  40. Virus7▲ 16×3 topics

Which research topics does Sciensano (Belgium) publish most on?

By volume in 2022-now: SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research, Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life, Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology and COVID-19 epidemiological studies.

  1. 1 SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research Infectious Diseases 8 works
  2. 2 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life Economics and Econometrics 7 works
  3. 3 Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management 7 works
  4. 4 COVID-19 epidemiological studies Modeling and Simulation 6 works
  5. 5 Health disparities and outcomes Health 6 works
  6. 6 COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies Infectious Diseases 6 works
  7. 7 COVID-19 and Mental Health Clinical Psychology 5 works
  8. 8 Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health 5 works
  9. 9 Cervical Cancer and HPV Research Epidemiology 5 works
  10. 10 Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy Health 5 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 available83.6%not open16.4%

World: 40% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors37.0%domestic only63.0%

World: 18% is written across borders.

How has Sciensano (Belgium)'s research output changed?

Output in 2022-2025 was 28% higher than in 2018-2021.

still counting1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Sciensano (Belgium) as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0020% in 2024.

still counting0.0010%0.0020%0.0030%Sciensano (Belgium)0.0014% in 20251990200020102020

Fractional works of Sciensano (Belgium) over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year, against all institutions in the same year.

still counting10%20%Sciensano (Belgium)18.5% in 2025all institutions10.0% in 20252020

Of each year's output, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for its field and year. Peak 18.5% in 2025.

Other research institutions in Brussels

All research institutions in Brussels

Share Sciensano (Belgium)'s ranking

Sciensano (Belgium) on Science Explorer

A card with Sciensano (Belgium)'s standing and the fields it leads in, for a post or a slide. A link to this page previews as the same card.

Download the card

1200 × 630 PNG, sized for social posts, drawn from the latest snapshot.

Badges for a website1Each links back here and updates with every snapshot

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners have tabs of their own, above.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Sciensano (Belgium). Posts are plain text and can be reported.