Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven)

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)

Belgium

Time frame: 1 June 2025 - 30 May 2026

Profile

The Nature Index tracks primary research articles from 178 applied, health, natural and social sciences journals, across many different publishers, chosen by an independent group of researchers. The Nature Index provides absolute Count of primary research articles and fractional Share counts of author contribution to articles. The positions in the table below reflect Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven)'s position overall, domestically, within their sector, and in various subject areas based on their Share. Each position links to the corresponding table where Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) is listed.

Position by research output Share

Global Belgium
Overall 134 1
Academic 123 1

Position by research output Share in subject areas

Global Belgium
Applied sciences 157 1
Health sciences 95 1
Natural sciences 181 1
Biological sciences 160 1
Chemistry 195 1
Earth & environmental sciences 393 5
Physical sciences 140 1
Social sciences 121 2

Research

Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) has the following research output in the current window (1 June 2025 - 30 May 2026) of the Nature Index. Click on Count to view a list of articles representing the corresponding Share value.

Overall research output

Count Share
Overall 637 183.24

Overall Count and Share for 'Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven)' based on the 12-month time frame mentioned above.

View all articles

Research outputs by subject area

Note: Natural sciences includes biological sciences, chemistry, Earth & environmental sciences and physical sciences.
Subject Count Share
Applied sciences 101 41.07
Biological sciences 82 22.06
Chemistry 73 30.26
Earth & environmental sciences 17 4.17
Health sciences 267 55.75
Physical sciences 76 22.30
Social sciences 21 7.63

Note: Hover over the donut graph to view the Share for each subject.

Leading research topics

In the Current Index (12-month rolling window), Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) published the most articles in these research topics. Learn more about Nature Research Intelligence Topics.

View all topics

Share output for the past 5 years

Subject area or journal group 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Overall 108 111 128 166 176
Applied sciences 10 9 9 35 0
Health sciences 31 44 49 52 0
Natural sciences 67 57 69 75 0
Biological sciences 25 18 14 23 0
Chemistry 22 21 26 27 29
Earth & environmental sciences 1 2 5 3 0
Physical sciences 19 16 23 22 0
Social sciences 0 0 2 4 0
Nature & Science 3 3 6 3 4

Institution benchmarking

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Collaboration

Nature Index collaborations highlight fruitful collaborations that lead to high quality research around the world. A collaboration can be between any two institutions or locations co-authoring at least one article in the journals tracked by the Nature Index. The collaboration score between two institutions is the sum of each of their Shares on the papers to which both have contributed. The table and charts below highlight the leading collaborators with Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven).

International vs domestic collaboration by Share

Type Percentage
International (220 institutions) 35.8%
Domestic (100 institutions) 64.2%

Note: Hover over the pie chart to view the Share for each collaboration type.

Note: Hover over the graph to view collaboration by percentage of Share.

Top 5 domestic collaborators with Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) by Share

Collaborating institutions

Note: Hover over the bars to view details about each institution's Share.

Collaborating Institution Collaborators' Share Collaboration Score
University Hospitals Leuven (UZ Leuven) 39.93 / 12.39 52.32
Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) 25.62 / 9.09 34.71
Ghent University (UGent) 12.02 / 9.34 21.37
Hasselt University (UHasselt) 11.58 / 7.53 19.10
University of Antwerp (UA) 10.86 / 6.56 17.42

Top 5 international collaborators with Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) by Share

Collaborating institutions

Note: Hover over the bars to view details about each institution's Share.

Collaborating Institution Collaborators' Share Total Share
Max Planck Society 11.92 / 4.28 16.20
French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) 9.44 / 3.15 12.59
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres 6.07 / 3.33 9.40
National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) 7.09 / 2.23 9.33
Leibniz Association 5.71 / 1.41 7.11

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Relationships

Affiliated institutions

The following affiliated institutions are wholly owned, operated, administered or contains research facilities for Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). All affiliations for an affiliated institution are credited to the institution to which it is affiliated. Each of the affiliated institutions listed below has its own research profile.

Affiliated joint institutions and consortia

Represents joint institutions and consortia for which the institution is designated as a partner institution. Each partner institution of a joint institution or consortium receives an equivalent Share for every affiliation in which the consortium is included.