Saudi Arabia's Top 2% Scientists 2023

Saudi Arabia has 1,321 scientists on the 2023 single-year Top 2% list, up 29.4% from 1,021 in 2022. That places Saudi Arabia 23rd in the world by number of listed scientists, up 6 places. King Abdulaziz University has the most listed scientists (175), followed by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (163).

Single Year

1,321

+300 (+29.4%) vs 2022

Career Data

576

+110 (+23.6%) vs 2022

World rank by count

#23

up 6 places vs 2022

Institutes

+6 (+8.3%) vs 2022

Scientists in Saudi Arabia on the list, by year

The single-year count has more than doubled since 2020.

Single-year list, change on the previous year

2021+56.2%

2022+17.4%

2023+29.4%

2024+27.5%

2025+25.3%

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

Single-year list2023

Show the list

1King Abdulaziz University175
2King Abdullah University of Science and Technology163
3King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals130
4College of Sciences95
5King Saud University89
6King Khalid University49
7College of Pharmacy48
8Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University47
9Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University47
10Taif University43

All 1,321 scientists

Single-year list2023

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	35	SJ Schmidhuber, Jürgen	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 6
2	102	DA Demirbas, Ayhan	King Abdulaziz University	Energy	Rank 3
3	105	ST Saleh, Tawfik A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Chemical Engineering	Rank 1
4	163	DC Duarte, Carlos M.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 1
5	371	BA Biswas, Anjan	King Abdulaziz University	Optics	Rank 1
6	655	GV Gupta, Vinod Kumar	King Abdulaziz University	Chemical Physics	Rank 12
7	776	AH Ali, Hafiz Muhammad	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 21
8	872	AZ ALOthman, Zeid A.	College of Sciences	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 4
9	1,000	NM Naushad, Mu	College of Sciences	Chemical Engineering	Rank 8
10	1,105	AT Abdeljawad, Thabet	Prince Sultan University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 6
11	1,214	KH Koenig, Harold G.	King Abdulaziz University	Psychiatry	Rank 27
12	1,493	SA Sari, Ahmet	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 40
13	1,610	HB Henrissat, Bernard	King Abdulaziz University	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 33
14	1,901	HM Hossain, M. Shamim	King Saud University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 11
15	2,548	GJ Gascon, Jorge	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Organic Chemistry	Rank 35
16	2,697	SA Seadawy, Aly R.	Taibah University	General Physics	Rank 19
17	2,793	YZ Yaseen, Zaher Mundher	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Environmental Engineering	Rank 9
18	2,903	AM Alouini, Mohamed Slim	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 27
19	2,929	SP Schmid, Peter	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 20
20	2,982	WY Wada, Yoshihide	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 41
21	3,000	Asiri, Abdullah M.	King Abdulaziz University	Organic Chemistry	Rank 44
22	3,169	Omri, Anis	Al Qassim University	Energy	Rank 68
23	3,496	AM Abido, Mohammad A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 75
24	3,632	KN Kumar, Neeraj	King Abdulaziz University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 33
25	3,731	BM Barakat, M. A.	King Abdulaziz University	Chemical Engineering	Rank 16
26	4,032	MG Muhammad, Ghulam	King Saud University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 38
27	4,299	TI Tlili, Iskander	Majmaah University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 43
28	4,411	Saba, Tanzila	Prince Sultan University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 176
29	4,903	MP Magistretti, Pierre	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 296
30	5,631	KI Khan, Ilyas	Majmaah University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 54
31	5,680	SM Sajid, Muhammad	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 21
32	5,867	US Umoren, Saviour A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Polymers	Rank 32
33	6,351	Ahmad, Bashir	King Abdulaziz University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 25
34	6,390	AA Alsaedi, Ahmed	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 61
35	6,393	SZ Sen, Zekâi	King Abdulaziz University	Environmental Engineering	Rank 29
36	6,558	Nisar, Kottakkaran Sooppy	Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University	Applied Mathematics	Rank 26
37	6,726	OI Obot, I. B.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Chemical Physics	Rank 110
38	6,732	EM Eddaoudi, Mohamed	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	General Chemistry	Rank 32
39	6,881	AF Al-Sulaiman, Fahad A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 142
40	7,131	CT Chan, Tony F.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 276
41	7,206	TA Tounsi, Abdelouahed	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Civil Engineering	Rank 26
42	7,238	FA Fathy, Ahmed	Jouf University	Energy	Rank 153
43	7,582	AN Abu-Hamdeh, Nidal H.	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 72
44	7,585	QM Quraishi, M. A.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 160
45	8,055	EA Emwas, Abdul Hamid	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Organic Chemistry	Rank 102
46	8,481	AJ Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.	Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare	Microbiology	Rank 175
47	8,503	MO Mohammed, Omar F.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 256
48	8,944	Ramadan, Mohamed Fawzy	Umm Al-Qura University	Food Science	Rank 63
49	8,986	RT Rasheed, T.	Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University	Environmental Sciences	Rank 133
50	9,441	RM Rueping, Magnus	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Organic Chemistry	Rank 130
51	9,465	AM Ahamed, Maqusood	King Saud University	Toxicology	Rank 39
52	9,619	EM Ezzat, Magdy A.	Al Qassim University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 89
53	9,624	KM Khan, Muhammad Khurram	King Saud University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 83
54	9,823	SJ Santamarina, J. Carlos	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Geological & Geomatics Engineering	Rank 90
55	10,051	AY Arabi, Yaseen	King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 33
56	10,105	AH Alshareef, Husam N.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 309
57	10,225	RM Rahman, Mohammed M.	King Abdulaziz University	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 45
58	10,228	RS Rehman, S.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 221
59	10,267	TM Tester, Mark	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 140
60	10,458	AG Amy, Gary	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Environmental Engineering	Rank 54
61	10,592	HH Hirt, Heribert	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 145
62	11,080	AE Aifantis, Elias C.	King Abdulaziz University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 102
63	11,219	AT Alkhalifah, Tariq A.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 149
64	11,770	AM Almazroui, Mansour	King Abdulaziz University	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 217
65	11,782	ZM Zafar, Muhammad S.	Taibah University	Dentistry	Rank 38
66	12,228	AM Aslam, Muhammad	King Abdulaziz University	Statistics & Probability	Rank 87
67	12,234	AN Al-Dhabi, Naif Abdullah	College of Sciences	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 156
68	12,312	IA Irfan, Ahmad	King Khalid University	Chemical Physics	Rank 207
69	12,503	HY Han, Yu	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 369
70	13,066	Kamal, Muhammad Shahzad	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Energy	Rank 282
71	13,192	MS Meo, Sultan Ayoub	College of Medicine	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 218
72	13,589	Hamdaoui, Oualid	King Saud University	Chemical Engineering	Rank 74
73	13,934	BO Bakr, Osman M.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 415
74	14,034	ZH Zhang, Huabin	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 418
75	14,071	PJ Poland, Jesse	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 188
76	14,107	EA Eltamaly, Ali M.	King Saud University	Energy	Rank 310
77	14,372	Rue, Håvard	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Statistics & Probability	Rank 102
78	14,725	SB Samet, Bessem	College of Sciences	General Mathematics	Rank 44
79	14,934	VC Verma, Chandrabhan	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Chemical Physics	Rank 245
80	15,005	KS Khan, Sher Bahadar	King Abdulaziz University	Polymers	Rank 111
81	15,298	CC Chen, Cheng Wu	King Abdulaziz University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 566
82	15,481	SV Saji, Viswanathan S.	King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals	Materials	Rank 262
83	15,613	HM Hassan, Mohammad Mehedi	King Saud University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 143
84	15,854	BA Baykal, A.	Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University	Materials	Rank 272
85	16,171	GN Ghaffour, Noreddine	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 89
86	16,621	LZ Lai, Zhiping	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 95
87	16,967	AM Almessiere, M. A.	Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University	Materials	Rank 298
88	17,567	NS Nunes, Suzana P.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 104
89	17,674	CA Crozier, Alan	King Saud University	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 243
90	17,945	NM Nurunnabi, Mohammad	Prince Sultan University	Energy	Rank 395
91	18,126	RH Rezk, Hegazy	Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University	Energy	Rank 397
92	18,208	FA Fakhri, Ali	King Abdulaziz University	Chemical Physics	Rank 288
93	18,746	AT Anthopoulos, Thomas D.	King Abdullah University of Science and Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 570
94	18,785	AA Azar, Ahmad Taher	Prince Sultan University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 662
95	19,259	RA Rehman, Amjad	Prince Sultan University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 682
96	20,011	MR Mohamed, Reda M.	King Abdulaziz University	Materials	Rank 353
97	20,235	SM Shkir, Mohd	King Khalid University	Applied Physics	Rank 411
98	20,377	AE Abd-Allah, Elsayed Fathi	King Saud University	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 286
99	20,408	AA Alzahrani, Ali S.	King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 371
100	20,440	AE Ali, Ehab S.	Jazan University	Energy	Rank 450
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Ranks 101 to 1,321The whole list, not only the top 100.

Every year since 2020Single Year and Career Data.

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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2023

Hong Kong1,452 scientistsin 2023

Taiwan1,420 scientistsin 2023

Turkey1,395 scientistsin 2023

Austria1,300 scientistsin 2023

Brazil1,294 scientistsin 2023

Singapore1,222 scientistsin 2023

Explore other countries

Single-year list2023

Israel1,617 scientistsin 2023

United Arab Emirates408 scientistsin 2023

Qatar211 scientistsin 2023

Iraq150 scientistsin 2023

Jordan142 scientistsin 2023

Cyprus96 scientistsin 2023

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from Saudi Arabia are in the 2023 Stanford Top 2% list?

1,321 scientists affiliated with Saudi Arabia are on the 2023 single-year list, and 576 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2023 single-year list, King Abdulaziz University has the most listed scientists from Saudi Arabia, with 175. It is followed by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology with 163.

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

On the single-year list, Saudi Arabia went from 557 scientists in 2020 to 1,321 in 2023, a change of +137.2%.

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.