World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
65
Citations
14933
World Ranking
1803
National Ranking
24

Herwig Leirs publication distribution in Ecology and Evolution in 2026

The chart shows the distribution of publications by all Research.com ranked scientists in the field of Ecology and Evolution in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where Herwig Leirs sits on this spectrum.

37–41 publications: 2 scientists 42–46 publications: 9 scientists 47–51 publications: 10 scientists 52–56 publications: 31 scientists 57–61 publications: 56 scientists 62–66 publications: 91 scientists 67–71 publications: 92 scientists 72–76 publications: 127 scientists 77–81 publications: 173 scientists 82–86 publications: 236 scientists 87–91 publications: 227 scientists 92–96 publications: 240 scientists 97–101 publications: 333 scientists 102–106 publications: 280 scientists 107–111 publications: 300 scientists 112–116 publications: 285 scientists 117–121 publications: 305 scientists 122–126 publications: 287 scientists 127–131 publications: 278 scientists 132–136 publications: 289 scientists 137–141 publications: 273 scientists 142–146 publications: 262 scientists 147–151 publications: 246 scientists 152–156 publications: 235 scientists 157–161 publications: 205 scientists 162–166 publications: 199 scientists 167–171 publications: 174 scientists 172–176 publications: 164 scientists 177–181 publications: 173 scientists 182–186 publications: 189 scientists 187–191 publications: 170 scientists 192–196 publications: 139 scientists 197–201 publications: 128 scientists 202–206 publications: 117 scientists 207–211 publications: 115 scientists 212–216 publications: 107 scientists 217–221 publications: 124 scientists 222–226 publications: 81 scientists 227–231 publications: 82 scientists 232–236 publications: 85 scientists 237–241 publications: 75 scientists 242–246 publications: 66 scientists 247–251 publications: 81 scientists 252–256 publications: 69 scientists 257–261 publications: 70 scientists 262–266 publications: 55 scientists 267–271 publications: 64 scientists 272–276 publications: 49 scientists 277–281 publications: 48 scientists 282–286 publications: 44 scientists 287–291 publications: 45 scientists 292–296 publications: 36 scientists 297–301 publications: 39 scientists 302–306 publications: 38 scientists 307–311 publications: 30 scientists 312–316 publications: 34 scientists 317–321 publications: 25 scientists 322–326 publications: 22 scientists 327–331 publications: 28 scientists 332–336 publications: 30 scientists 337–341 publications: 22 scientists 342–346 publications: 30 scientists 347–351 publications: 26 scientists 352–356 publications: 22 scientists 357–361 publications: 29 scientists 362–366 publications: 21 scientists 367–371 publications: 12 scientists 372–376 publications: 18 scientists 377–381 publications: 17 scientists 382–386 publications: 13 scientists 387–391 publications: 21 scientists 392–396 publications: 13 scientists 397–401 publications: 10 scientists 402–406 publications: 15 scientists 407–411 publications: 8 scientists 412–416 publications: 9 scientists 417–421 publications: 8 scientists 422–426 publications: 4 scientists 427–431 publications: 10 scientists 432–436 publications: 10 scientists 437–441 publications: 5 scientists 442–446 publications: 4 scientists 447–451 publications: 10 scientists 452–456 publications: 2 scientists 457–461 publications: 4 scientists 462–466 publications: 7 scientists 467–471 publications: 7 scientists 472–476 publications: 6 scientists 477–481 publications: 6 scientists 482–486 publications: 3 scientists 487–491 publications: 3 scientists 492–496 publications: 4 scientists 497–501 publications: 4 scientists 502–506 publications: 8 scientists 507–511 publications: 5 scientists 512–516 publications: 4 scientists 517–521 publications: 5 scientists 522–526 publications: 4 scientists 527–530 publications: 5 scientists 531+ publications: 100 scientists
37 publications 531+

This scientist: 393 publications — 97th percentile

97% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 531 publications or more.

Herwig Leirs D-index placement in Ecology and Evolution in 2026

The chart shows the D-index (discipline H-index) distribution of Ecology and Evolution scientists ranked by Research.com in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where Herwig Leirs sits on this spectrum.

30 D-Index: 95 scientists 31 D-Index: 123 scientists 32 D-Index: 191 scientists 33 D-Index: 245 scientists 34 D-Index: 252 scientists 35 D-Index: 244 scientists 36 D-Index: 249 scientists 37 D-Index: 244 scientists 38 D-Index: 254 scientists 39 D-Index: 254 scientists 40 D-Index: 280 scientists 41 D-Index: 274 scientists 42 D-Index: 266 scientists 43 D-Index: 233 scientists 44 D-Index: 248 scientists 45 D-Index: 208 scientists 46 D-Index: 201 scientists 47 D-Index: 213 scientists 48 D-Index: 207 scientists 49 D-Index: 172 scientists 50 D-Index: 209 scientists 51 D-Index: 199 scientists 52 D-Index: 153 scientists 53 D-Index: 169 scientists 54 D-Index: 163 scientists 55 D-Index: 148 scientists 56 D-Index: 120 scientists 57 D-Index: 146 scientists 58 D-Index: 137 scientists 59 D-Index: 140 scientists 60 D-Index: 104 scientists 61 D-Index: 119 scientists 62 D-Index: 118 scientists 63 D-Index: 99 scientists 64 D-Index: 77 scientists 65 D-Index: 100 scientists 66 D-Index: 86 scientists 67 D-Index: 83 scientists 68 D-Index: 75 scientists 69 D-Index: 94 scientists 70 D-Index: 57 scientists 71 D-Index: 68 scientists 72 D-Index: 59 scientists 73 D-Index: 63 scientists 74 D-Index: 66 scientists 75 D-Index: 60 scientists 76 D-Index: 42 scientists 77 D-Index: 49 scientists 78 D-Index: 39 scientists 79 D-Index: 37 scientists 80 D-Index: 43 scientists 81 D-Index: 41 scientists 82 D-Index: 45 scientists 83 D-Index: 34 scientists 84 D-Index: 40 scientists 85 D-Index: 35 scientists 86 D-Index: 55 scientists 87 D-Index: 24 scientists 88 D-Index: 24 scientists 89 D-Index: 30 scientists 90 D-Index: 23 scientists 91 D-Index: 25 scientists 92 D-Index: 27 scientists 93 D-Index: 27 scientists 94 D-Index: 13 scientists 95 D-Index: 23 scientists 96 D-Index: 12 scientists 97 D-Index: 14 scientists 98 D-Index: 19 scientists 99 D-Index: 16 scientists 100 D-Index: 14 scientists 101 D-Index: 5 scientists 102 D-Index: 21 scientists 103 D-Index: 16 scientists 104 D-Index: 10 scientists 105 D-Index: 7 scientists 106 D-Index: 7 scientists 107 D-Index: 7 scientists 108 D-Index: 6 scientists 109 D-Index: 9 scientists 110 D-Index: 11 scientists 111 D-Index: 12 scientists 112 D-Index: 9 scientists 113 D-Index: 7 scientists 114 D-Index: 3 scientists 115 D-Index: 8 scientists 116 D-Index: 5 scientists 117 D-Index: 11 scientists 118 D-Index: 4 scientists 119 D-Index: 2 scientists 120 D-Index: 5 scientists 121+ D-Index: 100 scientists
30 D-Index 121+

This scientist: 65 D-Index — 79th percentile

79% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 121 D-Index or more.

Overview

Herwig Leirs is a researcher affiliated with the University of Antwerp in Belgium. Their work primarily spans the fields of Medicine and Environmental Science, focusing notably on subfields such as Ecology, Infectious Diseases, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, and Epidemiology.

Their research topics encompass a variety of key areas including Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies, Zoonotic diseases and public health, Viral Infections and Vectors, Research on Leishmaniasis Studies, SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research, and Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research.

Herwig Leirs has published extensively, with recent papers including the following:

  • Population cycles and outbreaks of small rodents: ten essential questions we still need to solve, 2020, published in Oecologia
  • Risk of human-to-wildlife transmission of SARS-CoV-2, 2020, published in Mammal Review
  • The Animal Origin of Major Human Infectious Diseases: What Can Past Epidemics Teach Us About Preventing the Next Pandemic?, 2022, published in Zoonoses
  • Role of Wildlife in Emergence of Ebola Virus in Kaigbono (Likati), Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2017, 2020, published in Emerging infectious diseases
  • SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in Norway rats ( Rattus norvegicus ) from Antwerp sewer system, Belgium, 2021, published in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases

Frequent collaborators in their work include Joachim Mariën, Erik Verheyen, Sophie Gryseels, Christopher Sabuni, and Bram Vanden Broecke.

Herwig Leirs has contributed to multiple publications in key venues such as bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Ecology and Evolution, Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Oecologia, and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Notably, bioRxiv features the highest number of their publications.

Best Publications

  • Plague: past, present, and future.

    Nils Chr-H.-R. Stenseth;Bakyt B. Atshabar;Mike Begon;Steven R. Belmain

  • Mice, rats, and people: the bio‐economics of agricultural rodent pests

    Nils Chr Stenseth;Herwig Leirs;Anders Skonhoft;Stephen A. Davis

  • Studies of reservoir hosts for Marburg virus.

    Robert Swanepoel;Sheilagh B. Smit;Pierre E. Rollin;Pierre Formenty

  • Stochastic seasonality and nonlinear density-dependent factors regulate population size in an African rodent.

    Herwig Leirs;Nils Chr. Stenseth;James D. Nichols;James E. Hines

  • Ecologically-based management of rodent pests: re-evaluating our approach to an old problem

    G. Singleton;H. Leirs;L. Hinds;Zhang Zhibin

  • Plague dynamics are driven by climate variation

    Nils Chr Stenseth;Noelle I. Samia;Hildegunn Viljugrein;Kyrre Linné Kausrud

  • Marburg hemorrhagic fever associated with multiple genetic lineages of virus.

    Daniel G. Bausch;Daniel G. Bausch;Stuart T. Nichol;Jean Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum;Matthias Borchert;Matthias Borchert

  • Interdisciplinary on-site evaluation of stone bunds to control soil erosion on cropland in Northern Ethiopia

    Jan Nyssen;Jean Poesen;Desta Gebremichael;Karen Vancampenhout

  • Ecologically-Based Management of Rodent Pests

    Grant R. Singleton;Lyn A. Hinds;Herwig Leirs;Zhi-Bin Zhang

  • Predictive thresholds for plague in Kazakhstan.

    Stephen Davis;Mike Begon;Luc De Bruyn;Vladimir S. Ageyev

  • Fluctuating rodent populations and risk to humans from rodent-borne zoonoses

    S Davis;E Calvet;H Leirs

  • The abundance threshold for plague as a critical percolation phenomenon

    S. Davis;P. Trapman;H. Leirs;H. Leirs;M. Begon

  • Hantavirus disease (nephropathia epidemica) in Belgium : effects of tree seed production and climate

    Katrien Tersago;Ronald Verhagen;A. Servais;P. Heyman

  • Search for the Ebola Virus Reservoir in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Reflections on a Vertebrate Collection

    Herwig Leirs;James N. Mills;John W. Krebs;James E. Childs

  • Forecasting rodent outbreaks in Africa-an ecological basis for Mastomys control in Tanzania

    Herwig Leirs;Ron Verhagen;Walter Verheyen;Patrick Mwanjabe

  • Plague and Climate: Scales Matter

    Tamara Ben Ari;Tamara Ben Ari;Simon Neerinckx;Kenneth L. Gage;Katharina Kreppel

  • Hantaviruses and their hosts in Europe: reservoirs here and there, but not everywhere?

    Gert E. Olsson;Herwig Leirs;Heikki Henttonen

  • Plague and the human flea, Tanzania.

    Anne Laudisoit;Herwig Leirs;Rhodes H Makundi;Stefan Van Dongen

  • Population cycles and outbreaks of small rodents: ten essential questions we still need to solve

    Harry P. Andreassen;Janne Sundell;Fraucke Ecke;Stefan Halle

  • Phylogeography of the introduced species Rattus rattus in the western Indian Ocean, with special emphasis on the colonization history of Madagascar

    Charlotte Tollenaere;Carine Brouat;Jean-Marc Duplantier;Lila Rahalison

  • The Year of the Rat ends - time to fight hunger!

    Bastiaan G Meerburg;Grant R Singleton;Herwig Leirs;Herwig Leirs

  • A model of Leptospirosis infection in an African rodent to determine risk to humans: seasonal fluctuations and the impact of rodent control

    John Holt;Stephen Davis;Herwig Leirs

  • Ecologically-based management of rodent pests

    G. Singleton;L. Hinds;H. Leirs;Zhang Zhibin

Frequent Co-Authors

Ron Verhagen
Ron Verhagen University of Antwerp
Erik Verheyen
Erik Verheyen Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Jozef Deckers
Jozef Deckers KU Leuven
Nils Chr. Stenseth
Nils Chr. Stenseth University of Oslo
Grant R. Singleton
Grant R. Singleton University of Greenwich
Hans Bauer
Hans Bauer University of Oxford
Michael Begon
Michael Begon University of Liverpool
Josef Bryja
Josef Bryja Czech Academy of Sciences
Stephan Günther
Stephan Günther Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine
Françoise Portaels
Françoise Portaels Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp

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