Australia's Top 2% Scientists 2021: Career-Long List

Australia has 6,369 scientists on the 2021 career-long Top 2% list, up 17.1% from 5,441 in 2020. That places Australia 7th in the world by number of listed scientists, down 1 place. The University of Queensland has the most listed scientists (450), followed by The University of Sydney (397).

Single Year

7,138

+1,038 (+17.0%) vs 2020

Career Data

6,369

+928 (+17.1%) vs 2020

World rank by count

down 1 place vs 2020

Institutes

587

+144 (+32.5%) vs 2020

Scientists in Australia on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 17% since 2020.

Career-long list, change on the previous year

2021+17.1%

2022+4.0%

2023+5.7%

2024+6.4%

2025+7.8%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	6,100		5,441
2021	7,138	+17.0%	6,369	+17.1%
2022	7,349	+3.0%	6,623	+4.0%
2023	7,600	+3.4%	7,002	+5.7%
2024	8,032	+5.7%	7,447	+6.4%
2025	8,555	+6.5%	8,025	+7.8%

Top 10 institutes in Australia

By number of listed scientists

Career-long list2021

Show the list

All 6,369 scientists

Career-long list2021

The first 100 are free to browse.

Export CSV

Rank in Australia	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	120	Ryan, Richard M.	Australian Catholic University	Social Psychology	Rank 3
2	123	BR Baumeister, Roy F.	The University of Queensland	Social Psychology	Rank 4
3	139	BG Burnstock, Geoffrey	University of Melbourne	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 18
4	160	MH Marsh, Herbert W.	Australian Catholic University	Education	Rank 1
5	203	GM Green, Martin A.	UNSW Sydney	Applied Physics	Rank 11
6	271	TN Talley, Nicholas J.	The University of Newcastle, Australia	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 4
7	336	KJ Kanis, John A.	Australian Catholic University	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 16
8	355	CF Caruso, Frank	University of Melbourne	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 11
9	405	Jorm, Anthony F.	Melbourne School of Population and Global Health	Psychiatry	Rank 13
10	510	ZP Zimmet, P.	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 25
11	538	SR Shine, Richard	Macquarie University	Ecology	Rank 7
12	576	KY Kivshar, Yuri	The Australian National University	Optics	Rank 2
13	642	MM Maes, Michael	Deakin University	Psychiatry	Rank 22
14	705	DL Dai, Liming	UNSW Sydney	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 21
15	761	SG Smyth, Gordon K.	Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research	Developmental Biology	Rank 62
16	772	BR Bellomo, Rinaldo	University of Melbourne	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 3
17	781	LW Laurance, W. F.	James Cook University	Ecology	Rank 17
18	798	MJ Mattick, John S.	UNSW Sydney	Developmental Biology	Rank 64
19	932	WS Wang, Shaobin	The University of Adelaide	Chemical Engineering	Rank 3
20	962	CR Costanza, Robert	The Australian National University	Ecology	Rank 19
21	989	HD Hutmacher, Dietmar W.	Queensland University of Technology	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 5
22	1,009	HJ Hodges, John R.	The University of Sydney	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 106
23	1,063	HG Hankey, Graeme J.	The University of Western Australia	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 112
24	1,104	PD Paterson, David L.	UQ Centre for Clinical Research	Microbiology	Rank 15
25	1,183	AR Aitken, R. John	The University of Newcastle, Australia	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 5
26	1,211	FM Fenech, Michael	University of South Australia	Toxicology	Rank 3
27	1,257	SJ Sweller, John	UNSW Sydney	Education	Rank 4
28	1,258	WM Westoby, Mark	Macquarie University	Ecology	Rank 22
29	1,276	NJ Nicholson, Jeremy K.	Murdoch University	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 3
30	1,303	BN Bogduk, Nikolai	The University of Newcastle, Australia	Anesthesiology	Rank 2
31	1,335	SE Seeman, Ego	University of Melbourne	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 43
32	1,336	MP Mulvaney, Paul	University of Melbourne	Chemical Physics	Rank 48
33	1,375	MP McGorry, Patrick D.	ORYGEN Youth Health	Psychiatry	Rank 43
34	1,524	HE Holmes, Edward C.	The University of Sydney	Virology	Rank 5
35	1,540	GS Gandevia, Simon	UNSW Sydney	Physiology	Rank 2
36	1,542	MC Moritz, Craig	ANU Research School of Biology	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 21
37	1,543	MT Marwick, Thomas H.	Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 89
38	1,572	HO Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove	The University of Queensland	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 4
39	1,595	BA Bush, Ashley I.	University of Melbourne	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 165
40	1,693	Buyya, Rajkumar	School of Computing and Information Systems	Distributed Computing	Rank 2
41	1,695	HA Hoffmann, Ary A.	Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 27
42	1,739	BR Bryant, Richard A.	UNSW Sydney	Psychiatry	Rank 57
43	1,746	SM Smyth, Mark J.	QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute	Immunology	Rank 70
44	1,797	BJ Bünzli, Jean Claude G.	University of Technology Sydney	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 14
45	1,818	PG Parker, Gordon	University of New South Wales Faculty of Medicine, School of Psychiatry	Psychiatry	Rank 61
46	1,861	FG Farquhar, Graham D.	ANU Research School of Biology	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 8
47	1,919	HW Hall, Wayne D.	The University of Queensland	Substance Abuse	Rank 7
48	1,942	BA Bauman, Adrian	The University of Sydney School of Public Health	Public Health	Rank 14
49	1,953	SA Strasser, Andreas	University of Melbourne	Immunology	Rank 79
50	1,959	MR Munns, Rana	The University of Western Australia	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 9
51	1,975	GP Gale, Philip A.	Faculty of Science	Organic Chemistry	Rank 58
52	1,988	MD Metcalf, Donald	University of Melbourne	Immunology	Rank 82
53	1,995	SP Shi, Peng	The University of Adelaide	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 7
54	2,008	PR Parton, Robert G.	The University of Queensland	Developmental Biology	Rank 143
55	2,034	SP Sachdev, Perminder S.	UNSW Medicine	Psychiatry	Rank 69
56	2,119	VP Visscher, Peter M.	The University of Queensland	Developmental Biology	Rank 151
57	2,134	HT Hughes, Terry P.	James Cook University	Ecology	Rank 38
58	2,211	HP Holt, Patrick G.	Telethon Kids Institute	Immunology	Rank 89
59	2,322	HR Hobbs, Richard J.	The University of Western Australia	Ecology	Rank 45
60	2,364	CD Celermajer, David S.	Royal Prince Alfred Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 124
61	2,400	HD Hensher, David A.	The University of Sydney Business School	Logistics & Transportation	Rank 1
62	2,540	CM Coltheart, Max	Macquarie University	Experimental Psychology	Rank 39
63	2,604	MA McMichael, Anthony	ANU Medical School	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 46
64	2,607	MJ McGrath, John J.	Park Centre for Mental Health	Psychiatry	Rank 81
65	2,705	MC MacKay, Charles R.	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences	Immunology	Rank 107
66	2,715	FR Frankham, Richard	Macquarie University	Ecology	Rank 51
67	2,720	HP Hodges, Paul W.	The University of Queensland	Orthopedics	Rank 8
68	2,731	FR Frost, Ray L.	Queensland University of Technology	Chemical Physics	Rank 94
69	2,741	SE Simpson, Evan	Hudson Institute of Medical Research	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 92
70	2,776	HA Huete, Alfredo	University of Technology Sydney	Geological & Geomatics Engineering	Rank 4
71	2,778	LD Lindenmayer, David B.	The Fenner School of Environment & Society	Ecology	Rank 53
72	2,786	CJ Chalmers, John	UNSW Sydney	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 136
73	2,797	JS Jiang, San Ping	WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering	Energy	Rank 27
74	2,804	LK Lambeck, Kurt	The Australian National University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 25
75	2,878	TH Taylor, Hugh R.	Melbourne School of Population and Global Health	Ophthalmology & Optometry	Rank 13
76	2,959	AG Andrews, Gavin	UNSW Sydney	Psychiatry	Rank 90
77	2,997	CM Cooper, Mark E.	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 102
78	3,057	HQ Han, Qing Long	Swinburne University of Technology	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 15
79	3,064	BP Barter, Philip	UNSW Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 152
80	3,071	WM White, M. J.	The University of Adelaide	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 44
81	3,080	MJ Monaghan, Joe J.	Monash University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 11
82	3,092	MP Mitchell, Paul	The University of Sydney	Ophthalmology & Optometry	Rank 14
83	3,180	KH Krum, Henry	Monash University	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 161
84	3,186	PC Proud, Christopher G.	South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 169
85	3,230	GP Gibson, Peter G.	University of Newcastle, Faculty of Health and Medicine	Respiratory System	Rank 24
86	3,239	AJ Adams, Jerry M.	University of Melbourne	Developmental Biology	Rank 199
87	3,261	RR Rapee, Ronald M.	Macquarie University	Clinical Psychology	Rank 19
88	3,311	OM O'Rourke, M. F.	Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 168
89	3,375	UA Underwood, A. J.	The University of Sydney	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 8
90	3,376	SL Simmons, Leigh W.	The University of Western Australia	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 40
91	3,378	SM Santosh, M.	The University of Adelaide	Geology	Rank 1
92	3,402	TM Tiggemann, Marika	Flinders University	Social Psychology	Rank 52
93	3,426	KM Kamm, Michael A.	St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 60
94	3,470	AM Alvesson, Mats	Lunds Universitet	Business & Management	Rank 20
95	3,485	HP Hall, Peter	University of Melbourne	Statistics & Probability	Rank 23
96	3,497	SM Santamouris, Mat	UNSW Sydney	Energy	Rank 35
97	3,520	MD MacFarlane, Douglas	Monash University	Energy	Rank 36
98	3,528	SR Stocker, Roland	Heart Research Institute Australia	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 190
99	3,546	RM Raupach, Michael	The Australian National University	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 34
100	3,644	HW Hopkins, Will G.	Victoria University Melbourne, Institute for Health and Sport	Sport Sciences	Rank 5
No scientists match this filter.

Showing 1 to 100 of the first 100 Show

Paid plans

See all 6,369 scientists in Australia

You are seeing the first 100. 6,269 more are on the 2021 career-long list.

Ranks 101 to 6,369The whole list, not only the top 100.

Every year since 2020Single Year and Career Data.

Search the full listBy name, institute or sub-field.

CSV exportDownload the list for your own work.

View Plans & Upgrade Compare plans

Cancel anytime · Secure billing

Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2021

Canada8,127 scientistsin 2021

Japan7,362 scientistsin 2021

China6,943 scientistsin 2021

France5,912 scientistsin 2021

Italy4,956 scientistsin 2021

Netherlands3,857 scientistsin 2021

Explore other countries

Career-long list2021

New Zealand974 scientistsin 2021

Singapore876 scientistsin 2021

Malaysia234 scientistsin 2021

Thailand191 scientistsin 2021

Vietnam53 scientistsin 2021

Philippines26 scientistsin 2021

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from Australia are in the 2021 Stanford Top 2% list?

7,138 scientists affiliated with Australia are on the 2021 single-year list, and 6,369 are on the career-long list.

Which institute in Australia has the most Top 2% scientists?

On the 2021 career-long list, The University of Queensland has the most listed scientists from Australia, with 450. It is followed by The University of Sydney with 397.

How has the number of Top 2% scientists in Australia changed since 2020?

On the career-long list, Australia went from 5,441 scientists in 2020 to 6,369 in 2021, a change of +17.1%.

What is the difference between the single-year and career-long lists?

The single-year list ranks scientists on the citations their work received in one year. The career-long list ranks them on citations across their whole career. Both lists are published every year, and a scientist can be on one, both or neither.

What is the official source of this data?

The rankings come from the science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators published by Ioannidis et al. in the Elsevier Data Repository, updated every year. TOPSCINET, an independent platform, organises that data by country, year, institute and field, so you can compare and explore it.