New Zealand's Top 2% Scientists 2026: Career-Long List

New Zealand has 1,224 scientists on the 2026 career-long Top 2% list, up 4.9% from 1,167 in 2025. That places New Zealand 29th in the world by number of listed scientists, down 1 place. University of Auckland has the most listed scientists (247), followed by University of Otago (128).

Single Year

971

+17 (+1.8%) vs 2025

Career Data

1,224

+57 (+4.9%) vs 2025

World rank by count

#29

down 1 place vs 2025

Institutes

183

+17 (+10.2%) vs 2025

Scientists in New Zealand on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 52% 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%

2026+4.9%

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%
2026	971	+1.8%	1,224	+4.9%

Top 10 institutes in New Zealand

By number of listed scientists

Career-long list2026

Show the list

All 1,224 scientists

Career-long list2026

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

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	256	TK Trenberth, Kevin E.	University of Auckland	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 1
2	722	HC Hall, C. Michael	Massey University Auckland	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 1
3	1,011	PR Poulin, Robert	University of Otago	Mycology & Parasitology	Rank 2
4	1,048	BV Braun, Virginia	University of Auckland	Gender Studies	Rank 1
5	1,068	WC Winterbourn, Christine C.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 52
6	1,180	RI Reid, Ian R.	University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 35
7	1,187	WH White, Harvey D.	Auckland City Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 62
8	1,268	JD Jones, David T.	University of Otago	Bioinformatics	Rank 6
9	1,395	FV Feigin, Valery L.	Auckland University of Technology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 129
10	1,546	AM Anderson, Marti J.	Massey University Auckland	Ecology	Rank 33
11	1,568	PP Phillips, Peter C.B.	University of Auckland	Econometrics	Rank 4
12	1,953	KJ Kane, John Michael	University of Otago, Wellington	Psychiatry	Rank 68
13	2,087	PJ Potter, John D.	Massey University Wellington	Epidemiology	Rank 12
14	2,236	FD Fergusson, David M.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 24
15	2,400	HP Hulme, Philip E.	Lincoln University	Ecology	Rank 51
16	2,440	GP Gluckman, Peter David	Liggins Institute	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 81
17	2,928	SR Sibson, Richard H.	University of Otago	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 24
18	3,215	VM Visser, Matt	Victoria University of Wellington	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 39
19	3,493	ND Nield, D. A.	The University of Auckland	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 25
20	3,953	ZF Zhu, Fan	University of Auckland	Food Science	Rank 14
21	4,431	SB Swinburn, Boyd Anthony	University of Auckland	Public Health	Rank 34
22	5,341	SH Singh, Harjinder	Massey University	Food Science	Rank 17
23	5,638	LS Lavorel, Sandra	Bioeconomy Science Institute	Ecology	Rank 115
24	6,213	WT Ward, Tony	Victoria University of Wellington	Criminology	Rank 9
25	6,426	DW Denny, William A.	Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	Rank 17
26	6,662	FC Farquhar, Cindy M.	University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 111
27	7,519	XX Xu, Xun W.	University of Auckland	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 62
28	7,979	LT Lumley, Thomas S.	University of Auckland	Statistics & Probability	Rank 45
29	7,999	CM Corballis, Michael C.	University of Auckland	Experimental Psychology	Rank 130
30	8,160	BR Beasley, Richard W.	Medical Research Institute of New Zealand	Respiratory System	Rank 79
31	8,274	GE Gane, Edward John	University of Auckland	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 138
32	9,728	CC Crowther, Caroline A.	University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 167
33	9,998	DM Dragunow, Mike G.	University of Auckland	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 801
34	10,038	FL Ferguson, Lynnette R.	Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 436
35	10,153	MJ Miller, Jeff O.	University of Otago	Experimental Psychology	Rank 167
36	10,636	RC Ryan, Chris A.	University of Waikato	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 16
37	11,208	PG Plosker, Greg L.	Wolters Kluwer Health - Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 65
38	11,433	TW Thomson, W. Murray	University of Otago	Dentistry	Rank 40
39	11,986	GK Goa, Karen L.	Wolters Kluwer Health - Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 72
40	12,572	BA Beautrais, Annette L.	HealthCare NZ	Psychiatry	Rank 351
41	13,513	FM Farid, Mohammed M.	University of Auckland	Energy	Rank 152
42	13,563	YG Yeates, Gregor W.	Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 53
43	13,625	ME Mitchell, Eleanor J.	University of Auckland	Pediatrics	Rank 44
44	13,688	HJ Holmes, Janet	Victoria University of Wellington	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 21
45	14,087	AW Abraham, Wickliffe C.	University of Otago	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1,085
46	14,219	BR Brogden, Rex N.	Wolters Kluwer Health - Adis	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 90
47	14,414	KM Kirschbaum, Miko Uwe Franz	Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 60
48	14,466	SP Schwerdtfeger, Peter A.	Massey University Auckland	Chemical Physics	Rank 314
49	14,540	WJ Wilson, J. Bastow	University of Otago	Ecology	Rank 273
50	14,545	BE Baker, Edward N.	School of Biological Sciences	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 617
51	14,593	WI Witten, Ian H.	University of Waikato	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 336
52	14,696	JP Janssen, Peter H.	AgResearch Grasslands	Microbiology	Rank 352
53	14,712	BR Beaglehole, Robert H.	University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 232
54	14,760	MJ Mann, Jim I.	University of Otago	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 235
55	14,858	CJ Crump, John A.	University of Otago	Microbiology	Rank 357
56	14,996	WD Walls, Daniel F.	University of Auckland	General Physics	Rank 92
57	15,369	CP Callaghan, Paul T.	Victoria University of Wellington	Biophysics	Rank 24
58	15,637	HN Holford, Nicholas H.G.	University of Auckland	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 101
59	15,677	BA Boretti, Alberto A.	Independent Scientist	Energy	Rank 184
60	15,864	GW Giggenbach, Werner F.	Earth Sciences New Zealand	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 249
61	16,081	TG Tannock, Gerald W.	University of Otago	Microbiology	Rank 392
62	16,591	BB Baguley, Bruce C.	Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 714
63	16,664	MD Mellor, David J.	Massey University	Veterinary Sciences	Rank 8
64	16,889	PC Perry, Caroline M.	Springer	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 114
65	16,981	PG Prayag, Girish	University of Canterbury	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 27
66	17,582	DM Dutta-Bergman, Mohan Jyoti	Massey University Auckland	Communication & Media Studies	Rank 19
67	17,837	DJ Duckitt, John H.	University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 214
68	17,961	TC Townsend, Colin R.	University of Otago	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 102
69	18,074	RV Ravindran, Velmurugu	Massey University	Dairy & Animal Science	Rank 19
70	18,358	WC Ward, Colleen A.	Victoria University of Wellington	Social Psychology	Rank 222
71	18,856	GR Gibson, Rosalind Susan	University of Otago	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 138
72	19,535	MD Murdoch, David Roger	University of Otago, Christchurch	Microbiology	Rank 478
73	19,614	SR Scragg, Robert	University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 300
74	20,573	WS Williams, Sheila M.	University of Otago	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 517
75	20,778	BR Bonita, Ruth	University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 319
76	20,883	AI Asher, Innes Innes	Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences	Respiratory System	Rank 208
77	21,145	PJ Paton, Julian F.R.	University of Auckland	Physiology	Rank 75
78	21,307	KN Kasabov, N. Kirilov	Auckland University of Technology	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 499
79	21,368	BJ Butcher, John C.	University of Auckland	Numerical & Computational Mathematics	Rank 25
80	21,695	JR Jackson, Rod T.	University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 328
81	21,838	AB Anderson, Brian J.	University of Auckland	Anesthesiology	Rank 69
82	22,086	BM Bhatia, Madhav	University of Otago, Christchurch	Immunology	Rank 733
83	22,851	WC Wilson, Colin J.N.	Victoria University of Wellington	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 372
84	23,304	RB Robinson, Brett Harvey	University of Canterbury	Environmental Sciences	Rank 161
85	23,382	MR Mulder, Roger T.	University of Otago, Christchurch	Psychiatry	Rank 570
86	24,208	EM Elwood, Mark Mark	University of Auckland	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 1,049
87	24,266	PD Parry, David A.D.	Massey University	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 981
88	24,854	SM Stringer, Mark David	University of Otago	Pediatrics	Rank 94
89	24,865	WD Williams, David E.	University of Auckland	Energy	Rank 304
90	24,905	BS Barker-Collo, Suzanne Lyn	University of Auckland	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 372
91	25,089	SM Steel, Mike A.	University of Canterbury	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 233
92	25,371	BE Broadbent, Elizabeth A.	University of Auckland	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 196
93	25,568	PR Parfitt, Roger L.	Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 114
94	25,717	GA Grey, Andrew B.	University of Auckland	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 624
95	25,804	Milfont, Taciano L.	University of Waikato	Social Psychology	Rank 306
96	25,977	GC Gardiner, C. W.	University of Otago	General Physics	Rank 142
97	26,007	BR Bouckaert, Remco R.	University of Auckland	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 610
98	26,326	SC Sibley, Chris G.	University of Auckland	Social Psychology	Rank 310
99	26,360	KR Kearns, Robin A.	University of Auckland	Geography	Rank 87
100	27,049	MM Myers, Michael David	University of Auckland Business School	Information Systems	Rank 62
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2026

Iran1,380 scientists

Brazil1,304 scientists

Greece1,243 scientists

Singapore1,155 scientists

Russia1,133 scientists

Saudi Arabia1,071 scientists

Explore other countries

Career-long list2026

Australia8,552 scientists

Malaysia514 scientists

Thailand343 scientists

Vietnam121 scientists

Indonesia70 scientists

Philippines51 scientists

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Frequently asked questions

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

971 scientists affiliated with New Zealand are on the 2026 single-year list, and 1,224 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2026 career-long list, University of Auckland has the most listed scientists from New Zealand, with 247. It is followed by University of Otago with 128.

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 1,224 in 2026, a change of +52.4%.

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.