New Zealand's Top 2% Scientists 2021

New Zealand has 901 scientists on the 2021 single-year Top 2% list, up 19.2% from 756 in 2020. That places New Zealand 30th in the world by number of listed scientists, down 1 place. The University of Auckland has the most listed scientists (217), followed by University of Otago (99).

Single Year

901

+145 (+19.2%) vs 2020

Career Data

974

+171 (+21.3%) vs 2020

World rank by count

#30

down 1 place vs 2020

Institutes

100

+15 (+17.6%) vs 2020

Scientists in New Zealand on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 19% since 2020.

Single-year list, change on the previous year

2021+19.2%

2022+0.4%

2023+3.0%

2024+1.6%

2025+0.7%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	756		803
2021	901	+19.2%	974	+21.3%
2022	905	+0.4%	1,029	+5.6%
2023	932	+3.0%	1,076	+4.6%
2024	947	+1.6%	1,132	+5.2%
2025	954	+0.7%	1,167	+3.1%

Top 10 institutes in New Zealand

By number of listed scientists

Single-year list2021

Show the list

All 901 scientists

Single-year list2021

The first 100 are free to browse.

Export CSV

Rank in New Zealand	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	381	HC Hall, C. Michael	University of Canterbury	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 1
2	435	AM Anderson, Marti J.	Massey University Auckland	Ecology	Rank 11
3	617	FV Feigin, Valery	Auckland University of Technology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 49
4	953	BV Braun, Virginia	The University of Auckland	Gender Studies	Rank 1
5	996	ZF Zhu, Fan	The University of Auckland	Food Science	Rank 7
6	1,105	WC Winterbourn, Christine C.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 23
7	1,160	PR Poulin, Robert	University of Otago	Mycology & Parasitology	Rank 2
8	1,214	CY Chisti, Yusuf	Massey University	Biotechnology	Rank 5
9	1,330	HP Hulme, Philip E.	Lincoln University	Ecology	Rank 37
10	1,491	SR Sibson, Richard H.	University of Otago	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 16
11	2,523	RI Reid, Ian R.	The University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 47
12	3,042	SL Scott, Lesley J.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 11
13	3,378	XX Xu, Xun	The University of Auckland	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 37
14	3,593	ND Nield, D. A.	The University of Auckland	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 43
15	3,748	SH Singh, Harjinder	Massey University	Food Science	Rank 18
16	3,940	SB Swinburn, Boyd A.	The University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 77
17	3,984	WH White, Harvey D.	Auckland City Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 120
18	4,209	VM Visser, Matt	Victoria University of Wellington	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 38
19	4,760	LT Lumley, Thomas	The University of Auckland	Statistics & Probability	Rank 37
20	5,006	FD Fergusson, David M.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 59
21	5,111	CJ Crump, John A.	University of Otago	Microbiology	Rank 106
22	5,303	PG Prayag, Girish	University of Canterbury	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 18
23	5,790	LP Liu, Ping	School of Biomedical Sciences	Materials	Rank 91
24	5,952	DS Dhillon, Sohita	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 27
25	5,965	MA Markham, Anthony	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 28
26	6,223	CM Costello, Mark John	The University of Auckland	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 33
27	6,420	KG Keating, Gillian M.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 31
28	6,582	DJ Duckitt, John	The University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 151
29	6,677	DA Drummond, Alexei J.	The University of Auckland	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 76
30	6,985	BR Bouckaert, Remco	The University of Auckland	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 194
31	7,501	TW Thomson, William Murray	Faculty of Dentistry	Dentistry	Rank 25
32	7,654	RC Ryan, Chris	The University of Waikato	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 29
33	7,839	FC Farquhar, Cindy	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 114
34	7,940	HS Hoy, Sheridan M.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 40
35	8,021	Milfont, Taciano L.	The University of Waikato	Social Psychology	Rank 173
36	8,234	DE Deeks, Emma D.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 42
37	8,529	HA Herbison, Allan E.	School of Biomedical Sciences	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 174
38	8,640	WT Ward, Tony	Victoria University of Wellington	Criminology	Rank 17
39	8,694	FM Farid, Mohammed	The University of Auckland	Energy	Rank 173
40	9,097	FR Fischer, Ronald	Victoria University of Wellington	Social Psychology	Rank 187
41	9,122	FH Fathabadi, Hassan	Pishro Industrial Co. Ltd.	Energy	Rank 183
42	9,631	JP Janssen, Peter H.	AgResearch Grasslands Research Centre	Microbiology	Rank 202
43	9,648	GE Gane, Ed	Auckland City Hospital	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 109
44	9,827	BE Broadbent, Elizabeth	The University of Auckland	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 95
45	10,274	CA Carr, Anitra C.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 74
46	10,508	CG Cheung, Gordon W.	The University of Auckland	Business & Management	Rank 260
47	11,101	SC Stinear, Cathy M.	The University of Auckland	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 677
48	11,270	BB Bradley, B.	University of Canterbury	Strategic, Defence & Security Studies	Rank 22
49	11,829	BR Brodie, Roderick J.	The University of Auckland Business School	Marketing	Rank 64
50	11,839	SC Sibley, Chris G.	The University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 216
51	12,298	Derraik, José G.B.	Liggins Institute	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 243
52	12,300	MD MacKenzie, Darryl I.	University of Otago	Ecology	Rank 303
53	12,488	BJ Butcher, J. C.	The University of Auckland	Numerical & Computational Mathematics	Rank 27
54	12,552	PK Pickering, Kim L.	The University of Waikato	Materials	Rank 214
55	12,673	MD Mellor, David J.	Massey University	Veterinary Sciences	Rank 4
56	12,684	BS Barker-Collo, Suzanne	The University of Auckland	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 763
57	12,790	FL Ferguson, Lynnette R.	The University of Auckland	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 472
58	12,906	SR Scheyvens, Regina	Massey University	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 48
59	12,990	WC Ward, Colleen	Victoria University of Wellington	Social Psychology	Rank 234
60	13,057	DM Dutta, Mohan J.	Massey University	Public Health	Rank 135
61	13,296	PR Poulton, Richie	University of Otago	Psychiatry	Rank 299
62	13,301	WI Witten, Ian H.	The University of Waikato	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 361
63	13,415	KM Kirschbaum, Miko U.F.	Landcare Research, Palmerston North	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 173
64	13,543	RV Ravindran, V.	Massey University	Dairy & Animal Science	Rank 17
65	13,562	SY Syed, Yahiya Y.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 65
66	14,116	BA Beautrais, Annette L.	University of Canterbury	Psychiatry	Rank 320
67	14,191	GW Giggenbach, W. F.	GNS Science	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 245
68	14,450	Tylianakis, Jason M.	University of Canterbury	Ecology	Rank 352
69	14,497	MM Myers, Michael D.	The University of Auckland Business School	Information Systems	Rank 44
70	14,749	WM Wetherell, Margaret	The University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 266
71	15,046	CM Corballis, Michael C.	The University of Auckland	Experimental Psychology	Rank 238
72	15,051	RB Robinson, Brett H.	University of Canterbury	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 87
73	15,210	BC Brennan, Charles S.	Lincoln University	Food Science	Rank 87
74	15,259	MJ Miller, Jeff	University of Otago	Experimental Psychology	Rank 239
75	15,616	YA Ye, Aiqian	Massey University	Food Science	Rank 89
76	15,826	CC Crowther, C.	Liggins Institute	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 206
77	15,878	BH Blair, Hannah A.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 75
78	16,318	JS Jaeger, Sara R.	Plant & Food Research, New Zealand	Food Science	Rank 95
79	16,407	Bifet, Albert	The University of Waikato	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 426
80	16,457	RA Richards, A. Mark	University of Otago, Christchurch	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 528
81	16,523	AS Anema, Skelte G.	Fonterra Co-operative Group	Food Science	Rank 96
82	16,751	VS Vashist, Sandeep K.	Pictor Limited, Auckland	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 76
83	17,003	YG Yeates, Gregor W.	Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 105
84	17,125	DL Day, Li	AgResearch Grasslands Research Centre	Food Science	Rank 99
85	17,257	DW Denny, William A.	Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	Rank 46
86	17,342	TD Thomas, David R.	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 223
87	17,357	BP Boxall, Peter	The University of Auckland	Industrial Relations	Rank 2
88	17,512	CR Chan, Ricky Y.K.	Auckland University of Technology	Marketing	Rank 90
89	17,636	MB Melville, Bruce W.	The University of Auckland	Environmental Engineering	Rank 87
90	17,771	Brown, Gavin T.L.	The University of Auckland	Education	Rank 144
91	18,232	GR Gibson, Rosalind S.	University of Otago	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 127
92	18,423	WJ Wilson, J. B.	University of Otago	Ecology	Rank 433
93	18,619	OM Orlitzky, Marc	Massey University Auckland	Business & Management	Rank 438
94	18,772	DN Dalbeth, Nicola	The University of Auckland	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 119
95	19,050	BR Beasley, Richard	Victoria University of Wellington	Respiratory System	Rank 137
96	19,568	TF Thabtah, Fadi	Manukau Institute of Technology	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 502
97	19,836	KN Kasabov, Nikola	Auckland University of Technology	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 511
98	19,963	MS Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh	Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1,152
99	20,025	AW Abraham, Wickliffe C.	University of Otago	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1,156
100	20,397	KS Keam, Susan J.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 97
No scientists match this filter.

Showing 1 to 100 of the first 100 Show

Paid plans

See all 901 scientists in New Zealand

You are seeing the first 100. 801 more are on the 2021 single-year list.

Ranks 101 to 901The 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

Single-year list2021

Poland1,027 scientistsin 2021

Finland1,016 scientistsin 2021

Russia959 scientistsin 2021

Saudi Arabia870 scientistsin 2021

Greece846 scientistsin 2021

South Africa752 scientistsin 2021

Explore other countries

Single-year list2021

Australia7,138 scientistsin 2021

Singapore1,130 scientistsin 2021

Malaysia549 scientistsin 2021

Thailand263 scientistsin 2021

Vietnam146 scientistsin 2021

Indonesia58 scientistsin 2021

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

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

901 scientists affiliated with New Zealand are on the 2021 single-year list, and 974 are on the career-long list.

Which institute in New Zealand has the most Top 2% scientists?

On the 2021 single-year list, The University of Auckland has the most listed scientists from New Zealand, with 217. It is followed by University of Otago with 99.

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

On the single-year list, New Zealand went from 756 scientists in 2020 to 901 in 2021, a change of +19.2%.

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.