Spain's Top 2% Scientists 2023: Career-Long List

Spain has 3,230 scientists on the 2023 career-long Top 2% list, up 6.6% from 3,030 in 2022. That places Spain 12th in the world by number of listed scientists, up 1 place. Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists (165), followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (86).

Single Year

3,736

+24 (+0.6%) vs 2022

Career Data

3,230

+200 (+6.6%) vs 2022

World rank by count

#12

up 1 place vs 2022

Institutes

482

+28 (+6.2%) vs 2022

Scientists in Spain on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 41% 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 list2023

Show the list

All 3,230 scientists

Career-long list2023

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	30	CA Corma, Avelino	CSIC-UPV - Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 1
2	123	EM Esteller, Manel	Institut de Recerca contra la Leucèmia Josep Carreras (IJC)	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 7
3	671	LJ Llovet, Josep M.	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 9
4	676	HF Herrera, Francisco	Instituto Andaluz Interuniversitario en Data Science and Computational Intelligence	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 20
5	688	PD Posada, David	Universidade de Vigo	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 11
6	841	AM Armand, Michel	Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA)	Energy	Rank 10
7	853	LL Liz-Marzán, Luis M.	CIC biomaGUNE	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 27
8	1,001	PJ Peñuelas, Josep	Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF-CERCA)	Ecology	Rank 23
9	1,035	BD Barcelo, Damia	CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA)	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 2
10	1,093	BJ Bisquert, Juan	Universidad Jaume I	Physical Chemistry	Rank 5
11	1,617	BJ Bruix, Jordi	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 23
12	1,686	GD García de Abajo, F. Javier	Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 45
13	1,754	BM Barbacid, Mariano	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 76
14	1,801	VM Vallet-Regí, María	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 7
15	1,950	BM Blasco, María A.	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Developmental Biology	Rank 121
16	2,307	PM Prato, Maurizio	Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 55
17	2,765	DJ Domingo, José L.	Universitat Rovira i Virgili	Toxicology	Rank 9
18	3,067	DJ Dalmau, Josep O.	Universitat de Barcelona	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 291
19	3,103	VA Verkhratsky, Alexei	Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 297
20	3,171	AA Agustí, Alvar	Universitat de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 20
21	3,602	GF Guinea, Francisco	Donostia International Physics Center	Applied Physics	Rank 111
22	3,636	FJ Fierro, J. L.G.	CSIC - Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 16
23	3,755	NM Nieto, M. Angela	CSIC-UMH - Instituto de Neurociencias (IN)	Developmental Biology	Rank 204
24	4,229	SM Serrano, Manuel	IRB Barcelona - Institute for Research in Biomedicine	Developmental Biology	Rank 223
25	4,431	SM Slater, Mel	Universitat de Barcelona	Software Engineering	Rank 2
26	4,693	AM Araújo, Miguel B.	CSIC - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)	Ecology	Rank 85
27	4,798	BE Brillas, Enric	Universitat de Barcelona	Energy	Rank 52
28	4,841	AM Arellano, Manuel	Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros	Economics	Rank 43
29	4,891	HC Herrera, Carlos M.	CSIC- Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD	Ecology	Rank 88
30	4,971	RJ Rello, Jordi	Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 21
31	5,031	BF Baquero, Fernando	Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal	Microbiology	Rank 120
32	5,074	CR Cervera, Ricard	Hospital Clinic Barcelona	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 45
33	5,290	VE Vieta, Eduard	Universitat de Barcelona	Psychiatry	Rank 150
34	5,353	CA Cerdà, Artemio	Universitat de València	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 18
35	5,575	PJ Pausas, Juli G.	Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Ecology	Rank 100
36	5,736	CE Coronado, Eugenio	Universitat de València	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 31
37	5,794	GE Garfield, Eugene	Universitat de Barcelona	Information & Library Sciences	Rank 4
38	5,840	OS Odintsov, Sergei D.	CSIC - Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (ICE)	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 78
39	5,926	VD van Dijk, Teun A.	Centre of Discourse Studies	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 4
40	5,976	GS Grabowski, Sławomir J.	Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science	Chemical Physics	Rank 160
41	5,978	EE Estrada, Ernesto	CSIC-UIB - Instituto de Fisica Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos (IFISC)	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 41
42	5,982	LM Lewenstein, Maciej	Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats	General Physics	Rank 43
43	6,065	SL Serrano, Luis	Centro de Regulacion Genomica, Barcelona	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 306
44	6,097	TJ Tabernero, Josep	Vall d‘Hebron Institut de Oncologia	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 275
45	6,389	RF Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco	Universitat d'Alacant	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 99
46	6,509	NM Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark	Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona	Toxicology	Rank 22
47	6,561	EJ Elguero, Jose	CSIC - Instituto de Química Médica (IQM)	Organic Chemistry	Rank 150
48	6,715	BF Bosch, Francesc X.	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 307
49	6,727	SJ Sunyer, Jordi	Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 58
50	6,741	JJ Jiménez, Javier	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 47
51	6,742	PJ Prat, Jaime	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Pathology	Rank 22
52	6,754	DA Djouadi, Abdelhak	Universidad de Granada	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 93
53	6,760	MM Malumbres, Marcos	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Developmental Biology	Rank 344
54	6,783	MJ Martínez, José Luis	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 170
55	6,810	FG Frühbeck, Gema	Universidad de Navarra	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 205
56	6,891	PJ Perez-Gisbert, Javier	Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Hospital Universitario de La Princesa	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 119
57	6,957	RR Rodriguez-Roisin, Roberto	Universitat de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 65
58	6,978	TF Tomás-Barberán, Francisco A.	CEBAS- CSIC, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura	Food Science	Rank 20
59	7,063	AJ Alonso, Jordi	Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona	Psychiatry	Rank 199
60	7,428	RE Ros, Emilio	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 60
61	7,617	JP Jordano, Pedro	CSIC- Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD	Ecology	Rank 142
62	7,635	AV Arroyo, Vicente	European Foundation for the Study of Chronic Liver Failure (EF-CLIF)	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 131
63	7,671	NJ Nieto, Juan J.	Universidad de Santiago de Compostela	General Mathematics	Rank 16
64	7,757	JJ Jalife, José	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 382
65	7,890	ÁJ Ávila, Jesús	CSIC-UAM - Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 674
66	8,147	TA Torres, Antoni	Universitat de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 82
67	8,309	VS Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.	Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 95
68	8,339	RL Ruilope, Luis M.	Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 408
69	8,355	DJ Defelipe, Javier	CSIC - Instituto Cajal (IC)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 723
70	8,360	RR Rosell, Rafael	Hospital Universitari Dexeus	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 379
71	8,389	KK Kostarelos, Kostas	Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 116
72	8,435	FR Fernandez-Lafuente, Roberto	Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Biotechnology	Rank 19
73	8,441	FA Fuertes, Antonio B.	CSIC-Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono, (INCAR)	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 117
74	8,517	CL Cabeza, Luisa F.	Universitat de Lleida	Energy	Rank 82
75	8,528	ER Estruch, Ramón	Universitat de Barcelona	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 67
76	8,669	AJ Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A.	Universidad de Granada	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 120
77	8,844	MM Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 70
78	8,966	KM Khayet, M.	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Chemical Engineering	Rank 31
79	8,993	CE Campo, Elías	Universitat de Barcelona	Immunology	Rank 353
80	9,155	TM Tena-Sempere, Manuel	Universidad de Córdoba	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 271
81	9,226	AS Alvarez, Santiago	Universitat de Barcelona	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 50
82	9,272	BE Bouza, Emilio	Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Medicina	Microbiology	Rank 228
83	9,276	DL de Lorenzo, Víctor	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 229
84	9,331	TR Tauler, Romà	CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA)	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 41
85	9,362	MS Munné, Santiago	Overture Life	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 42
86	9,461	HE Herrera-Viedma, Enrique	Instituto Andaluz Interuniversitario en Data Science and Computational Intelligence	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 194
87	9,491	BM Beato, Miguel	Centro de Regulacion Genomica, Barcelona	Developmental Biology	Rank 463
88	9,533	BJ Barluenga, José	Universidad de Oviedo	Organic Chemistry	Rank 210
89	9,596	FI Ferrer, Isidro	Universitat de Barcelona	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 816
90	9,657	GJ Galí, Jordi	Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona	Economics	Rank 80
91	9,780	GM Gonzalez-Gay, Miguel Angel	Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 92
92	9,935	MJ Malagelada, Juan Ramon	Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 174
93	10,028	SF Saura-Calixto, Fulgencio	CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologia de Alimentos y Nutricion (ICTAN)	Food Science	Rank 30
94	10,179	MN Martín, Nazario	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Organic Chemistry	Rank 225
95	10,225	KK Khan, Khalid Saeed	Universidad de Granada	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 49
96	10,641	CJ Castresana, Jose	CSIC-UPF - Instituto de Biologia Evolutiva (IBE)	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 129
97	10,772	ZJ Zamorano, J. L.	Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 522
98	10,834	BG Barja, Gustavo	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 527
99	10,876	MA Merkoçi, Arben	Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 54
100	10,940	GP Ginès, Pere	Universitat de Barcelona, Facultad de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 189
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2023

Italy5,723 scientistsin 2023

Netherlands4,259 scientistsin 2023

Switzerland3,261 scientistsin 2023

Sweden3,200 scientistsin 2023

India2,578 scientistsin 2023

South Korea2,120 scientistsin 2023

Explore other countries

Career-long list2023

Greece971 scientistsin 2023

Portugal572 scientistsin 2023

Slovenia172 scientistsin 2023

Serbia83 scientistsin 2023

Croatia75 scientistsin 2023

United Kingdom18,692 scientistsin 2023

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Frequently asked questions

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

3,736 scientists affiliated with Spain are on the 2023 single-year list, and 3,230 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2023 career-long list, Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists from Spain, with 165. It is followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid with 86.

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 3,230 in 2023, a change of +41.0%.

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.