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🎓 Top Research Universities in Croatia

Universities and colleges in Croatia ranked by the total citations their research has received (OpenAlex).

📅 2026📏 citations50 entries🇭🇷 See all of this country’s rankings →
Every dot is one entry, placed by its value (citations, logarithmic scale); the vertical bar marks each row’s median.
1
University of Zagreb121,029 papers
3,549,454
2
University of Split24,514 papers
1,795,373
3
University of Rijeka23,251 papers
642,848
4
University of Osijek22,782 papers
488,100
5
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb9,325 papers
271,361
6
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Zagreb4,565 papers
150,236
7
Ekonomski fakultet - Zagreb3,871 papers
56,909
8
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb9,841 papers
43,809
9
University of Zadar7,367 papers
38,854
10
University North2,553 papers
35,454
11
University of Dubrovnik2,466 papers
30,400
12
Juraj Dobrila University of Pula2,741 papers
24,831
13
Catholic University of Croatia2,624 papers
23,772
14
Zagreb School of Economics and Management662 papers
12,566
15
Tehničko Veleučilište u Zagrebu919 papers
10,335
16
University of Applied Health Sciences1,134 papers
8,234
17
Institute for Social Research881 papers
7,990
18
University of Slavonski Brod880 papers
7,646
19
Algebra Bernays University628 papers
6,625
20
Karlovac University of Applied Sciences480 papers
5,903
21
Polytechnic of Rijeka731 papers
4,404
22
Rochester Institute of Technology Croatia247 papers
4,202
23
Institute of Public Health Osijek-Baranja County411 papers
4,106
24
Polytechnic Marko Marulic410 papers
3,132
25
Libertas International University647 papers
2,885
26
Brodarski Institute156 papers
2,590
27
College of Agriculture at Križevci306 papers
2,257
28
Polytecnic in Požega263 papers
1,698
29
Šibenik University of Applied Sciences365 papers
1,187
30
Polytechnic of Međimurje in Čakovec322 papers
1,023
31
Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics1,168 papers
966
32
VERN' University376 papers
859
33
Akademija medicinskih znanosti Hrvatske202 papers
729
34
Baltazar Zaprešić University of Applied Sciences225 papers
608
35
Polytechnic Lavoslav Ružička Vukovar233 papers
581
36
Akademija za umjetnost i kulturu u Osijeku299 papers
578
37
Akademija likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu113 papers
371
38
Veleučilište Velika Gorica138 papers
338
39
Istarsko veleučilište112 papers
336
40
EFFECTUS veleučilište77 papers
325
41
Muzička akademija150 papers
319
42
Veleučilište PAR43 papers
300
43
Polytechnic of Varaždin182 papers
260
44
Veleučilište Aspira120 papers
237
45
Umjetnička akademija u Splitu190 papers
220
46
Veleučilište u Virovitici119 papers
206
47
Dr. Franjo Tudman Defense and Security University176 papers
193
48
Policijska akademija282 papers
182
49
Zagreb School of Business147 papers
145
50
Polytechnic Pula28 papers
135

Highlights

Within Croatia, University of Zagreb ranks first in 2026 with 3,549,454, followed by University of Split (1,795,373) and University of Rijeka (642,848).

University of Zagreb is 2 times higher than University of Split, the runner-up.

Across 50 entries, values run from 3,549,454 (University of Zagreb) to 135 (Polytechnic Pula), with a median of 2,738.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers, 2026. Unit: citations.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers · CC0 1.0 (OpenAlex) · fetched Oct 13, 2026 — Counts every citation to papers by authors affiliated with the institution, so large and old universities score high. It measures research impact, not teaching quality.