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

Spain has 2,813 scientists on the 2021 career-long Top 2% list, up 22.8% from 2,290 in 2020. That places Spain 13th in the world by number of listed scientists. Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists (166), followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (90).

Single Year

3,402

+635 (+22.9%) vs 2020

Career Data

2,813

+523 (+22.8%) vs 2020

World rank by count

#13

No change vs 2020

Institutes

424

+56 (+15.2%) vs 2020

Scientists in Spain on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 23% since 2020.

Career-long list, change on the previous year

2021+22.8%

2022+7.7%

2023+6.6%

2024+8.6%

2025+8.8%

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

Career-long list2021

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All 2,813 scientists

Career-long list2021

The first 100 are free to browse.

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Rank in Spain	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	28	CA Corma, Avelino	Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Physical Chemistry	Rank 1
2	127	EM Esteller, Manel	Universitat de Barcelona	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 8
3	259	FV Fuster, Valentin	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 12
4	636	PD Posada, David	Universidade de Vigo	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 10
5	726	LJ Llovet, Josep M.	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 9
6	800	HF Herrera, Francisco	Universidad de Granada	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 18
7	850	LL Liz-Marzán, Luis M.	Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 24
8	1,005	BJ Bisquert, Juan	Universidad Jaume I	Physical Chemistry	Rank 5
9	1,011	AM Armand, Michel	CIC energigune	Energy	Rank 10
10	1,215	BD Barcelò, Damià	CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA)	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 2
11	1,327	PJ Peñuelas, Josep	CREAF - Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals	Ecology	Rank 23
12	1,503	BM Barbacid, Mariano	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 66
13	1,641	BJ Bruix, Jordi	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 23
14	1,807	GD García de Abajo, F. Javier	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Optics	Rank 9
15	1,894	BM Blasco, María A.	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Developmental Biology	Rank 134
16	1,940	VM Vallet-Regí, María	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 8
17	3,126	Domingo, Jose L.	Universitat Rovira i Virgili	Toxicology	Rank 9
18	3,425	VA Verkhratsky, Alexei	Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 327
19	3,601	GF Guinea, F.	Donostia International Physics Center	Applied Physics	Rank 104
20	3,633	DJ Dalmau, Josep	Universitat de Barcelona	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 339
21	3,745	AA Agusti, Alvar	Universitat de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 35
22	3,946	NM Nieto, M. Angela	CSIC-UMH - Instituto de Neurociencias (IN)	Developmental Biology	Rank 236
23	4,076	BJ Bosch, Jaime	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 69
24	4,308	SM Serrano, M.	IRB Barcelona - Institute for Research in Biomedicine	Developmental Biology	Rank 254
25	4,558	AM Araújo, Miguel B.	CSIC - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)	Ecology	Rank 83
26	4,714	HC Herrera, Carlos M.	CSIC- Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD	Ecology	Rank 85
27	4,893	BF Baquero, Fernando	Hospital Ramon y Cajal	Microbiology	Rank 112
28	4,970	FJ Fierro, José Luis G.	CSIC - Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 26
29	4,994	AM Arellano, Manuel	Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros	Economics	Rank 40
30	5,396	SL Serrano, Luis	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 280
31	5,487	CR Cervera, Ricard	Hospital Clinic Barcelona	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 47
32	5,696	VE Vieta, Eduard	Universitat de Barcelona	Psychiatry	Rank 161
33	5,709	GE Garfield, Eugene	Universitat de Barcelona	Information & Library Sciences	Rank 4
34	5,749	SA Saltelli, Andrea	Universitat Oberta de Catalunya	Strategic, Defence & Security Studies	Rank 5
35	5,856	LM Lewenstein, Maciej	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	General Physics	Rank 46
36	5,979	RJ Rello, Jordi	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 23
37	6,018	EE Estrada, Ernesto	Universidad de Zaragoza	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 43
38	6,106	GS Grabowski, Sławomir J.	Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science	Chemical Physics	Rank 170
39	6,149	BF Bosch, Francesc X.	Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 286
40	6,188	EJ Elguero, José	CSIC - Instituto de Quimíca Médica (IQM)	Organic Chemistry	Rank 136
41	6,273	DA Djouadi, Abdelhak	Universidad de Granada	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 97
42	6,310	CA Cerda, Artemi	Universitat de València	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 22
43	6,411	RF Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco	Universitat d'Alacant	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 91
44	6,512	JJ Jiménez, Javier	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 47
45	6,546	OS Odintsov, S. D.	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 104
46	6,578	GJ Gisbert, Javier P.	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 104
47	6,588	PJ Pausas, Juli G.	CSIC-GV-UV - Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación	Ecology	Rank 113
48	6,637	RR Rodriguez-Roisín, Robert	Universitat de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 65
49	6,864	CE Coronado, Eugenio	Universitat de València	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 44
50	7,100	PJ Prat, Jaime	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Pathology	Rank 22
51	7,191	SJ Sunyer, Jordi	Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 71
52	7,255	BE Brillas, E.	Universitat de Barcelona	Energy	Rank 61
53	7,262	TB Tomás Barberán, Francisco A.	CEBAS- CSIC, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura	Food Science	Rank 17
54	7,329	JJ Jalife, José	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 367
55	7,375	TJ Tabernero, Josep	Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 336
56	7,625	FG Frühbeck, Gema	Universidad de Navarra	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 222
57	7,679	MM Malumbres, Marcos	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Developmental Biology	Rank 425
58	7,723	SM Slater, Mel	Universitat de Barcelona	Software Engineering	Rank 4
59	7,785	AJ Alonso, Jordi	Hospital del Mar	Psychiatry	Rank 224
60	7,805	NJ Nieto, Juan J.	Universidad de Santiago de Compostela	General Mathematics	Rank 14
61	7,939	JP Jordano, Pedro	CSIC- Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD	Ecology	Rank 142
62	7,941	VD van Dijk, Teun A.	Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 4
63	7,990	MJ Martinez, Jose Luis	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 193
64	8,004	FA Fuertes, Antonio B.	CSIC-Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono, (INCAR)	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 100
65	8,150	DJ DeFelipe, Javier	CSIC - Instituto Cajal (IC)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 711
66	8,151	TA Torres, Antoni	Universitat de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 86
67	8,229	BM Beato, Miguel	Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona	Developmental Biology	Rank 449
68	8,295	RL Ruilope, Luis M.	Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 412
69	8,378	TT Tadros, T.	CIBER Bioingenieria, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina	Chemical Physics	Rank 213
70	8,569	BJ Barluenga, José	Universidad de Oviedo	Organic Chemistry	Rank 182
71	9,042	FI Ferrer, Isidro	Universitat de Barcelona	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 786
72	9,043	FR Fernandez-Lafuente, Roberto	CSIC - Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP)	Biotechnology	Rank 20
73	9,158	TR Tauler, Romà	CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA)	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 43
74	9,178	DL de Lorenzo, Victor	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 216
75	9,288	AJ Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A.	Universidad de Granada	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 147
76	9,364	BE Bouza, Emilio	Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon	Microbiology	Rank 221
77	9,372	GR García Rodríguez, Luis Alberto	Centro Español de Investigacion Farmacoepidemiologica	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 58
78	9,534	MJ Malagelada, Juan R.	Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 158
79	9,659	TM Tena-Sempere, Manuel	Universidad de Córdoba	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 286
80	9,680	GJ Galí, Jordi	Barcelona Graduate School of Economics	Economics	Rank 77
81	9,687	ÁS Álvarez, Santiago	Universitat de Barcelona	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 61
82	9,698	RR Rosell, Rafael	Institute Catala Oncologia	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 447
83	9,721	RE Ros, Emilio	Universitat de Barcelona	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 75
84	9,738	MN Martín, Nazario	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Organic Chemistry	Rank 208
85	9,861	KM Khayet, Mohamed	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Chemical Engineering	Rank 34
86	9,957	BG Barja, Gustavo	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 520
87	9,970	SF Saura-Calixto, Fulgencio	CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologia de Alimentos y Nutricion (ICTAN)	Food Science	Rank 24
88	10,002	ER Estruch, Ramon	Universitat de Barcelona	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 77
89	10,084	HE Herrera-Viedma, Enrique	Universidad de Granada	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 169
90	10,390	VS Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.	Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 119
91	10,551	CJ Castresana, Jose	CSIC-UPF - Instituto de Biologia Evolutiva (IBE)	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 136
92	10,657	GV Grushin, Vladimir V.	Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)	Organic Chemistry	Rank 228
93	10,667	TG Thomas, George	Universitat de Barcelona	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 554
94	10,720	GM González-Gay, M. A.	Universidad de Cantabria	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 96
95	10,796	DE Domingo, Esteban	Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Virology	Rank 74
96	10,842	CE Campo, Elias	Universitat de Barcelona	Immunology	Rank 415
97	10,844	AV Arroyo, Vicente	European Foundation for the Study of Chronic Liver Failure (EF-CLIF)	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 184
98	10,935	SV Soriano, Vicente	International University of La Rioja	Virology	Rank 77
99	11,148	Khan, Khalid S.	Universidad de Granada	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 59
100	11,169	WR Winkelmann, Richard K.	Osakidetza, Cruces University Hospital	Dermatology & Venereal Diseases	Rank 46
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2021

Netherlands3,857 scientistsin 2021

Switzerland2,974 scientistsin 2021

Sweden2,889 scientistsin 2021

India2,042 scientistsin 2021

Israel1,870 scientistsin 2021

Denmark1,808 scientistsin 2021

Explore other countries

Career-long list2021

Italy4,956 scientistsin 2021

Greece829 scientistsin 2021

Portugal481 scientistsin 2021

Slovenia147 scientistsin 2021

Serbia69 scientistsin 2021

Croatia60 scientistsin 2021

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Frequently asked questions

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

3,402 scientists affiliated with Spain are on the 2021 single-year list, and 2,813 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2021 career-long list, Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists from Spain, with 166. It is followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid with 90.

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

On the career-long list, Spain went from 2,290 scientists in 2020 to 2,813 in 2021, a change of +22.8%.

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.