Spain's Top 2% Scientists 2025: Career-Long List

Spain has 3,816 scientists on the 2025 career-long Top 2% list, up 8.8% from 3,508 in 2024. That places Spain 11th in the world by number of listed scientists. Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists (150), followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (96).

Single Year

4,267

+259 (+6.5%) vs 2024

Career Data

3,816

+308 (+8.8%) vs 2024

World rank by count

#11

No change vs 2024

Institutes

600

+155 (+34.8%) vs 2024

Scientists in Spain on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 67% 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 list2025

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All 3,816 scientists

Career-long list2025

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	32	CA Corma, Avelino	CSIC-UPV - Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 1
2	137	EM Esteller, Manel	Universitat de Barcelona	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 7
3	286	MS Moncada, Sir Salvador	Universidad Autónoma de Madrid	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 2
4	568	HF Herrera, Francisco	Instituto Andaluz Interuniversitario en Data Science and Computational Intelligence	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 19
5	593	LJ Llovet, Josep M.	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 10
6	627	Penuelas, Josep	Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Ecology	Rank 13
7	664	AM Armand, Michel	Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA)	Energy	Rank 11
8	780	PD Posada, David Tatis	Universidade de Vigo	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 11
9	835	LL Liz-Marzán, Luis M.	CIC biomaGUNE	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 29
10	870	BD Barceló, Damià À.	Universidad de Almería	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 2
11	1,125	BJ Bisquert, Juan	CSIC-UPV - Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 6
12	1,563	VM Vallet-Regí, María	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 7
13	1,656	GD García de Abajo, F. Javier	Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 49
14	1,665	BJ Bruix, Jordi	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 22
15	1,980	BM Blasco, M. Angeles	CSIC-UAM - Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM)	Developmental Biology	Rank 115
16	2,070	BM Barbacid, Mariano	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 81
17	2,418	PM Prato, Maurizio	CIC biomaGUNE	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 62
18	2,478	DJ Domingo, J. L.	Universitat Rovira i Virgili	Toxicology	Rank 8
19	2,924	DJ Dalmau, Josep O.	Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer - IDIBAPS	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 266
20	2,960	SM Slater, Mel	Universitat de Barcelona	Software Engineering	Rank 1
21	3,023	BE Brillas, Enric	Universitat de Barcelona	Energy	Rank 40
22	3,268	DR Duncan, Ruth	Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 16
23	3,360	NM Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark	Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona	Toxicology	Rank 11
24	3,602	SA Saltelli, Andrea	UPF Barcelona School of Management	Strategic, Defence & Security Studies	Rank 5
25	3,668	OJ Ordovas, J. M.	IMDEA Food Institute	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 177
26	3,751	FJ Fierro, J. L.G.	CSIC - Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 16
27	3,782	GF Guinea, Francisco	Donostia International Physics Center	Applied Physics	Rank 112
28	3,847	AÀ Agustí, Àlvar G.N.	Universitat de Barcelona	Respiratory System	Rank 30
29	3,926	FG Frenking, Gernot	Donostia International Physics Center	Organic Chemistry	Rank 103
30	3,949	NM Nieto, M. Angela	CSIC-UMH - Instituto de Neurociencias (IN)	Developmental Biology	Rank 204
31	3,993	PJ Perez-Gisbert, Javier P.	Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Hospital Universitario de La Princesa	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 67
32	4,252	PJ Pausas, Juli G.	CSIC-GV-UV - Centro de Investigaciones Sobre Desertificación (CIDE)	Ecology	Rank 84
33	4,299	CA Cerdà, A.	Universitat de València	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 15
34	4,325	AM Arellano, Manuel	Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros	Econometrics	Rank 9
35	4,347	VD van Dijk, Teun A.	Centre of Discourse Studies	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 4
36	4,380	AM Araújo, Miguel B.	CSIC - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)	Ecology	Rank 85
37	4,402	OS Odintsov, Sergei D.	Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 55
38	4,522	VE Vieta, Eduard	Universitat de Barcelona	Psychiatry	Rank 136
39	4,685	OM Ortiz, Michael	Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics en Enginyeria (CIMNE)	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 31
40	4,819	CE Coronado, Eugenio	Universitat de València	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 23
41	4,903	BF Baquero, Fernando	Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal	Microbiology	Rank 123
42	4,910	TJ Tabernero, Josep Ma	Vall d‘Hebron Institut de Oncologia	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 211
43	5,036	CR Cervera, Ricard	Hospital Clínic de Barcelona	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 39
44	5,050	HC Herrera, Carlos M.	CSIC - Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD)	Ecology	Rank 102
45	5,257	MJ Martínez, José Luis	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 130
46	5,489	CL Cabeza, Luisa F.	Universitat de Lleida	Energy	Rank 61
47	5,779	GS Grabowski, Slawomir Janusz	Universidad del Pais Vasco	Chemical Physics	Rank 149
48	5,791	EE Estrada, Ernesto G.	Universidad de Zaragoza	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 41
49	5,820	VS Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.	Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 69
50	5,835	FG Frühbeck, Gema	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 170
51	6,054	LM Lewenstein, Maciej	Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)	General Physics	Rank 40
52	6,260	MM Malumbres, Marcos	Vall d‘Hebron Institut de Oncologia	Developmental Biology	Rank 298
53	6,265	AC Alonso Caballero, J. L.	Hospital del Mar	Psychiatry	Rank 188
54	6,269	RF Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco	Universitat d'Alacant	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 116
55	6,291	SJ Sunyer, Jordi A.	Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona	Toxicology	Rank 22
56	6,381	JJ Jiménez, Javier	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 43
57	6,406	RE ROS, EMILIO Peña	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 57
58	6,663	PJ PRAT, Jaime J.	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Pathology	Rank 22
59	6,842	TF Tomás-Barberán, F. A.	CSIC - Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS)	Food Science	Rank 22
60	7,026	SL Serrano, Luís	Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 316
61	7,102	MM Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 62
62	7,119	NJ Nieto, Juan J.	Universidade de Santiago de Compostela	General Mathematics	Rank 17
63	7,175	ER Estruch Riba, Ramón Sarrate	Universitat de Barcelona	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 63
64	7,218	TA Torres, Antoni	Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer - IDIBAPS	Respiratory System	Rank 65
65	7,229	AV Arroyo, Vicente A.	European Foundation for the Study of Chronic Liver Failure (EF-CLIF)	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 125
66	7,316	JP Jordano, Pedro	CSIC - Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD)	Ecology	Rank 144
67	7,529	ËJ Ëlguero, José	CSIC - Instituto de Química Médica (IQM)	Organic Chemistry	Rank 160
68	7,598	RR Rodríguez-Roisín, Roberto M.	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias	Respiratory System	Rank 72
69	7,624	KM Khayet, Mohamed	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Chemical Engineering	Rank 27
70	7,655	TE Tiekink, Edward R.T.	Universitat de les Illes Balears	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 33
71	7,699	BF Bosch, Francisco Xavier	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 333
72	7,726	HE Herrera-Viedma, Enrique Enrique	Universidad de Granada	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 181
73	7,775	FR Fernandez-Lafuente, Roberto	CSIC - Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP)	Biotechnology	Rank 19
74	7,963	ÁJ Ávila, Jesús	CSIC-UAM - Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 659
75	8,036	CE Campo, Elías	Hospital Clínic de Barcelona	Immunology	Rank 303
76	8,238	RL Ruilope, Luís Miguel	Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 393
77	8,454	Khan, Khalid S.	Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Medicina	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 38
78	8,529	DJ DeFelipe-Oroquieta, Javier	CSIC - Instituto Cajal (IC)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 699
79	8,568	FA Fuertes, A. B.	CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono (INCAR)	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 143
80	8,742	RR Rosell, Rafael Costa	Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP)	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 388
81	8,748	VD van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.Mvan	ICTA-UAB Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals	Agricultural Economics & Policy	Rank 4
82	8,777	AJ Aguilar-Saavedra, Juan Antonio	CSIC-UAM - Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT)	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 113
83	8,927	ÁS Álvarez, Santiago	Universitat de Barcelona	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 45
84	8,967	BE Bouza, E. Santiago	Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón	Microbiology	Rank 227
85	8,985	BB Bernevig, Bogdan Andrei	Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science	Applied Physics	Rank 225
86	9,094	DL De Lorenzo Prieto, Víctor	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 229
87	9,390	GM Gonzalez-Gay Mantecón, Miguel Angel	Universidad de Cantabria	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 92
88	9,394	TR Tauler, Romà	CSIC - Instituto de Diagnostico Ambiental y Estudios del Agua (IDAEA)	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 46
89	9,400	ZJ Zamorano, José Luis	Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 451
90	9,425	GJ Gali, Jordi	Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional	Economics	Rank 83
91	9,479	MS Munné-Bosch, Sergi	Universitat de Barcelona	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 88
92	9,523	PY Picó, Yolanda	Universitat de València	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 48
93	9,575	TM Tena-Sempere, Manuel	Universidad de Córdoba	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 271
94	9,646	AC Andrade, Carmen	Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics en Enginyeria (CIMNE)	Building & Construction	Rank 17
95	9,660	DL de León, José	Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red de Salud Mental	Psychiatry	Rank 274
96	9,830	MS Munné, Santiago	Overture Life	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 48
97	10,095	FI Ferrer, Isidre	Universitat de Barcelona	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 815
98	10,204	OA Ortíz-Arduan, Alberto Arduan	Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz	Urology & Nephrology	Rank 103
99	10,375	SF Saura-Calixto, Fulgêncio D.	CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologia de Alimentos y Nutricion (ICTAN)	Food Science	Rank 39
100	10,437	TF Toldrá, Fidel	CSIC - Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA)	Food Science	Rank 40
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2025

France7,284 scientists

Italy6,839 scientists

Netherlands4,755 scientists

Switzerland3,659 scientists

Sweden3,471 scientists

India3,371 scientists

Explore other countries

Career-long list2025

Greece1,161 scientists

Portugal711 scientists

Slovenia217 scientists

Serbia115 scientists

Croatia96 scientists

United Kingdom20,571 scientists

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from Spain are in the 2025 Stanford Top 2% list?

4,267 scientists affiliated with Spain are on the 2025 single-year list, and 3,816 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2025 career-long list, Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists from Spain, with 150. It is followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid with 96.

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 3,816 in 2025, a change of +66.6%.

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.