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

New Zealand has 974 scientists on the 2021 career-long Top 2% list, up 21.3% from 803 in 2020. That places New Zealand 24th in the world by number of listed scientists. The University of Auckland has the most listed scientists (222), followed by University of Otago (103).

Single Year

901

+145 (+19.2%) vs 2020

Career Data

974

+171 (+21.3%) vs 2020

World rank by count

#24

No change vs 2020

Institutes

127

+21 (+19.8%) vs 2020

Scientists in New Zealand on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 21% since 2020.

Career-long list, change on the previous year

2021+21.3%

2022+5.6%

2023+4.6%

2024+5.2%

2025+3.1%

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

Career-long list2021

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All 974 scientists

Career-long list2021

The first 100 are free to browse.

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Rank in New Zealand	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	1,022	WC Winterbourn, Christine C.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 59
2	1,032	WH White, Harvey D.	Auckland City Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 59
3	1,082	RI Reid, Ian R.	The University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 34
4	1,198	PR Poulin, Robert	University of Otago	Mycology & Parasitology	Rank 2
5	1,452	CY Chisti, Yusuf	Massey University	Biotechnology	Rank 2
6	1,632	FD Fergusson, David M.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 20
7	1,836	AM Anderson, Marti J.	Massey University Auckland	Ecology	Rank 31
8	2,769	SR Sibson, Richard H.	University of Otago	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 24
9	2,941	HC Hall, C. Michael	University of Canterbury	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 1
10	3,671	ND Nield, D. A.	The University of Auckland	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 23
11	3,942	HP Hulme, Philip E.	Lincoln University	Ecology	Rank 77
12	4,766	KG Keating, Gillian M.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 36
13	4,817	FV Feigin, Valery	Auckland University of Technology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 440
14	4,849	LP Liu, Ping	School of Biomedical Sciences	Materials	Rank 57
15	4,966	HA Herbison, Allan E.	School of Biomedical Sciences	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 153
16	5,127	DW Denny, William A.	Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	Rank 14
17	5,163	VM Visser, Matt	Victoria University of Wellington	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 81
18	5,198	BV Braun, Virginia	The University of Auckland	Gender Studies	Rank 1
19	5,563	SB Swinburn, Boyd A.	The University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 178
20	6,935	BR Beasley, Richard	Victoria University of Wellington	Respiratory System	Rank 68
21	7,214	SL Scott, Lesley J.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 51
22	7,704	DM Dragunow, Mike	The University of Auckland	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 680
23	7,750	SH Singh, Harjinder	Massey University	Food Science	Rank 20
24	7,893	FC Farquhar, Cindy	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 119
25	8,109	WT Ward, Tony	Victoria University of Wellington	Criminology	Rank 8
26	8,298	GE Gane, Ed	Auckland City Hospital	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 134
27	8,488	MJ Miller, Jeff	University of Otago	Experimental Psychology	Rank 129
28	8,687	RA Richards, A. Mark	University of Otago, Christchurch	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 427
29	8,983	FL Ferguson, Lynnette R.	The University of Auckland	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 417
30	9,201	CM Corballis, Michael C.	The University of Auckland	Experimental Psychology	Rank 143
31	10,136	LT Lumley, Thomas	The University of Auckland	Statistics & Probability	Rank 45
32	10,207	PG Plosker, Greg L.	Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 71
33	10,405	BA Beautrais, Annette L.	University of Canterbury	Psychiatry	Rank 288
34	11,264	CP Callaghan, P. T.	Victoria University of Wellington	Biophysics	Rank 22
35	11,323	CC Crowther, C.	Liggins Institute	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 156
36	11,484	BE Baker, Edward N.	School of Biological Sciences	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 593
37	11,701	WD Walls, D. F.	The University of Auckland	General Physics	Rank 71
38	11,894	YG Yeates, Gregor W.	Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 40
39	12,057	RC Ryan, Chris	The University of Waikato	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 9
40	12,085	WJ Wilson, J. B.	University of Otago	Ecology	Rank 216
41	12,299	ME Mitchell, E. A.	The University of Auckland	Pediatrics	Rank 40
42	13,124	BR Brogden, R. N.	Wolters Kluwer Health - Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 99
43	13,253	AW Abraham, Wickliffe C.	University of Otago	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1,122
44	13,344	BR Beaglehole, Robert	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 184
45	13,633	TG Tannock, Gerald W.	University of Otago	Microbiology	Rank 316
46	13,665	SP Schwerdtfeger, Peter	Massey University Auckland	Chemical Physics	Rank 344
47	13,685	GW Giggenbach, W. F.	GNS Science	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 195
48	13,737	TC Townsend, Colin R.	University of Otago	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 68
49	13,843	KM Kirschbaum, Miko U.F.	Landcare Research, Palmerston North	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 131
50	15,141	PC Perry, Caroline M.	Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 115
51	15,873	HN Holford, Nicholas H.G.	The University of Auckland	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 122
52	15,911	TW Thomson, William Murray	Faculty of Dentistry	Dentistry	Rank 59
53	16,251	WS Williams, Sheila	Otago Medical School	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 436
54	16,594	BR Bonita, Ruth	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 212
55	16,913	JP Janssen, Peter H.	AgResearch Grasslands Research Centre	Microbiology	Rank 401
56	17,449	WI Witten, Ian H.	The University of Waikato	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 303
57	17,646	AI Asher, Innes	The University of Auckland	Respiratory System	Rank 187
58	18,219	MJ Mann, J. I.	University of Otago	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 146
59	18,262	XX Xu, Xun	The University of Auckland	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 126
60	18,632	BM Bhatia, Madhav	University of Otago, Christchurch	Immunology	Rank 676
61	18,714	HJ Holmes, Janet	Victoria University of Wellington	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 13
62	19,015	PJ Paton, Julian F.R.	Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences	Physiology	Rank 78
63	19,059	EJ Elwood, J. Mark	The University of Auckland	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 879
64	19,221	JR Jackson, Rod	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 238
65	19,388	GR Gibson, Rosalind S.	University of Otago	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 161
66	19,636	BB Baguley, Bruce	Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 910
67	19,799	FM Farid, Mohammed	The University of Auckland	Energy	Rank 179
68	20,292	GC Gardiner, C. W.	University of Otago	General Physics	Rank 140
69	20,518	LD Lloyd, David G.	University of Canterbury	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 227
70	20,612	SR Scragg, Robert	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 252
71	20,980	SM Steel, Mike	University of Canterbury	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 229
72	21,291	WC Wilson, Colin J.N.	Victoria University of Wellington	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 344
73	21,326	JP Joyce, Peter R.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Psychiatry	Rank 549
74	21,356	PR Parfitt, R.	Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 84
75	21,924	TJ Tallon, Jeffery L.	Victoria University of Wellington	Applied Physics	Rank 532
76	22,309	MW Marshall, Wallace F.	University of California, San Francisco	Developmental Biology	Rank 965
77	22,350	CJ Crump, John A.	University of Otago	Microbiology	Rank 543
78	22,475	CM Costello, Mark John	The University of Auckland	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 148
79	22,745	DJ Duckitt, John	The University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 243
80	22,892	GA Grey, Andrew	The University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 592
81	23,502	WD Williams, David E.	The University of Auckland	Energy	Rank 217
82	23,798	AB Anderson, Brian J.	The University of Auckland	Anesthesiology	Rank 74
83	23,878	ZF Zhu, Fan	The University of Auckland	Food Science	Rank 76
84	23,884	WM Wetherell, Margaret	The University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 254
85	23,916	MP Molan, Peter	The University of Waikato	Entomology	Rank 31
86	24,387	BJ Butcher, J. C.	The University of Auckland	Numerical & Computational Mathematics	Rank 32
87	24,686	BB Biggs, Barry	National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 166
88	24,823	MR Mulder, Roger T.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Psychiatry	Rank 618
89	25,000	RV Ravindran, V.	Massey University	Dairy & Animal Science	Rank 37
90	25,305	KN Kasabov, Nikola	Auckland University of Technology	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 418
91	25,446	MR Mcdowall, Robert M.	National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand	Fisheries	Rank 38
92	25,587	WC Ward, Colleen	Victoria University of Wellington	Social Psychology	Rank 271
93	25,695	TS Thrush, Simon F.	The University of Auckland	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 176
94	25,800	SG Sparling, G. P.	The University of Waikato	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 104
95	26,022	PD Penny, David	Massey University	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 266
96	26,495	RB Robinson, Brett H.	University of Canterbury	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 107
97	26,826	MM Myers, Michael D.	The University of Auckland Business School	Information Systems	Rank 52
98	27,106	SM Stringer, Mark D.	Wellington Hospital, New Zealand	Pediatrics	Rank 114
99	27,518	HJ Harding, Jane E.	Liggins Institute	Pediatrics	Rank 116
100	28,405	KR Kearns, Robin	The University of Auckland	Geography	Rank 73
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2021

Austria1,162 scientistsin 2021

Norway1,152 scientistsin 2021

Hong Kong1,018 scientistsin 2021

Poland957 scientistsin 2021

Singapore876 scientistsin 2021

Russia847 scientistsin 2021

Explore other countries

Career-long list2021

Australia6,369 scientistsin 2021

Malaysia234 scientistsin 2021

Thailand191 scientistsin 2021

Vietnam53 scientistsin 2021

Philippines26 scientistsin 2021

Fiji4 scientistsin 2021

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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 career-long list, The University of Auckland has the most listed scientists from New Zealand, with 222. It is followed by University of Otago with 103.

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

On the career-long list, New Zealand went from 803 scientists in 2020 to 974 in 2021, a change of +21.3%.

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.