Saudi Arabia's Top 2% Scientists 2020: Career-Long List

Saudi Arabia has 321 scientists on the 2020 career-long Top 2% list. That places Saudi Arabia 36th in the world by number of listed scientists. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals has the most listed scientists (63), followed by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (62).

Single Year

557

First year listed

Career Data

321

First year listed

World rank by count

#36

First year listed

Institutes

First year listed

Scientists in Saudi Arabia on the list, by year

Career-long list, change on the previous year

2021+38.0%

2022+5.2%

2023+23.6%

2024+17.4%

2025+25.7%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	557		321
2021	870	+56.2%	443	+38.0%
2022	1,021	+17.4%	466	+5.2%
2023	1,321	+29.4%	576	+23.6%
2024	1,684	+27.5%	676	+17.4%
2025	2,110	+25.3%	850	+25.7%

Top 10 institutes in Saudi Arabia

By number of listed scientists

Career-long list2020

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All 321 scientists

Career-long list2020

The first 100 are free to browse.

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Rank in Saudi Arabia	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	170	DA Demirbas, Ayhan	King Abdulaziz University	Energy	Rank 1
2	345	Yaghi, Omar M.	King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology	General Chemistry	Rank 5
3	365	GV Gupta, Vinod Kumar	King Abdulaziz University	Chemical Physics	Rank 16
4	733	DC Duarte, Carlos M.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 1
5	1,117	HN Hirokawa, Nobutaka	King Abdulaziz University	Developmental Biology	Rank 93
6	1,631	KH Koenig, Harold G.	King Abdulaziz University	Psychiatry	Rank 61
7	3,950	SA Sari, Ahmet	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 28
8	4,801	CA Chamkha, Ali J.	Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 21
9	4,877	MP Magistretti, Pierre	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 467
10	5,151	AM Alouini, Mohamed Slim	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 36
11	5,519	TM Tuzen, Mustafa	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 27
12	6,294	DA Daly, Ann K.	University of Newcastle	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 47
13	6,541	HT Hayat, Tasawar	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 26
14	6,844	AM Abido, Mohammad A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 51
15	8,261	BA Biswas, Anjan	King Abdulaziz University	Optics	Rank 42
16	9,128	AE Aifantis, Elias C.	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 44
17	9,241	HN Hadjichristidis, N.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Polymers	Rank 71
18	11,273	ST Saleh, Tawfik A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Chemical Engineering	Rank 37
19	12,108	TM Tester, Mark	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 110
20	13,167	DF Deng, Fu Guo	King Abdulaziz University	General Physics	Rank 89
21	13,527	Khaled, Khaled F.	Taif University	Energy	Rank 101
22	14,077	MI McCulloch, Iain	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 149
23	14,432	SG Stegeman, G. I.A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Optics	Rank 71
24	14,625	EM Eddaoudi, Mohamed	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	General Chemistry	Rank 74
25	15,223	HP Hall, Peter A.	King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre	Pathology	Rank 57
26	15,379	MR Mittra, Raj	King Abdulaziz University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 129
27	15,791	MM Mahmoud, Magdi S.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 109
28	15,944	Asiri, Abdullah M.	King Abdulaziz University	Organic Chemistry	Rank 350
29	18,547	CL Cavallo, Luigi	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Organic Chemistry	Rank 399
30	19,781	YB Yilbas, Bekir S.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 99
31	20,247	ZA Zenkour, Ashraf M.	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 101
32	22,772	ŞZ Şen, Zekâi	King Abdulaziz University	Environmental Engineering	Rank 74
33	24,132	AM Al-Qattan, Mohammad M.	King Saud University	Orthopedics	Rank 163
34	25,314	SJ Shamma, Jeff	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 174
35	26,024	HH Hattori, Hideshi	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Physical Chemistry	Rank 109
36	26,252	SA Subasi, Abdulhamit	Effat University, Saudi Arabia	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 440
37	26,255	AZ ALOthman, Zeid A.	King Saud University	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 180
38	26,775	UA Umar, Ahmad	Najran University	Materials	Rank 312
39	27,224	MW Mahmoud, Waleed E.	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Physics	Rank 631
40	27,245	Ahmad, Bashir	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 54
41	27,360	QM Quraishi, M. A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 233
42	28,602	VM Valipour, Mohammad	King Abdulaziz University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 111
43	30,079	CS Chen, Sheng	King Abdulaziz University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 254
44	30,397	GT Gojobori, Takashi	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Developmental Biology	Rank 1,302
45	30,954	BM Barakat, M. A.	King Abdulaziz University	Environmental Sciences	Rank 142
46	31,069	TA Tounsi, Abdelouahed	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Civil Engineering	Rank 37
47	33,055	TK Tabbara, Khalid F.	King Saud University Medical College	Ophthalmology & Optometry	Rank 191
48	33,700	BA Beynen, A. C.	King Saud University	Dairy & Animal Science	Rank 57
49	34,469	IH Idriss, H.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Physical Chemistry	Rank 135
50	35,045	AT Anthopoulos, Thomas D.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 318
51	36,968	AT Alkhalifah, Tariq	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 587
52	37,638	CS Chen, Sheng	King Abdulaziz University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 318
53	37,699	PN Pradhan, Narayan	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Physical Chemistry	Rank 143
54	38,980	SG Schuster, Gerard T.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 622
55	38,998	TK Takanabe, Kazuhiro	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Physical Chemistry	Rank 148
56	39,618	KK Koumoto, Kunihito	King Abdulaziz University	Materials	Rank 480
57	39,920	PT Patzek, T. W.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Energy	Rank 360
58	40,691	Hamdaoui, Oualid	King Saud University	Chemical Engineering	Rank 134
59	40,829	AA Asea, Alexzander A.A.	Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal university	Immunology	Rank 1,300
60	42,109	Rue, Håvard	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Statistics & Probability	Rank 159
61	42,913	SA Sahin, A. Z.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 396
62	43,260	NM Naushad, Mu	King Saud University	Chemical Engineering	Rank 146
63	44,248	GL Gissmann, Lutz	King Saud University	Virology	Rank 403
64	44,546	NS Nunes, Suzana P.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 149
65	44,966	GM Genton, Marc G.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Statistics & Probability	Rank 173
66	46,018	US Umoren, Saviour A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Polymers	Rank 418
67	46,133	OI Obot, Ime Bassey	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 433
68	46,920	SJ Santamarina, J. Carlos	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Geological & Geomatics Engineering	Rank 165
69	47,040	RS Rehman, Shafiqur	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 448
70	47,534	PI Pinnau, Ingo	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 158
71	49,918	CR Carle, Reinhold	King Abdulaziz University	Food Science	Rank 167
72	50,202	Rashad, Alaa M.	Shaqra University	Building & Construction	Rank 67
73	52,270	AT Abdeljawad, Thabet	Prince Sultan University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 117
74	52,856	AF Alkuraya, Fowzan S.	King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre	Genetics & Heredity	Rank 313
75	53,568	MS Messaoudi, Salim A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Applied Mathematics	Rank 121
76	53,632	AJ Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.	Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare	Microbiology	Rank 1,337
77	53,784	SN Shahzad, Naseer	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 123
78	54,582	AM Ahamed, Maqusood	King Saud University	Toxicology	Rank 289
79	55,543	AF Al-Sulaiman, F. A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 540
80	57,001	AA Ahmed, A.	King Abdulaziz University	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 2,128
81	57,883	CS Chung, Suk Ho	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Energy	Rank 571
82	59,343	AA Alsaedi, Ahmed	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 312
83	59,469	SE Sherif, El Sayed M.	King Saud University	Energy	Rank 597
84	59,919	EM Ezzat, Magdy A.	Al Qassim University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 318
85	61,066	TS Thoroddsen, Sigurdur T.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 613
86	61,668	GJ Gascon, Jorge	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Organic Chemistry	Rank 1,177
87	61,729	OV Orlando, Valerio	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Developmental Biology	Rank 2,196
88	63,151	KM Khan, Muhammad Khurram	King Saud University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 562
89	63,487	AA Al-Ghamdi, A. A.	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Physics	Rank 1,600
90	63,595	AM Ali, Mohamed	King Saud University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 334
91	64,064	DJ Dvorkin, Jack	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 1,064
92	64,297	AY Arabi, Yaseen M.	King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 224
93	65,070	AH Alshareef, Husam N.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Applied Physics	Rank 1,631
94	65,258	AE Abu El-Asrar, Ahmed	King Saud University	Ophthalmology & Optometry	Rank 456
95	65,469	BB Banik, Bimal Krishna	Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University	Organic Chemistry	Rank 1,242
96	66,964	NJ Nabholtz, J. M.	King Saud University	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 2,940
97	67,238	SB Samet, Bessem	King Saud University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 159
98	67,718	AM Ardawi, Mohammad Saleh	Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 1,580
99	67,938	AM Abdou, M. A.	University of Bisha	Numerical & Computational Mathematics	Rank 104
100	69,008	AM Abuelma'Atti, Muhammad Taher	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Electrical & Electronic Engineering	Rank 176
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2020

Iran433 scientistsin 2020

Portugal385 scientistsin 2020

Czech Republic335 scientistsin 2020

Mexico291 scientistsin 2020

Hungary282 scientistsin 2020

Egypt219 scientistsin 2020

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Career-long list2020

Israel1,630 scientistsin 2020

Turkey614 scientistsin 2020

United Arab Emirates114 scientistsin 2020

Qatar75 scientistsin 2020

Cyprus56 scientistsin 2020

Lebanon48 scientistsin 2020

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from Saudi Arabia are in the 2020 Stanford Top 2% list?

557 scientists affiliated with Saudi Arabia are on the 2020 single-year list, and 321 are on the career-long list.

Which institute in Saudi Arabia has the most Top 2% scientists?

On the 2020 career-long list, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals has the most listed scientists from Saudi Arabia, with 63. It is followed by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology with 62.

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.