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Peter Van Aelst

Peter Van Aelst

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Political Science
Belgium
2026
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Law and Political Science
Belgium
2023

D-Index & Metrics

Political Science

D-Index
44
Citations
11324
World Ranking
373
National Ranking
5

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Political Science in Belgium Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Political Science in Belgium Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Law and Political Science in Belgium Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Law and Political Science in Belgium Leader Award

Overview

Peter Van Aelst is affiliated with the University of Antwerp in Belgium and focuses their research within the social sciences, specifically communication, sociology and political science, and political science and international relations. Their work also crosses into fields such as artificial intelligence and statistical and nonlinear physics.

Their research addresses several main topics, including:

  • Social Media and Politics
  • Misinformation and Its Impacts
  • Media Studies and Communication
  • Media Influence and Politics
  • Electoral Systems and Political Participation
  • Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection
  • Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence

Van Aelst has published extensively, with notable papers including:

  • "Does a Crisis Change News Habits? A Comparative Study of the Effects of COVID-19 on News Media Use in 17 European Countries" (2021) in Digital Journalism
  • "Navigating High-Choice European Political Information Environments: a Comparative Analysis of News User Profiles and Political Knowledge" (2021) in The International Journal of Press/Politics

Their frequent publication venues reflect a focus on political communication and media, with the largest number of publications appearing in:

  • Political Communication
  • Information Communication & Society
  • The International Journal of Press/Politics
  • Digital Journalism
  • Politics of the Low Countries

Van Aelst collaborates regularly with several coauthors who also work in related fields, including:

  • Frank Esser
  • David Nicolas Hopmann
  • Toril Aalberg
  • Karolina Koç-Michalska
  • Jörg Matthes

Best Publications

  • The Contingency of the Mass Media's Political Agenda Setting Power: Toward a Preliminary Theory

    Stefaan Walgrave;Peter Van Aelst

  • Political communication in a high-choice media environment: a challenge for democracy?

    Peter van Aelst;Jesper Strömbäck;Toril Aalberg;Frank Esser

  • INTERNET AND SOCIAL MOVEMENT ACTION REPERTOIRES: Opportunities and limitations

    Jeroen Van Laer;Peter Van Aelst

  • The personalization of mediated political communication: A review of concepts, operationalizations and key findings

    Peter Van Aelst;Tamir Sheafer;James Stanyer

  • Who Demonstrates? Antistate Rebels, Conventional Participants, or Everyone?

    Pippa Norris;Stefaan Walgrave;Peter Van Aelst

  • Who is that (wo)man in the street? From the normalisation of protest to the normalisation

    Peter Van Aelst;Stefaan Walgrave

  • Media Systems and the Political Information Environment: A Cross-National Comparison

    Toril Aalberg;Peter van Aelst;James Curran

  • Who is that (wo)man in the street? From the normalisation of protest to the normalisation of the protester

    Peter Van Aelst;Stefaan Walgrave

  • New media, new movements?

    Peter Van Aelst;Stefaan Walgrave

  • Intermedia Agenda Setting in the Social Media Age: How Traditional Players Dominate the News Agenda in Election Times:

    Raymond A. Harder;Julie Sevenans;Peter Van Aelst

  • Resilience to Online Disinformation: A Framework for Cross-National Comparative Research:

    Edda Humprecht;Frank Esser;Peter Van Aelst

  • Why political parties adapt to the media: Exploring the fourth dimension of mediatization

    Jesper Strömbäck;Peter Van Aelst

  • Politicians in the News: Media or Party Logic? Media Attention and Electoral Success in the Belgian Election Campaign of 2003

    Peter van Aelst;Bart Maddens;Jo Noppe;Stefaan Fiers

  • Cyber-protest and civil society: the Internet and action repertoires in social movements

    Jeroen Van Laer;Peter Van Aelst

  • Political Information Opportunities in Europe A Longitudinal and Comparative Study of Thirteen Television Systems

    Frank Esser;Claes H. de Vreese;Jesper Strömbäck;Peter van Aelst

  • Political Balance in the News: A Review of Concepts, Operationalizations and Key Findings

    David Nicolas Hopmann;Peter van Aelst;Guido Legnante

  • Minimal or Massive? The Political Agenda-Setting Power of the Mass Media According to Different Methods:

    Peter Van Aelst;Stefaan Walgrave

  • Exploring Some Antecedents of the Media’s Framing of Election News: A Comparison of Swedish and Belgian Election News:

    Jesper Strömbäck;Peter van Aelst

  • Does a Crisis Change News Habits? A Comparative Study of the Effects of COVID-19 on News Media Use in 17 European Countries

    Peter Van Aelst;Fanni Toth;Laia Castro;Laia Castro;Václav Štětka

  • ‘Do the Vote Test’: The Electoral Effects of a Popular Vote Advice Application at the 2004 Belgian Elections

    Stefaan Walgrave;Peter van Aelst;Michiel Nuytemans

  • The Fourth Estate as superpower? an empirical study of perceptions of media power in Belgium and the Netherlands

    Peter Van Aelst;Kees Brants;Philip Van Praag;Claes De Vreese

  • When politics becomes news: An analysis of parliamentary questions and press coverage in three West European countries

    Rosa van Santen;Luzia Helfer;Peter van Aelst;Peter van Aelst

  • Studying the tango: an analysis of parliamentary questions and press coverage in the Netherlands

    Peter Van Aelst;Rens Vliegenthart

  • Politics in the news: Do campaigns matter? A comparison of political news during election periods and routine periods in Flanders (Belgium)

    Peter van Aelst;Knut De Swert

  • Why Don’t We Learn from Social Media? Studying Effects of and Mechanisms behind Social Media News Use on General Surveillance Political Knowledge

    Patrick F. A. van Erkel;Peter Van Aelst

Frequent Co-Authors

Stefaan Walgrave
Stefaan Walgrave University of Antwerp
Jesper Strömbäck
Jesper Strömbäck University of Gothenburg
Toril Aalberg
Toril Aalberg Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Tamir Sheafer
Tamir Sheafer Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Claes H. de Vreese
Claes H. de Vreese University of Amsterdam
Frank Esser
Frank Esser University of Zurich
Rens Vliegenthart
Rens Vliegenthart Wageningen University & Research
James Curran
James Curran University of Sydney
Jörg Matthes
Jörg Matthes University of Vienna
Marc Hooghe
Marc Hooghe KU Leuven

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Related Online Degrees & Career Pathways

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