Saudi Arabia's Top 2% Scientists 2021: Career-Long List

Saudi Arabia has 443 scientists on the 2021 career-long Top 2% list, up 38.0% from 321 in 2020. That places Saudi Arabia 35th in the world by number of listed scientists, up 1 place. King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals has the most listed scientists (81), followed by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (79).

Single Year

870

+313 (+56.2%) vs 2020

Career Data

443

+122 (+38.0%) vs 2020

World rank by count

#35

up 1 place vs 2020

Institutes

+9 (+20.0%) vs 2020

Scientists in Saudi Arabia on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 38% since 2020.

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 list2021

Show the list

All 443 scientists

Career-long list2021

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	140	DA Demirbas, Ayhan	King Abdulaziz University	Energy	Rank 1
2	337	GV Gupta, Vinod Kumar	King Abdulaziz University	Chemical Physics	Rank 15
3	458	TJ Tuomilehto, Jaakko	King Abdulaziz University	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 21
4	598	DC Duarte, Carlos M.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 1
5	712	HB Henrissat, Bernard	King Abdulaziz University	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 44
6	1,462	KA Katritzky, Alan R.	King Abdulaziz University	Organic Chemistry	Rank 43
7	1,465	KH Koenig, Harold G.	King Abdulaziz University	Psychiatry	Rank 49
8	4,039	CT Chan, Tony F.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 84
9	4,347	BD Bradley, Donal D.C.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Applied Physics	Rank 123
10	4,405	MP Magistretti, P.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 404
11	4,430	AM Alouini, Mohamed Slim	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 29
12	4,769	HT Hayat, Tasawar	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 26
13	4,956	TM Tuzen, Mustafa	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 23
14	5,327	ST Saleh, Tawfik A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Chemical Engineering	Rank 16
15	5,975	BA Biswas, Anjan	King Abdulaziz University	Optics	Rank 28
16	6,344	AM Abido, Mohammad A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 55
17	7,280	MZ Memish, Ziad	Alfaisal University	Microbiology	Rank 181
18	7,908	HN Hadjichristidis, Nikos	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Polymers	Rank 63
19	8,548	AE Aifantis, Elias C.	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 52
20	10,601	Asiri, Abdullah M.	King Abdulaziz University	Organic Chemistry	Rank 227
21	11,245	TM Tester, Mark	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 103
22	12,915	MI McCulloch, Iain	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 139
23	13,840	ZA Zenkour, Ashraf M.	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 83
24	13,963	EM Eddaoudi, Mohamed	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	General Chemistry	Rank 89
25	14,911	RM Rueping, Magnus	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Organic Chemistry	Rank 317
26	15,168	HH Hirt, Heribert	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 145
27	15,609	SG Stegeman, George I.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Optoelectronics & Photonics	Rank 38
28	16,208	MM Mahmoud, Magdi S.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 114
29	16,550	CL Cavallo, Luigi	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Organic Chemistry	Rank 349
30	16,611	AZ ALOthman, Zeid A.	King Saud University	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 92
31	17,108	HP Hall, Peter A.	King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre	Pathology	Rank 60
32	17,768	MR Mittra, Raj	King Abdulaziz University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 140
33	18,040	YB Yilbas, Bekir Sami	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 107
34	18,588	QM Quraishi, M. A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 166
35	19,138	MW Mahmoud, Waleed E.	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Physics	Rank 462
36	20,642	Ahmad, Bashir	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 44
37	21,446	SA Subasi, Abdulhamit	Effat University, Saudi Arabia	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 362
38	21,854	CA Crozier, Alan	King Saud University	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 242
39	22,939	AM Al-Qattan, Mohammad M.	King Saud University	Orthopedics	Rank 149
40	23,041	NM Naushad, Mu	King Saud University College of Science	Chemical Engineering	Rank 87
41	23,427	BM Barakat, M. A.	King Abdulaziz University	Environmental Sciences	Rank 107
42	23,685	UA Umar, Ahmad	Najran University	Applied Physics	Rank 582
43	26,109	MJ Merigó, José M.	University of Technology Sydney	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 431
44	26,723	HH Hattori, Hideshi	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Physical Chemistry	Rank 100
45	27,019	AT Abdeljawad, Thabet	Prince Sultan University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 57
46	28,526	RS Rahman, S.	Najran University	Energy	Rank 275
47	30,533	AJ Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.	Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare	Microbiology	Rank 757
48	31,254	AT Anthopoulos, Thomas D.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 296
49	31,431	Rashad, Alaa M.	Shaqra University	Building & Construction	Rank 38
50	32,895	CS Chen, Sheng	King Abdulaziz University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 262
51	33,207	US Umoren, Saviour A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Polymers	Rank 303
52	33,298	IH Idriss, Hicham	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Physical Chemistry	Rank 121
53	33,442	GT Gojobori, Takashi	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Developmental Biology	Rank 1,314
54	34,128	OI Obot, Ime Bassey	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 339
55	34,216	TK Tabbara, Khalid	King Saud University	Ophthalmology & Optometry	Rank 192
56	34,977	Hamdaoui, Oualid	King Saud University	Chemical Engineering	Rank 121
57	35,090	AT Alkhalifah, Tariq	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 586
58	35,865	RH Rue, H.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Statistics & Probability	Rank 152
59	36,185	BA Beynen, A. C.	King Saud University	Dairy & Animal Science	Rank 59
60	36,959	SJ Santamarina, J. Carlos	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Geological & Geomatics Engineering	Rank 142
61	38,154	PH Pottmann, Helmut	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Software Engineering	Rank 70
62	38,579	SA Sahin, Ahmet Z.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 393
63	38,710	RS Rehman, Shafiqur	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 396
64	38,990	NS Nunes, Suzana P.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 138
65	39,026	SG Schuster, Gerard T.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 657
66	39,210	TW Thurston, William P.	King Abdulaziz University	General Mathematics	Rank 136
67	39,574	AA Alsaedi, Ahmad	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 223
68	39,793	PT Patzek, Tadeusz	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Energy	Rank 406
69	39,927	GM Genton, Marc G.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Statistics & Probability	Rank 162
70	41,249	KK Koumoto, Kunihito	King Abdulaziz University	Materials	Rank 518
71	42,179	AF Al-Sulaiman, Fahad A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 442
72	42,490	AA Asea, Alexzander A.A.	Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal university	Immunology	Rank 1,348
73	42,546	EM Ezzat, M. A.	Al Qassim University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 238
74	44,739	CR Carle, Reinhold	King Abdulaziz University	Food Science	Rank 159
75	44,761	AF Alkuraya, Fowzan S.	King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre	Genetics & Heredity	Rank 271
76	45,698	GJ Gascon, Jorge	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Organic Chemistry	Rank 877
77	46,009	AM Ahamed, Maqusood	King Saud University	Toxicology	Rank 198
78	46,282	PI Pinnau, Ingo	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 164
79	48,380	GL Gissmann, Lutz	King Saud University	Virology	Rank 386
80	48,938	SB Samet, Bessem	King Saud University	General Mathematics	Rank 170
81	49,652	KM Khan, Muhammad Khurram	King Saud University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 415
82	50,183	FW Fischle, Wolfgang	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Developmental Biology	Rank 1,813
83	50,542	AM Amin, Mohammed A.	Taif University	Energy	Rank 537
84	51,158	SE Sherif, E. S.M.	King Saud University	Energy	Rank 543
85	51,834	ZQ Zhou, Qin	King Abdulaziz University	Optics	Rank 182
86	53,378	TS Thoroddsen, Sigurdur T.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 488
87	53,780	CS Chung, Suk Ho	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Energy	Rank 575
88	54,179	HM Hossain, M. Shamim	King Saud University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 458
89	54,865	AH Alshareef, Husam N.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 483
90	54,997	SN Shahzad, Naseer	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 115
91	55,151	AM Ali, Mohamed	King Saud University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 326
92	56,395	AY Arabi, Yaseen M.	King Abdulaziz Medical City - Riyadh	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 183
93	56,427	AO Arqub, Omar Abu	King Abdulaziz University	Numerical & Computational Mathematics	Rank 87
94	56,857	AA Al-Ghamdi, Ahmed A.	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Physics	Rank 1,473
95	58,594	AA Ahmed, Asif	King Abdulaziz University	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 2,125
96	60,938	AH Ali, Hafiz Muhammad	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 662
97	61,013	AN Abu-Hamdeh, Nidal H.	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 361
98	61,403	DJ Dvorkin, Jack	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 1,056
99	61,489	AE Abu El-Asrar, Ahmed M.	King Saud University Medical College	Ophthalmology & Optometry	Rank 416
100	62,529	SA Seadawy, Aly	Taibah University	General Physics	Rank 462
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You are seeing the first 100. 343 more are on the 2021 career-long list.

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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2021

Ireland661 scientistsin 2021

Iran654 scientistsin 2021

Portugal481 scientistsin 2021

Czech Republic428 scientistsin 2021

Mexico342 scientistsin 2021

Hungary331 scientistsin 2021

Explore other countries

Career-long list2021

Israel1,870 scientistsin 2021

Turkey828 scientistsin 2021

United Arab Emirates177 scientistsin 2021

Qatar100 scientistsin 2021

Cyprus64 scientistsin 2021

Kuwait61 scientistsin 2021

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from Saudi Arabia are in the 2021 Stanford Top 2% list?

870 scientists affiliated with Saudi Arabia are on the 2021 single-year list, and 443 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2021 career-long list, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals has the most listed scientists from Saudi Arabia, with 81. It is followed by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology with 79.

How has the number of Top 2% scientists in Saudi Arabia changed since 2020?

On the career-long list, Saudi Arabia went from 321 scientists in 2020 to 443 in 2021, a change of +38.0%.

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.