New Zealand's Top 2% Scientists 2023: Career-Long List

New Zealand has 1,076 scientists on the 2023 career-long Top 2% list, up 4.6% from 1,029 in 2022. That places New Zealand 25th in the world by number of listed scientists, down 1 place. The University of Auckland has the most listed scientists (227), followed by University of Otago (115).

Single Year

932

+27 (+3.0%) vs 2022

Career Data

1,076

+47 (+4.6%) vs 2022

World rank by count

#25

down 1 place vs 2022

Institutes

145

+3 (+2.1%) vs 2022

Scientists in New Zealand on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 34% 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 list2023

Show the list

All 1,076 scientists

Career-long list2023

The first 100 are free to browse.

Export CSV

Rank in New Zealand	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	294	TK Trenberth, Kevin E.	The University of Auckland	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 1
2	1,036	WH White, Harvey D.	Auckland City Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 59
3	1,102	WC Winterbourn, Christine C.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 60
4	1,122	RI Reid, Ian R.	The University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 35
5	1,157	PR Poulin, Robert	University of Otago	Mycology & Parasitology	Rank 2
6	1,587	HC Hall, C. Michael	University of Canterbury	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 1
7	1,693	AM Anderson, Marti	Massey University Auckland	Ecology	Rank 32
8	1,769	FD Fergusson, David M.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 20
9	1,957	GP Gluckman, Peter D.	Liggins Institute	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 70
10	2,610	FV Feigin, Valery L.	Auckland University of Technology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 247
11	2,840	SR Sibson, Richard H.	University of Otago	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 24
12	3,088	BV Braun, Virginia	The University of Auckland	Gender Studies	Rank 1
13	3,480	HP Hulme, Philip E.	Lincoln University	Ecology	Rank 72
14	3,810	ND Nield, D. A.	The University of Auckland	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 23
15	4,185	KG Keating, Gillian M.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 28
16	4,785	VM Visser, Matt	Victoria University of Wellington	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 62
17	4,907	SB Swinburn, Boyd	The University of Auckland	Public Health	Rank 39
18	5,439	SL Scott, Lesley J.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 39
19	5,565	DW Denny, William A.	Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	Rank 16
20	6,805	SH Singh, Harjinder	Massey University	Food Science	Rank 19
21	6,889	BR Beasley, Richard	Medical Research Institute of New Zealand	Respiratory System	Rank 64
22	7,034	FC Farquhar, Cindy	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 120
23	8,039	GE Gane, Ed	Auckland City Hospital	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 138
24	8,515	DM Dragunow, Mike	The University of Auckland	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 734
25	8,518	RA Richards, Arthur Mark	University of Otago, Christchurch	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 415
26	8,917	MJ Miller, Jeff	University of Otago	Experimental Psychology	Rank 145
27	8,918	FL Ferguson, Lynnette R.	The University of Auckland	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 410
28	9,057	CM Corballis, Michael	The University of Auckland	Experimental Psychology	Rank 148
29	9,330	LT Lumley, Thomas	The University of Auckland	Statistics & Probability	Rank 45
30	10,138	CC Crowther, Caroline A.	Liggins Institute	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 170
31	10,566	PG Plosker, Greg L.	Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 64
32	10,956	RC Ryan, Chris	The University of Waikato	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 11
33	11,282	BA Beautrais, Annette	South Canterbury District Health Board	Psychiatry	Rank 317
34	12,201	ME Mitchell, Edwin A.	The University of Auckland	Pediatrics	Rank 40
35	12,509	CP Callaghan, P. T.	Victoria University of Wellington	Biophysics	Rank 23
36	12,550	XX Xu, Xun	The University of Auckland	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 88
37	12,635	YG Yeates, Gregor W.	Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 47
38	12,718	BE Baker, Edward N.	School of Biological Sciences	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 625
39	12,899	ZF Zhu, Fan	The University of Auckland	Food Science	Rank 40
40	12,998	WJ Wilson, J. Bastow	University of Otago	Ecology	Rank 238
41	13,141	WD Walls, D. F.	The University of Auckland	General Physics	Rank 78
42	13,360	BR Beaglehole, Robert	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 211
43	13,440	WI Witten, Ian H.	The University of Waikato	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 265
44	13,448	TW Thomson, W. Murray	University of Otago	Dentistry	Rank 49
45	13,452	BR Brogden, R. N.	Wolters Kluwer Health - Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 90
46	13,921	AW Abraham, Wickliffe C.	University of Otago	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1,149
47	14,220	SP Schwerdtfeger, Peter	Massey University Auckland	Chemical Physics	Rank 338
48	14,376	BB Baguley, Bruce C.	Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 643
49	14,402	KM Kirschbaum, Miko U.F.	Landcare Research, Palmerston North	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 141
50	14,461	MJ Mann, Jim I.	University of Otago	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 230
51	14,497	GW Giggenbach, W. F.	GNS Science	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 215
52	15,074	HN Holford, Nick	The University of Auckland	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 107
53	15,110	TG Tannock, Gerald W.	University of Otago	Microbiology	Rank 359
54	15,230	TC Townsend, Colin	University of Otago	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 80
55	15,323	JP Janssen, Peter H.	AgResearch Grasslands	Microbiology	Rank 364
56	15,926	PC Perry, Caroline M.	Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 113
57	16,085	HJ Holmes, Janet	Victoria University of Wellington	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 17
58	16,735	FM Farid, Mohammed Mehdi	The University of Auckland	Energy	Rank 170
59	17,179	WS Williams, S.	Otago Medical School	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 459
60	17,358	MM McCormick, M. I.	The University of Waikato	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 101
61	17,461	BR Bonita, Ruth	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 259
62	18,106	AM Asher, M. I.	Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences	Respiratory System	Rank 183
63	18,308	CJ Crump, John A.	University of Otago	Microbiology	Rank 447
64	18,862	GR Gibson, Rosalind S.	University of Otago	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 149
65	19,296	JR Jackson, Rod T.	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 279
66	19,509	PJ Paton, Julian F.R.	Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences	Physiology	Rank 79
67	20,098	SR Scragg, Robert	The University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 289
68	20,106	PD Parry, David A.D.	Massey University	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 955
69	20,354	EM Elwood, Mark	The University of Auckland	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 927
70	20,814	BM Bhatia, Madhav	University of Otago, Christchurch	Immunology	Rank 734
71	20,918	DJ Duckitt, John	The University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 232
72	21,225	MD Murdoch, David R.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Microbiology	Rank 527
73	21,900	WC Ward, Colleen	Victoria University of Wellington	Social Psychology	Rank 242
74	21,991	AB Anderson, Brian	The University of Auckland	Anesthesiology	Rank 73
75	22,060	DS Dhillon, Sohita	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 175
76	22,094	GC Gardiner, C. W.	University of Otago	General Physics	Rank 132
77	22,191	RV Ravindran, V.	Massey University	Dairy & Animal Science	Rank 32
78	22,250	SM Steel, Mike	University of Canterbury	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 227
79	22,308	WC Wilson, Colin J.N.	Victoria University of Wellington	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 360
80	22,519	BJ Butcher, John C.	The University of Auckland	Numerical & Computational Mathematics	Rank 25
81	23,006	LD Lloyd, David G.	University of Canterbury	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 229
82	23,145	JP Joyce, Peter R.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Psychiatry	Rank 577
83	23,314	LR Law, Richard	Landcare Research, Palmerston North	Ecology	Rank 398
84	23,505	PR Parfitt, R.	Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 94
85	23,615	GA Grey, Andrew	The University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 607
86	23,768	WM Wetherell, Margaret	The University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 265
87	24,366	MR Mulder, Roger	University of Otago, Christchurch	Psychiatry	Rank 596
88	24,400	SM Stringer, Mark D.	Otago Medical School	Pediatrics	Rank 98
89	24,407	WD Williams, David E.	The University of Auckland	Energy	Rank 253
90	24,787	TJ Tallon, Jeffery L.	Victoria University of Wellington	Applied Physics	Rank 620
91	24,822	MP Molan, Peter	The University of Waikato	Entomology	Rank 30
92	24,977	KN Kasabov, Nikola K.	Auckland University of Technology	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 491
93	25,008	RB Robinson, Brett	University of Canterbury	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 99
94	25,528	PD Penny, David	Massey University	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 247
95	26,316	DM Dutta, Mohan	Massey University	Communication & Media Studies	Rank 25
96	26,413	MR McDowall, R. M.	National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 186
97	26,739	MM Myers, Michael D.	The University of Auckland	Information Systems	Rank 58
98	27,146	DE Deeks, Emma D.	Springer Nature	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 225
99	27,308	TS Thrush, Simon F.	The University of Auckland	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 195
100	27,456	DB Delahunt, Brett	Malaghan Institute of Medical Research	Pathology	Rank 89
No scientists match this filter.

Showing 1 to 100 of the first 100 Show

Paid plans

See all 1,076 scientists in New Zealand

You are seeing the first 100. 976 more are on the 2023 career-long list.

Ranks 101 to 1,076The 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 list2023

Austria1,311 scientistsin 2023

Hong Kong1,176 scientistsin 2023

Poland1,119 scientistsin 2023

Turkey1,040 scientistsin 2023

Brazil979 scientistsin 2023

Greece971 scientistsin 2023

Explore other countries

Career-long list2023

Australia7,002 scientistsin 2023

Singapore956 scientistsin 2023

Malaysia320 scientistsin 2023

Thailand230 scientistsin 2023

Vietnam64 scientistsin 2023

Indonesia29 scientistsin 2023

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from New Zealand are in the 2023 Stanford Top 2% list?

932 scientists affiliated with New Zealand are on the 2023 single-year list, and 1,076 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2023 career-long list, The University of Auckland has the most listed scientists from New Zealand, with 227. It is followed by University of Otago with 115.

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 1,076 in 2023, a change of +34.0%.

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.