ITS Research Intelligence

Portugal University Research Rankings

Compare Portugal universities using recent research output, citation impact, growth and a transparent research-performance score.

Research landscape

The current ITS Research Intelligence dataset contains 100 index-ready universities in Portugal. Across those institutions, the average five-year research output is approximately 3,629 works and the average five-year citation count is approximately 30,799. The average publication-growth signal is 29.8%. These figures describe the institutions that pass the public quality gate; they are not intended to represent every tertiary institution in the country.

Country rankings are useful for benchmarking because they reduce some of the structural differences that make global comparisons difficult. They still should not be treated as a complete assessment of institutional quality: teaching, student outcomes, funding levels, research field mix and institutional mission are outside this research-performance score. The value of the page is in seeing who is producing research, how that activity is changing, and where citation visibility is concentrated.

Top research universities in Portugal

Rank	University	Country	Score	5-year works	5-year citations	Growth
#1	University of Lisbon	Portugal	80.9	54,345	556,845	-2.5%
#2	Universidade do Porto	Portugal	80.2	52,789	500,607	2.4%
#3	University of Coimbra	Portugal	77.2	32,810	283,397	19.6%
#4	University of Aveiro	Portugal	76.8	24,342	241,524	7.7%
#5	Universidade Nova de Lisboa	Portugal	76.5	26,132	231,668	11.4%
#6	University of Minho	Portugal	75.9	24,433	223,669	-3.0%
#7	University of Beira Interior	Portugal	71.1	7,281	80,906	0.4%
#8	University of Algarve	Portugal	70.6	7,634	67,057	24.4%
#9	University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro	Portugal	69.5	7,857	67,331	29.0%
#10	Universidade Católica Portuguesa	Portugal	68.4	7,196	55,920	31.1%
#11	Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa	Portugal	68.3	6,969	55,438	1.4%
#12	Polytechnic Institute of Bragança	Portugal	67.8	5,589	43,534	29.2%
#13	Polytechnic Institute of Porto	Portugal	66.8	7,753	58,911	-2.7%
#14	Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa	Portugal	66.1	6,425	49,263	1.6%
#15	University of Évora	Portugal	65.8	7,446	45,480	12.6%
#16	Universidade Lusófona	Portugal	65.8	5,451	40,954	47.5%
#17	Universidade da Madeira	Portugal	65.1	2,624	22,831	18.6%
#18	Instituto Superior Técnico	Portugal	64.7	4,683	20,805	79.8%
#19	Instituto Politécnico de Leiria	Portugal	64.3	4,564	32,420	5.8%
#20	Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário	Portugal	63.8	1,725	21,943	-3.8%
#21	Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra	Portugal	63.8	3,326	27,522	22.7%
#22	Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo	Portugal	63.5	2,754	25,435	-3.6%
#23	Universidade dos Açores	Portugal	63.4	3,862	25,660	-21.3%
#24	Fernando Pessoa University	Portugal	62.9	2,398	20,986	-4.4%
#25	Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto	Portugal	62.3	428	5,138	152.5%
#26	Polytechnic Institute of Viseu	Portugal	61.9	2,213	19,001	24.0%
#27	ISPA - Instituto Universitário	Portugal	61.3	1,440	12,751	-2.8%
#28	Escola Superior de Saúde Egas Moniz	Portugal	60.9	1,865	14,942	24.4%
#29	Universidade Portucalense	Portugal	59.3	1,454	11,955	26.3%
#30	Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Albel Salazar	Portugal	59.3	509	6,429	-10.1%
#31	Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre	Portugal	58.5	1,183	9,452	21.6%
#32	Instituto Politécnico da Guarda	Portugal	58.4	3,530	14,626	33.9%
#33	Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave	Portugal	57.7	1,414	10,871	18.8%
#34	Centro de Química da Madeira	Portugal	56.9	359	9,144	-36.9%
#35	Universidade Politécnica de Setúbal	Portugal	56.6	1,884	10,294	21.0%
#36	Instituto Politécnico de Santarém	Portugal	56.2	1,349	8,392	11.6%
#37	Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra	Portugal	56.1	1,644	8,021	36.5%
#38	Universidade Aberta	Portugal	55.7	2,599	10,144	15.9%
#39	Universidade Europeia	Portugal	55.1	1,209	7,737	10.1%
#40	Lusíada University of Porto	Portugal	54.7	534	4,532	13.1%
#41	Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco	Portugal	54.5	1,419	6,748	24.6%
#42	Instituto Superior de Gestão	Portugal	54.3	1,635	5,185	61.5%
#43	Instituto Politécnico de Beja	Portugal	54.2	939	5,472	13.1%
#44	Lusíada University of Lisbon	Portugal	54.1	1,610	7,494	-11.7%
#45	Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Coimbra	Portugal	54.1	889	4,367	110.7%
#46	Atlântica Instituto Universitário	Portugal	53.5	617	3,873	87.1%
#47	Autonomous University of Lisbon	Portugal	52.2	1,171	5,661	20.0%
#48	Instituto Politécnico de Tomar	Portugal	52.2	806	4,421	10.9%
#49	Instituto Piaget	Portugal	51.9	778	3,456	34.2%
#50	Lisbon School of Design	Portugal	51.9	1,148	5,202	53.2%
#51	Instituto Superior de Educação e Ciências	Portugal	51.6	1,655	5,142	47.8%
#52	Escola Superior de Enfermagem da Universidade de Lisboa	Portugal	51.2	2,537	5,116	-0.1%
#53	Portuguese Military Academy	Portugal	51.1	777	4,130	37.4%
#54	United Nations University	Portugal	50.5	329	2,504	164.9%
#55	Escola Universitária Vasco da Gama	Portugal	50.1	424	2,154	174.0%
#56	Escola Superior de Enfermagem da Universidade do Porto	Portugal	49.2	1,193	2,713	75.1%
#57	Instituto Superior Miguel Torga	Portugal	48.7	425	2,390	54.8%
#58	Instituto Superior de Tecnologias Avançadas	Portugal	47.8	370	1,397	38.1%
#59	Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Centre of Lisbon	Portugal	47.6	346	2,625	69.0%
#60	National Statistical Institute of Portugal	Portugal	46.0	249	2,051	36.6%
#61	Instituto Pedro Nunes	Portugal	45.7	240	3,258	-4.6%
#62	Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia	Portugal	45.6	935	1,991	-8.7%
#63	Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Coimbra	Portugal	45.2	379	2,244	-34.2%
#64	Escola Superior de Saúde da Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa	Portugal	45.2	333	1,815	5.5%
#65	International House	Portugal	43.9	363	650	87.8%
#66	Instituto Superior de Ciências Educativas	Portugal	43.0	205	809	202.6%
#67	Instituto Superior Politécnico Gaya	Portugal	42.9	321	1,918	-5.3%
#68	Universidade Sénior Contemporânea	Portugal	42.9	419	1,170	9.4%
#69	Instituto Português de Administração de Marketing	Portugal	42.9	236	1,302	131.6%
#70	Portuguese Air Force Academy	Portugal	42.7	210	975	125.9%
#71	Escola Naval	Portugal	42.2	293	1,522	2.6%
#72	ISLA Santarém - Instituto Politécnico	Portugal	42.1	193	1,513	82.5%
#73	Terra Scenica	Portugal	41.7	166	1,306	77.8%
#74	Agrupamento de Escolas Nuno Álvares	Portugal	41.3	495	907	-7.2%
#75	Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo do Estoril	Portugal	40.7	335	1,104	-29.0%
#76	Instituto de Artes Visuais, Design e Marketing	Portugal	40.4	453	611	56.5%
#77	Escola Superior de Saúde do Alcoitão	Portugal	40.2	284	687	74.4%
#78	Instituto Superior Politécnico do Oeste	Portugal	38.7	164	809	18.6%
#79	Escola de Negócios e Administração	Portugal	38.6	225	378	220.0%
#80	Instituto Universitário Militar	Portugal	38.2	137	1,887	-51.4%
#81	Escola Superior de Saúde Norte da Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa	Portugal	38.1	209	472	174.4%
#82	Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa	Portugal	36.8	176	520	8.7%
#83	Instituto Superior de Ciências Empresariais e do Turismo	Portugal	36.8	156	922	17.2%
#84	Escola Superior Náutica Infante Dom Henrique	Portugal	36.8	120	612	4.4%
#85	Instituto Superior Manuel Teixeira Gomes	Portugal	36.4	178	655	45.3%
#86	Higher Institute of Police Sciences and Homeland Security	Portugal	35.6	155	603	25.4%
#87	Escola Superior de Artes e Design	Portugal	34.8	310	372	9.2%
#88	Instituto Superior de Educação e Trabalho	Portugal	33.8	157	248	17.0%
#89	Instituto Superior de Ciências da Informação e da Administração	Portugal	33.7	253	229	-35.9%
#90	Instituto Superior de Administração e Gestão	Portugal	33.6	208	351	-25.3%
#91	Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Santa Maria	Portugal	33.4	130	239	50.0%
#92	Instituto Superior de Serviço Social do Porto	Portugal	33.1	107	207	89.7%
#93	Instituto de Estudos Superiores de Fafe LDA	Portugal	32.4	143	492	-51.3%
#94	Instituto Superior de Comunicação Empresarial	Portugal	31.8	118	123	50.0%
#95	Instituto Superior de Entre Douro e Vouga	Portugal	31.6	127	395	-14.6%
#96	Instituto Superior de Línguas e Administração	Portugal	31.4	167	111	-33.3%
#97	ISLA - Instituto Politécnico de Gestão e Tecnologia	Portugal	31.3	111	576	-60.7%
#98	Escola Superior de Enfermagem S. Francisco das Misericórdias	Portugal	27.9	122	125	33.3%
#99	Instituto de Estudos Superiores Financeiros e Fiscais	Portugal	27.1	122	106	-51.4%
#100	Centro de Estudos Clássicos	Portugal	25.4	100	85	4.8%

Research fields where Portugal universities rank

Number of Portugal universities in the top 100 of each ITS research-field ranking.

Chemical Engineering (2)Environmental Science (2)Veterinary (1)Health Professions (1)Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (1)Dentistry (1)Materials Science (1)Arts and Humanities (1)

Transparent methodology

How ITS Research Score v3 is constructed

One formula applies to every index-ready institution, using the five most recent complete calendar years: 25% research output, 25% citations, 20% h-index and 5% i10-index (log-normalized so the largest universities do not dominate linearly), 15% citation impact (the institution’s percentile on citations per work, reduced below 500 works so small samples cannot win by chance), 5% publication growth and 5% international-collaboration share. When collaboration data is not yet available, the other weights are rescaled.

Data-quality controls: the unfinished current year is never counted, and a year in which recorded output jumps to more than three times the institution’s usual level while being at least 90% open access is treated as a bulk dataset or repository deposit and scored at the usual level. An affiliation check also removes institutions whose papers mostly do not name them in the author address (OpenAlex sometimes assigns a large university’s papers to a namesake school or college). Raw data are kept and every adjustment is logged. Open-access share and topic diversity are published as separate rankings and do not affect the main score. Citation impact is not field-normalized.

These indicators assess research activity only. They do not measure teaching quality, student experience, employability, reputation, finances or accreditation. Missing data are left missing rather than fabricated.