Inside Maria Curie-Skłodowska University's largest research partnership: KU Leuven

Behind Maria Curie-Skłodowska University's research output sits a defining relationship: 213 co-authored works with KU Leuven (Belgium) in the five years to 2025, the university's single largest collaboration.

It anchors an unusually connected research base: 563 collaborating institutions across 63 countries, producing 8,989 joint works over the window, with international co-authors on 15% of output.

The collaborative work travels: its field-weighted citation impact stands at 1.21, where the world average is 1.0.

The Research Collaboration Index, the first global account of how universities actually collaborate, publishes its first full edition on Tuesday 15 September at 09:00 UK.

Every figure derives from the open global research record and is checkable at source.