Spain's Top 2% Scientists 2020

Spain has 2,767 scientists on the 2020 single-year Top 2% list. That places Spain 11th in the world by number of listed scientists. Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists (165), followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (87).

Single Year

2,767

First year listed

Career Data

2,290

First year listed

World rank by count

#11

First year listed

Institutes

381

First year listed

Scientists in Spain on the list, by year

Single-year list, change on the previous year

2021+22.9%

2022+9.1%

2023+0.6%

2024+7.3%

2025+6.5%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	2,767		2,290
2021	3,402	+22.9%	2,813	+22.8%
2022	3,712	+9.1%	3,030	+7.7%
2023	3,736	+0.6%	3,230	+6.6%
2024	4,008	+7.3%	3,508	+8.6%
2025	4,267	+6.5%	3,816	+8.8%

Top 10 institutes in Spain

By number of listed scientists

Single-year list2020

Show the list

All 2,767 scientists

Single-year list2020

The first 100 are free to browse.

Export CSV

Rank in Spain	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	47	CA Corma, Avelino	CSIC-UPV - Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 1
2	158	EM Esteller, Manel	Universitat de Barcelona	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 7
3	237	AM Armand, Michel	CIC energigune	Energy	Rank 7
4	255	HF Herrera, Francisco	Universidad de Granada	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 20
5	365	Penuelas, Josep	CREAF - Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals	Ecology	Rank 9
6	456	LJ Llovet, Josep M.	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 4
7	493	PD Posada, David	CINBIO	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 7
8	567	BJ Bisquert, Juan	Universidad Jaume I	Physical Chemistry	Rank 5
9	745	LL Liz-Marzán, Luis M.	Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 31
10	967	GD García de Abajo, F. Javier	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Optics	Rank 7
11	1,046	AM Arellano, Manuel	Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros	Econometrics	Rank 6
12	1,413	SM Slater, Mel	Universitat de Barcelona	Software Engineering	Rank 1
13	1,659	FV Fuster, Valentin	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 41
14	1,671	JJ Jiménez, Javier	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 21
15	1,730	AM Araújo, Miguel B.	CSIC - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)	Ecology	Rank 55
16	1,744	VM Vallet-Regí, María	CIBER Bioingenieria, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 11
17	1,764	CL Cabeza, Luisa F.	Universitat de Lleida	Energy	Rank 35
18	1,903	CA Castellanos-Gomez, Andres	CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM)	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 71
19	2,035	HE Herrera-Viedma, Enrique	Universidad de Granada	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 89
20	2,067	Longhi, Stefano	CSIC-UIB - Instituto de Fisica Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos (IFISC)	Optics	Rank 17
21	2,199	NM Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark	Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona	Toxicology	Rank 9
22	2,213	BE Brillas, Enric	Universitat de Barcelona	Energy	Rank 46
23	2,231	NM Nieto, M. Angela	CSIC-UMH - Instituto de Neurociencias (IN)	Developmental Biology	Rank 93
24	2,299	VD van Dijk, Teun A.	Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 2
25	2,320	TJ Tabernero, Josep	Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 78
26	2,383	MJ Martinez, Jose Luis	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 36
27	2,434	VS Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.	Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 32
28	2,446	BD Barceló, Damià	CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA)	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 11
29	2,504	DJ Domingo, José L.	Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili	Environmental Sciences	Rank 21
30	2,705	PJ Pausas, Juli G.	CSIC-GV-UV - Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificacion (CIDE)	Ecology	Rank 92
31	2,751	GF Guinea, F.	IMDEA Nanociencia	Applied Physics	Rank 73
32	2,844	ER Estruch, Ramón	Universitat de Barcelona	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 16
33	2,894	CA Cerda, Artemi	University of Valencia	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 17
34	3,038	AÀ Agustí, Àlvar	Universitat de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 10
35	3,047	MM Malumbres, Marcos	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Developmental Biology	Rank 123
36	3,108	GE Garfield, Eugene	Universitat de Barcelona	Information & Library Sciences	Rank 8
37	3,352	PM Prato, Maurizio	CIC biomaGUNE	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 108
38	3,543	KM Khayet, M.	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Chemical Engineering	Rank 23
39	3,550	JP Jordano, Pedro	CSIC- Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD	Ecology	Rank 117
40	3,595	GS Grabowski, Slawomir J.	Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science	Chemical Physics	Rank 87
41	3,665	RE Ros, Emilio	Instituto de Salud Carlos III	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 19
42	3,797	BA Baselga, Andres	Universidad de Santiago de Compostela	Ecology	Rank 123
43	4,008	ZJ Zamorano, Jose Luis	Universidad de Alcala	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 112
44	4,014	GJ Gali´, Jordi	Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional	Economics	Rank 76
45	4,173	MM Martínez-González, Miguel A.	Instituto de Salud Carlos III	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 26
46	4,458	BJ Bruix, Jordi	Hospital Clinic Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 49
47	4,478	FR Fernandez-Lafuente, Roberto	Universidad Autónoma de Madrid	Biotechnology	Rank 15
48	4,557	RF Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco	Universitat d'Alacant	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 136
49	4,663	FJ Flexas, Jaume	Universitat de les Illes Balears	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 45
50	4,846	VE Vieta, Eduard	Universitat de Barcelona	Psychiatry	Rank 124
51	4,903	FA Fuertes, Antonio B.	CSIC-Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono, (INCAR)	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 145
52	4,956	RJ Reboredo, Juan C.	Universidad de Santiago de Compostela	Economics	Rank 93
53	4,962	BM Blasco, Maria A.	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Developmental Biology	Rank 198
54	5,047	OS Odintsov, S. D.	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 35
55	5,145	AS Alvarez, Santiago	Universitat de Barcelona	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 18
56	5,158	KG Konstantatos, Gerasimos	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 158
57	5,193	LR Luque, Rafael	Universidad de Cordoba	Organic Chemistry	Rank 90
58	5,292	SF Saura-Calixto, Fulgencio	CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologia de Alimentos y Nutricion (ICTAN)	Food Science	Rank 22
59	5,459	QX Querol, Xavier	CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA)	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 93
60	5,519	PJ Prat, Jaime	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Pathology	Rank 4
61	5,594	SJ Sunyer, Jordi	Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 25
62	5,613	HM Huarte, Maite	Centro de Investigacion Medica Aplicada	Developmental Biology	Rank 212
63	5,753	CG Catalan, Gustau	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Applied Physics	Rank 126
64	5,820	BJ Bosch, Jaime	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 68
65	5,852	VD van den Bergh, Jeroen	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Agricultural Economics & Policy	Rank 6
66	5,935	PM Palacín, M. Rosa	Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) Campus UAB	Energy	Rank 117
67	5,982	AR Aguilera, Ruth V.	ESADE	Business & Management	Rank 154
68	6,067	CJ Castresana, Jose	CSIC-UPF - Instituto de Biologia Evolutiva (IBE)	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 69
69	6,078	SM Serrano, Manuel	IRB Barcelona - Institute for Research in Biomedicine	Developmental Biology	Rank 242
70	6,104	MS Munné-Bosch, Sergi	Universitat de Barcelona	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 68
71	6,168	AJ Alonso, Jordi	Hospital del Mar	Psychiatry	Rank 149
72	6,249	TR Tauler, Romà	CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA)	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 22
73	6,299	FJ Fierro, J. L.G.	CSIC - Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 37
74	6,329	TT Tadros, Tharwat F.	CIBER Bioingenieria, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina	Chemical Physics	Rank 127
75	6,352	CR Cervera, Ricard	Hospital Clinic Barcelona	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 40
76	6,393	PA Plaza, Antonio	Universidad de Extremadura	Geological & Geomatics Engineering	Rank 52
77	6,562	EE Estrada, Ernesto	Universidad de Zaragoza	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 54
78	6,753	LC López-Otín, Carlos	Universidad de Oviedo	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 128
79	6,757	CA Cruz-Jentoft, Alfonso J.	Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 94
80	6,892	FG Frühbeck, Gema	Universidad de Navarra	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 139
81	7,004	TF Toldrá, Fidel	CSIC - Instituto de Agroquimica y Tecnologia de los Alimentos (IATA)	Food Science	Rank 27
82	7,102	GJ Gisbert, Javier P.	Hospital Universitario de la Princesa	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 81
83	7,480	BS Beguería, Santiago	CSIC - Estacion Experimental de Aula Dei EEAD	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 140
84	7,605	MJ Martínez-Alier, Joan	UAB Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals	Agricultural Economics & Policy	Rank 9
85	7,620	RJ Rozas, Julio	Universitat de Barcelona	Developmental Biology	Rank 292
86	7,825	LF Liñán, Francisco	University of Seville	Business & Management	Rank 201
87	7,866	MF Maestre, Fernando T.	Universitat d'Alacant	Ecology	Rank 224
88	7,937	MD Mecerreyes, David	Institute for Polymer Materials, San Sebastian	Polymers	Rank 60
89	7,950	AC Andrade, Carmen	Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics en Enginyeria(CIMNE)	Building & Construction	Rank 35
90	8,150	PY Picó, Yolanda	University of Valencia	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 33
91	8,165	VJ Vázquez, Juan Luis	Universidad Autónoma de Madrid	General Mathematics	Rank 24
92	8,272	RR Rosell, Rafael	Institute Catala Oncologia	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 307
93	8,308	GH García, Hermenegildo	Universitat Politècnica de València	Organic Chemistry	Rank 137
94	8,408	ZC Zott, Christoph	IESE Business School	Business & Management	Rank 214
95	8,443	BA Borja, Angel	AZTI Fundazioa	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 37
96	8,524	SU Simonsohn, Uri	ESADE	Experimental Psychology	Rank 153
97	8,905	SM Sevilla, Marta	CSIC-Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono, (INCAR)	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 256
98	9,022	CG Camps-Valls, Gustau	University of Valencia	Geological & Geomatics Engineering	Rank 73
99	9,051	SJ Soriano, Joan B.	Hospital Universitario de la Princesa	Respiratory System	Rank 46
100	9,098	MA Merkoçi, Arben	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 38
No scientists match this filter.

Showing 1 to 100 of the first 100 Show

Paid plans

See all 2,767 scientists in Spain

You are seeing the first 100. 2,667 more are on the 2020 single-year list.

Ranks 101 to 2,767The 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

Single-year list2020

France4,502 scientistsin 2020

Japan4,484 scientistsin 2020

Netherlands3,480 scientistsin 2020

Switzerland2,622 scientistsin 2020

India2,313 scientistsin 2020

South Korea2,139 scientistsin 2020

Explore other countries

Single-year list2020

Italy4,746 scientistsin 2020

Greece666 scientistsin 2020

Portugal552 scientistsin 2020

Slovenia124 scientistsin 2020

Serbia63 scientistsin 2020

Croatia47 scientistsin 2020

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

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

2,767 scientists affiliated with Spain are on the 2020 single-year list, and 2,290 are on the career-long list.

Which institute in Spain has the most Top 2% scientists?

On the 2020 single-year list, Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists from Spain, with 165. It is followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid with 87.

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.