France's Top 2% Scientists 2026

France has 5,914 scientists on the 2026 single-year Top 2% list, up 0.5% from 5,886 in 2025. That places France 9th in the world by number of listed scientists. Université Paris-Saclay has the most listed scientists (256), followed by Sorbonne Université (211).

Single Year

5,914

+28 (+0.5%) vs 2025

Career Data

7,613

+329 (+4.5%) vs 2025

World rank by count

No change vs 2025

Institutes

1,314

-28 (-2.1%) vs 2025

Scientists in France on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 31% since 2020.

Single-year list, change on the previous year

2021+17.1%

2022+4.5%

2023+1.4%

2024+3.5%

2025+1.8%

2026+0.5%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	4,502		5,048
2021	5,274	+17.1%	5,912	+17.1%
2022	5,509	+4.5%	6,284	+6.3%
2023	5,588	+1.4%	6,522	+3.8%
2024	5,781	+3.5%	6,921	+6.1%
2025	5,886	+1.8%	7,284	+5.2%
2026	5,914	+0.5%	7,613	+4.5%

Top 10 institutes in France

By number of listed scientists

Single-year list2026

Show the list

1Université Paris-Saclay256
2Sorbonne Université211
3Université Paris Cité192
4CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique152
5Université de Bordeaux124
6Université Grenoble Alpes112
7Université de Lorraine102
8Université de Montpellier89
9Université Claude Bernard Lyon 172
10Hôpital Universitaire Pitié Salpêtrière71

All 5,914 scientists

Single-year list2026

Showing the 2026 single-year list. Looking for career rankings? See the career-long list

The first 100 are free to browse.

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Rank in France	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	52	BF Bray, Freddie Ian	Centre international de Recherche sur le Cancer	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 1
2	62	KG Kroemer, Guido	Institut de Cancerologie Gustave Roussy	Immunology	Rank 1
3	160	TJ Tarascon, Jean Marie	CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique	Energy	Rank 4
4	334	Fosso Wamba, Samuel	TBS Business School	Information Systems	Rank 6
5	438	RC Robert, Caroline	Institut de Cancerologie Gustave Roussy	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 8
6	481	TW Thuiller, Wilfried	Université Grenoble Alpes	Ecology	Rank 12
7	526	DS Dehaene, Stanislas	Collège de France	Experimental Psychology	Rank 9
8	641	CJ Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose	NEOMA Business School	Business & Management	Rank 21
9	712	FR Feynman, Richard P.	Université de Bretagne Occidentale	Applied Physics	Rank 17
10	735	LM Loreau, Michel	Station d’Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale	Ecology	Rank 20
11	760	DT Damour, Thibault	Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 7
12	761	SP Simon, Patrice	Université de Toulouse	Energy	Rank 20
13	800	BP Bourdieu, Pierre	École Pratique des Hautes Études	Sociology	Rank 2
14	832	LP Lions, Pierre Louis	Collège de France	General Mathematics	Rank 2
15	903	MS Mallat, Stéphane G.	Collège de France	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 60
16	938	TC Thèry, Clotilde	Institut Curie	Developmental Biology	Rank 25
17	975	AD Astruc, Didier D.	Université de Bordeaux	Organic Chemistry	Rank 4
18	1,024	DA Dufresne, Alain	Université Grenoble Alpes	Polymers	Rank 8
19	1,044	FR Filieri, Raffaele	Audencia	Marketing	Rank 10
20	1,051	AJ Antoni, Jérôme	Laboratoire Vibrations Acoustiques	Acoustics	Rank 2
21	1,057	Crini, Grégorio	Laboratoire Chrono-Environnement	Polymers	Rank 9
22	1,114	LB Latour, Bruno	Médialab Sciences Po	Science Studies	Rank 3
23	1,165	BS Bag, Surajit	Excelia Business School	Business & Management	Rank 44
24	1,176	Dubey, Rameshwar	Montpellier Business School	Business & Management	Rank 45
25	1,313	RN Roussel, Nicolas	Université Gustave Eiffel	Building & Construction	Rank 13
26	1,369	CP Ciais, Philippe	Université Paris-Saclay	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 16
27	1,387	DG de Gennes, Pierre Gilles	Institut Curie	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 8
28	1,411	HS Harrison, Stephen A.	Université Paris Cité	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 21
29	1,432	HM Humbert, Marc	Hopital de Bicetre	Respiratory System	Rank 3
30	1,455	RD Raoult, Didier A.	Aix Marseille Université	Microbiology	Rank 22
31	1,503	TJ Tirole, Jean	Toulouse School of Economics - Recherche - (TSE-R)	Economics	Rank 34
32	1,504	DR Di Renzo, Marco	Laboratoire des Signaux et Systèmes	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 14
33	1,574	CG Chabrier, Gilles	École Normale Supérieure de Lyon	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Rank 8
34	1,625	PL Peyrin-Biroulet, Laurent	Université de Lorraine	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 24
35	1,669	LJ Lehn, Jean Maríe Pierre	Université de Strasbourg	Organic Chemistry	Rank 13
36	1,670	ZL Zitvogel, Laurence	Institut de Cancerologie Gustave Roussy	Immunology	Rank 34
37	1,710	CM Cuturi, Marco	Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 106
38	1,801	FJ Ferlay, Jacques	Centre international de Recherche sur le Cancer	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 38
39	1,823	DL Dana, Léo Paul	Montpellier Business School	Business & Management	Rank 70
40	1,931	QD Quéré, David	Laboratoire d'Hydrodynamique de l'Ecole Polytechnique	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 13
41	1,999	CJ Chave, Jérôme	Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse	Ecology	Rank 64
42	2,110	MA Møller, Anders Pape	Université Paris-Saclay	Ecology	Rank 66
43	2,175	VG Varoquaux, Gaël P.	INRIA Saclay	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 126
44	2,251	WL Wacquant, Löic J.D.	Centre Européen de Sociologie et de Science Politique (CESSP - UMR 8209)	Sociology	Rank 11
45	2,299	BF Bach, Francis R.	Université PSL	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 134
46	2,310	DB Dubois, Bruno	Sorbonne Université	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 114
47	2,317	FA Fert, Albert	Université Paris-Saclay	Applied Physics	Rank 60
48	2,331	SH Sokol, Harry	Hôpital Saint-Antoine	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 33
49	2,344	ZF Zannad, Faïez Mohamed	Université de Lorraine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 66
50	2,361	DH Duffau, Hugues	Hopital Gui de Chauliac	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 117
51	2,463	PA Polyakov, Andrey E.	Université de Lille	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 23
52	2,468	HC Hidalgo, César A.	Toulouse School of Economics - Recherche - (TSE-R)	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 143
53	2,473	CM Callon, Michel	Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation	Science Studies	Rank 8
54	2,504	CV Cottin, Vincent	Infections Virales et Pathologie Comparée (IVPC)	Respiratory System	Rank 8
55	2,617	PD Parkin, Donald Maxwell	Centre international de Recherche sur le Cancer	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 56
56	2,697	PC Parmesan, Camille	Station d’Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale	Ecology	Rank 82
57	2,722	ET Ebbesen, Thomas Wren	Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires	Applied Physics	Rank 65
58	2,731	PT Piketty, Thomas	École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales	Economics	Rank 62
59	2,734	DA Delorme, Arnaud	Brain and Cognition Research Center in Toulouse	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 135
60	2,747	BY Belkaid, Yasmine	Institut Pasteur, Paris	Immunology	Rank 53
61	2,776	MM Mohty, Mohamad	Hôpital Saint-Antoine	Immunology	Rank 55
62	2,796	WC Will, Clifford M.	Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 29
63	2,953	FG Férey, Gèrard	Institut Universitaire de France	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 5
64	2,956	BC Bailly, Christian	Cancer Heterogeneity, Plasticity & Resistance to Therapies (Canther)	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	Rank 12
65	2,998	DB Dréno, Brigitte	Hôtel Dieu CHU de Nantes	Dermatology & Venereal Diseases	Rank 6
66	3,101	RV Ratziu, Vlad	Sorbonne Université	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 42
67	3,102	PA Pizzi, Antonio Li	Université de Lorraine	Polymers	Rank 15
68	3,163	RM Rinaudo, Marguerite	Biomaterials Applications	Polymers	Rank 16
69	3,166	SI Soerjomataram, Isabelle	Centre international de Recherche sur le Cancer	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 66
70	3,384	VA Vallée, Alexandre	Hopital Foch	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 92
71	3,447	LT Lawrence, Toby J.	Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy	Immunology	Rank 67
72	3,526	VB Vellas, B. J.	CHU de Toulouse	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 174
73	3,781	VM Volonteri, Marta	Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Rank 25
74	3,826	AV Aboyans, Victor	CHU de Limoges	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 111
75	3,932	SB Staels, Bart	Université de Lille	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 112
76	3,956	MP Moreau, Philippe	Nantes Université	Immunology	Rank 77
77	3,971	DA Dolgui, Alexandre B.	IMT Atlantique	Operations Research	Rank 17
78	3,982	CJ Chaboche, Jean Louis	ONERA Office National d'Etudes et Recherches Aerospatiales	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 31
79	3,983	PE Paradis, Emmanuel	Université de Montpellier	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 28
80	4,024	GL Grover, Lov K.	Alcatel-Lucent	General Physics	Rank 36
81	4,089	BL Bocquet, Lydéric	Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure	Chemical Physics	Rank 78
82	4,106	IA Italiano, Antoine	Institut Bergonie	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 102
83	4,115	LB Le Bihan, Denis J.	Université Paris-Saclay	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 200
84	4,192	HP Hohenberg, Pierre C.	École Normale Supérieure	Applied Physics	Rank 95
85	4,197	FW Fridman, Wolf Herman	Sorbonne Université	Immunology	Rank 80
86	4,206	WS White, Simon D.M.	European Synchrotron Radiation Facility	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Rank 31
87	4,215	HH Hampel, Harald G.	Hôpital Universitaire Pitié Salpêtrière	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 205
88	4,289	DC Delmas, Claude	CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique	Energy	Rank 109
89	4,291	BF Bérenbaum, Françis	Hôpital Saint-Antoine	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 24
90	4,326	PL Philippot, Laurent	INRAE	Microbiology	Rank 65
91	4,367	AF André, Fabrice	Institut de Cancerologie Gustave Roussy	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 108
92	4,375	SM Storper, Michael	Sciences Po Paris	Geography	Rank 22
93	4,453	LJ Lefaucheur, Jean Pascal	Faculté de Santé	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 220
94	4,478	SA Scalbert, Augustin	Centre international de Recherche sur le Cancer	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 22
95	4,551	AD Annane, Djillali	AP-HP Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 10
96	4,574	SP Steg, Philippe Gabriel	Université Paris Cité	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 134
97	4,603	DM Dougados, Maxime R.	Centre de Recherche Epidémiologiques et Bio Statistiques de Sorbonne Paris Cité (CRESS)	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 25
98	4,844	KA Klymchenko, Andrey S.	Laboratoire de Bioimagerie et Pathologies - LBP	Organic Chemistry	Rank 61
99	4,872	MG Molander, Gary A.	Université Paris-Saclay	Organic Chemistry	Rank 62
100	4,938	BP Bédossa, Pierre	Université Paris Cité	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 64
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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2026

Italy8,537 scientists

Canada8,528 scientists

India6,953 scientists

Japan5,739 scientists

Netherlands4,889 scientists

Spain4,408 scientists

Explore other countries

Single-year list2026

Germany10,938 scientists

Switzerland3,595 scientists

Belgium2,182 scientists

Austria1,502 scientists

Luxembourg98 scientists

United Kingdom18,300 scientists

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from France are in the 2026 Stanford Top 2% list?

5,914 scientists affiliated with France are on the 2026 single-year list, and 7,613 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2026 single-year list, Université Paris-Saclay has the most listed scientists from France, with 256. It is followed by Sorbonne Université with 211.

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

On the single-year list, France went from 4,502 scientists in 2020 to 5,914 in 2026, a change of +31.4%.

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.