Germany's Top 2% Scientists 2026

Germany has 10,938 scientists on the 2026 single-year Top 2% list, up 2.6% from 10,666 in 2025. That places Germany 4th in the world by number of listed scientists. Technische Universität München has the most listed scientists (334), followed by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (201).

Single Year

10,938

+272 (+2.6%) vs 2025

Career Data

12,809

+643 (+5.3%) vs 2025

World rank by count

No change vs 2025

Institutes

1,424

+37 (+2.7%) vs 2025

Scientists in Germany on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 34% since 2020.

Single-year list, change on the previous year

2021+15.4%

2022+5.6%

2023+1.3%

2024+3.3%

2025+2.3%

2026+2.6%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	8,177		8,792
2021	9,436	+15.4%	9,986	+13.6%
2022	9,961	+5.6%	10,562	+5.8%
2023	10,088	+1.3%	10,990	+4.1%
2024	10,422	+3.3%	11,573	+5.3%
2025	10,666	+2.3%	12,166	+5.1%
2026	10,938	+2.6%	12,809	+5.3%

Top 10 institutes in Germany

By number of listed scientists

Single-year list2026

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All 10,938 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 Germany	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	5	GS Grimme, Stefan	Universität Bonn	Chemical Physics	Rank 1
2	20	NF Neese, Frank	Max Planck Institute for Coal Research	Chemical Physics	Rank 2
3	44	ID Ivanov, Dmitry Aleksandrovich	Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht Berlin	Operations Research	Rank 1
4	66	KY KUZYAKOV, Yakov V.	Georg-August-Universität Göttingen	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 2
5	70	SG Sheldrick, George Michael	Georg-August-Universität Göttingen	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 1
6	79	RM Rillig, Matthias C.	Freie Universität Berlin	Ecology	Rank 2
7	87	RD Raabe, Dierk	Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH	Materials	Rank 1
8	119	SM Sarstedt, Marko	Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg	Marketing	Rank 4
9	164	SH Sies, Helmult	Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 2
10	172	LJ Lehmann, Johannes C.	Institute for Advanced Study of Technical University of Munich	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 4
11	181	BP Blöchl, Peter E.	Technische Universität Clausthal	Applied Physics	Rank 6
12	195	SA Stamatakis, Alexandros P.	Karlsruher Institut für Technologie	Bioinformatics	Rank 4
13	205	SV Springel, Volker	Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Rank 1
14	279	WM Winkler, Michael	Paderborn University	General Mathematics	Rank 1
15	304	NM Neurath, Markus Friedrich	Universitätsklinikum Erlangen	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 4
16	311	WF Weigend, Florian	Karlsruher Institut für Technologie	Chemical Physics	Rank 7
17	342	van der Aalst, Wil M.P.	Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 23
18	344	FW Filho, Walter Leal	Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg	Environmental Sciences	Rank 4
19	346	BM Blüher, Matthias	Universität Leipzig	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 6
20	381	MF Menter, Florian R.	Ansys Germany GmbH	Aerospace & Aeronautics	Rank 1
21	425	TF Tacke, Frank	Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 8
22	475	SB Schölkopf, Bernhard	Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 33
23	489	PM Pinquart, Martin	Philipps-Universität Marburg	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 6
24	496	HS Hofmann, Stefan G.	Philipps-Universität Marburg	Clinical Psychology	Rank 3
25	517	SA Stukowski, Alexander	OVITO GmbH	Materials	Rank 10
26	544	BP Bürkner, Paul Christian	Technische Universität Dortmund	Statistics & Probability	Rank 16
27	574	MM Mann, Matthias	Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie	Developmental Biology	Rank 17
28	605	BJ Behler, Jörg	Ruhr-Universitat Bochum	Chemical Physics	Rank 9
29	611	KS Keam, Susan J.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 3
30	653	RJ Rockström, Johan	Leibniz-Gemeinschaft	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 6
31	666	Kraus, Sascha	Universität Siegen	Business & Management	Rank 22
32	726	BH Brenner, Hermann	German Cancer Research Center	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 15
33	736	SG Schett, Georg Andreas	Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 2
34	772	BP Bork, Peer	European Molecular Biology Laboratory Heidelberg	Developmental Biology	Rank 21
35	773	VP Velte, Patrick	Leuphana Universität Lüneburg	Business & Management	Rank 27
36	775	DS Dhillon, Sohita	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 6
37	799	Ringle, Christian M.	Hamburg University of Technology	Marketing	Rank 8
38	862	SF Schwendicke, Falk	Klinikum der Universität München	Dentistry	Rank 1
39	910	SS Sonnentag, Sabine	Universität Mannheim	Business & Management	Rank 34
40	912	LR Ley, Ruth E.	Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen	Microbiology	Rank 12
41	915	SR Schlögl, Robert F.	Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society	Physical Chemistry	Rank 4
42	919	MP Murray, Peter J.	Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie	Immunology	Rank 23
43	921	PH Pörtner, Hans-O. Otto	Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung	Physiology	Rank 1
44	989	SS Schaltegger, Stefan C.	Leuphana Universität Lüneburg	Business & Management	Rank 40
45	1,011	AS Anker, Stefan D.	Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 29
46	1,014	SA Stang, Andreas	Universitätsklinikum Essen	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 19
47	1,041	PM Pfaffl, Michael W.	Technische Universität München	Dairy & Animal Science	Rank 1
48	1,108	KI Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid	Technische Universität München	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 7
49	1,130	DC Dormann, Carsten F.	Universität Freiburg	Ecology	Rank 31
50	1,136	RD Rueckert, Daniel L.	Klinikum Rechts der Isar	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 78
51	1,162	GA Geiger, Andreas	Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 79
52	1,187	GG Gigerenzer, Gerd	Max Planck Institute for Human Development	Experimental Psychology	Rank 23
53	1,195	ET Efferth, Thomas H.	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	Rank 4
54	1,205	KA Klamt, Andreas	Universität Regensburg	Chemical Physics	Rank 18
55	1,264	ĐI Đikić, Ivan	Frankfurter Fachbereich Medizin	Developmental Biology	Rank 36
56	1,281	WF Würthner, Frank	Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg	Organic Chemistry	Rank 8
57	1,293	BG Bakris, George L.	Excelya Germany GmbH	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 32
58	1,298	NM Nauck, Michael Albrecht	Universitätsmedizin Greifswald	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 20
59	1,333	FA Fernie, Alisdair Robert	Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 15
60	1,349	HS Hoy, Sheridan M.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 9
61	1,377	RM Reck, Martin	German Center for Lung Research	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 25
62	1,388	PM Plenio, Martin B.	Universität Ulm	General Physics	Rank 15
63	1,390	CP Crutzen, Paul Jozef	Max Planck Institute for Chemistry	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 18
64	1,412	BL Bornmann, Lutz	Administrative Headquarters of the Max Planck Society	Information & Library Sciences	Rank 5
65	1,414	RS Rose-John, Stefan T.	Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel	Immunology	Rank 29
66	1,422	AL Ackermann, Lutz	Institute of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry	Organic Chemistry	Rank 12
67	1,448	PH Pretzsch, Hans	Technische Universität München	Forestry	Rank 1
68	1,469	HN Harbeck, Nadia	Klinikum der Universität München	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 26
69	1,480	CJ Chase, Jonathan M.	Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg	Ecology	Rank 42
70	1,487	WM Winter, Martin	University of Münster	Energy	Rank 33
71	1,505	ZM Zimmermann, Michaël Bruce	European Molecular Biology Laboratory Heidelberg	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 5
72	1,510	BA Boccaccini, Aldo R.	Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg	Materials	Rank 31
73	1,521	SS Seuring, Stefan A.	Universität Kassel	Business & Management	Rank 60
74	1,538	HG Heusch, Gerd	Universitätsklinikum Essen	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 41
75	1,610	PS Parkin, Stuart S.P.	Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics	Applied Physics	Rank 41
76	1,626	FH Flemming, Hans Curt	Universität Duisburg-Essen	Environmental Engineering	Rank 8
77	1,635	TT Tscharntke, Teja	Georg-August-Universität Göttingen	Ecology	Rank 45
78	1,759	WM Wink, Michael	Universität Heidelberg	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 20
79	1,773	RC Roldan Cuenya, Beatriz	Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society	Organic Chemistry	Rank 15
80	1,793	KK Kümmerer, Klaus	Leuphana Universität Lüneburg	Environmental Sciences	Rank 36
81	1,815	ZH Zacher, Hannes	Universität Leipzig	Business & Management	Rank 69
82	1,819	FP Fries, Pascal	Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 97
83	1,822	BT Bieber, Thomas	Klinikum der Universität München	Dermatology & Venereal Diseases	Rank 3
84	1,828	CM Conrad, Marcus	Helmholtz Center Munich German Research Center for Environmental Health	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 23
85	1,837	CJ Cirac, J. Ignacio	Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics	General Physics	Rank 17
86	1,847	DT Dietz, Thomas M.	University of Münster	Ecology	Rank 57
87	1,848	SP Strasser, Peter	Technische Universität Berlin	Energy	Rank 43
88	1,912	BG Berg, Gabriele	Universität Potsdam	Microbiology	Rank 27
89	1,914	LW Löscher, Wolfgang	Hannover Medical School	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 99
90	1,939	SY Syed, Yahiya Y.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 10
91	1,966	SU Seifert, Udo	Universität Stuttgart	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 15
92	1,988	PE Pebesma, Edzer	University of Münster	Geological & Geomatics Engineering	Rank 13
93	2,006	JJ Janek, Jürgen	Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 61
94	2,016	BI Bloch, Immanuel	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München	General Physics	Rank 20
95	2,026	DR Dolan, Ray Joseph	Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 105
96	2,043	MJ Maier, Joachim	Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research	Energy	Rank 46
97	2,076	LH Lichtenthaler, Hartmut Karl	Karlsruher Institut für Technologie	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 24
98	2,114	MA Markham, Anthony	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 12
99	2,119	MW Maass, Wolfgang	German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 123
100	2,167	CC Correll, Christophe U.	Einstein Center Population Diversity (ECPD)	Psychiatry	Rank 47
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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2026

United States73,638 scientists

China37,203 scientists

United Kingdom18,300 scientists

Australia8,971 scientists

Italy8,537 scientists

Canada8,528 scientists

Explore other countries

Single-year list2026

France5,914 scientists

Netherlands4,889 scientists

Switzerland3,595 scientists

Belgium2,182 scientists

Austria1,502 scientists

Luxembourg98 scientists

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

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

10,938 scientists affiliated with Germany are on the 2026 single-year list, and 12,809 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2026 single-year list, Technische Universität München has the most listed scientists from Germany, with 334. It is followed by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin with 201.

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

On the single-year list, Germany went from 8,177 scientists in 2020 to 10,938 in 2026, a change of +33.8%.

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.