Spain's Top 2% Scientists 2026: Career-Long List

Spain has 4,103 scientists on the 2026 career-long Top 2% list, up 7.5% from 3,816 in 2025. That places Spain 11th in the world by number of listed scientists. Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists (166), followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid (104).

Single Year

4,408

+141 (+3.3%) vs 2025

Career Data

4,103

+287 (+7.5%) vs 2025

World rank by count

#11

No change vs 2025

Institutes

648

+48 (+8.0%) vs 2025

Scientists in Spain on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 79% 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%

2026+7.5%

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%
2026	4,408	+3.3%	4,103	+7.5%

Top 10 institutes in Spain

By number of listed scientists

Career-long list2026

Show the list

All 4,103 scientists

Career-long list2026

Showing the 2026 career-long list. Looking for single-year rankings? See the single-year list

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	35	CA Corma, Avelino	CSIC-UPV - Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 1
2	143	EM Esteller, Manel B.	Universitat de Barcelona	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 7
3	333	MS Moncada, Sir Salvador	Universidad Autónoma de Madrid	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 2
4	514	PJ Penuelas, Josep J.	Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Ecology	Rank 9
5	516	HF Herrera, Francisco P.	Instituto Andaluz Interuniversitario en Data Science and Computational Intelligence	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 18
6	582	LJ Llovet, Josep M.	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 11
7	659	AM Armand, Michel B.	CIC energigune	Energy	Rank 10
8	846	LL Liz-Marzán, Luis M.	CIC biomaGUNE	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 30
9	850	PD Posada, D. Tatis	Universidade de Vigo	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 12
10	857	BD Barceló, Damià À.	Universidad de Almería	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 2
11	914	RJ Robins, James M.	Glovo	Statistics & Probability	Rank 8
12	1,137	BJ Bisquert, Juan	CSIC-UPV - Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 6
13	1,438	MM Manns, Michael Peter	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 21
14	1,530	VM Vallet-Regí, María	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 7
15	1,649	GD García de Abajo, F. Javier	Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 51
16	1,778	BJ Bruix, Jordi	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 26
17	2,065	BM Blasco, M. Angeles	CSIC-UAM - Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM)	Developmental Biology	Rank 118
18	2,223	BM Barbacid, Mariano	Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 85
19	2,427	DJ Domingo, J. L.	Universitat Rovira i Virgili	Toxicology	Rank 8
20	2,441	SM Slater, Mel	Universitat de Barcelona	Software Engineering	Rank 1
21	2,563	PM Prato, Maurizio	CIC biomaGUNE	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 67
22	2,578	NM Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.	Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona	Toxicology	Rank 9
23	2,603	BE Brillas, Enric	Universitat de Barcelona	Energy	Rank 33
24	2,695	HW Hopkins, Will G.	Health	Sport Sciences	Rank 3
25	2,962	DJ Dalmau, Josep O.	Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer - IDIBAPS	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 260
26	3,127	DV Dijk van, Teun A.	Centre of Discourse Studies	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 3
27	3,324	SA Saltelli, Andrea	UPF Barcelona School of Management	Statistics & Probability	Rank 22
28	3,488	DR Duncan, Ruth	Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 21
29	3,578	HJ Heit, John A.	Institut de Recerca Sant Pau (IR SANT PAU)	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 173
30	3,656	HM Hidalgo, Manuel M.	Universidad Camilo José Cela	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 145
31	3,697	PJ Pausas, Juli G.	CSIC-GV-UV - Centro de Investigaciones Sobre Desertificación (CIDE)	Ecology	Rank 81
32	3,712	PJ Perez-Gisbert, Javier P.	Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Hospital Universitario de La Princesa	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 65
33	3,880	AM Arellano, Manuel	Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros	Econometrics	Rank 8
34	3,916	GF Guinea, Francisco	Donostia International Physics Center	Applied Physics	Rank 112
35	3,933	FJ Fierro, J. L.G.	CSIC - Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP)	Physical Chemistry	Rank 18
36	4,046	AÀ Agustí, Àlvar G.N.	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias	Respiratory System	Rank 35
37	4,058	OS Odintsov, Sergei D.	Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 52
38	4,077	NM Nieto, M. Angela	CSIC-UMH - Instituto de Neurociencias (IN)	Developmental Biology	Rank 199
39	4,141	CA Cerdà, A.	Universitat de València	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 12
40	4,267	VE Vieta, Eduard	Universitat de Barcelona	Psychiatry	Rank 128
41	4,285	AM Araújo, Miguel B.	CSIC - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)	Ecology	Rank 89
42	4,291	DJ Dupont, Jairton	Universidad de Murcia	Organic Chemistry	Rank 108
43	4,509	CE Coronado, Eugenio	Universitat de València	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 20
44	4,571	CL Cabeza, Luisa F.	Universitat de Lleida	Energy	Rank 53
45	4,573	TJ Tabernero, Josep Ma	Vall d‘Hebron Institut de Oncologia	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 191
46	4,576	SM Serrano, Manuel	IRB Barcelona - Institute for Research in Biomedicine	Developmental Biology	Rank 223
47	4,858	BF Baquero, Fernando	Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal	Microbiology	Rank 117
48	4,865	MJ Martínez, José Luis	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 118
49	4,882	OM Ortiz, Michael	Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics en Enginyeria (CIMNE)	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 33
50	5,107	HC Herrera, Carlos M.	CSIC - Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD)	Ecology	Rank 105
51	5,190	VS Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.	CSIC - Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE)	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 65
52	5,205	CR Cervera, Ricard	Hospital Clínic de Barcelona	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 41
53	5,232	RJ Rello, Jordi	Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 21
54	5,398	FG Frühbeck, Gema	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 159
55	5,698	GS Grabowski, Slawomir Janusz	Universidad del Pais Vasco	Chemical Physics	Rank 144
56	5,810	EE Estrada, Emesto G.	CSIC-UIB - Instituto de Fisica Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos (IFISC)	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 42
57	6,051	AC Alonso Caballero, J. L.	Hospital del Mar	Psychiatry	Rank 178
58	6,183	SJ Sunyer, Jordi A.	Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona	Toxicology	Rank 22
59	6,216	RE ROS, EMILIO Peña	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 53
60	6,306	LM Lewenstein, Maciej	Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)	General Physics	Rank 41
61	6,348	GP Galle, Peter Robert	Universitat de Barcelona	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 106
62	6,420	JJ Jiménez, Javier	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 44
63	6,447	MM Malumbres, Marcos	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer	Developmental Biology	Rank 296
64	6,566	PJ PRAT, Jaime J.	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona	Pathology	Rank 20
65	6,584	RF Rodríguez-Reinoso, Francisco	Universitat d'Alacant	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 124
66	6,661	ER Estruch Riba, Ramón Sarrate	Universitat de Barcelona	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 57
67	6,764	MM Martínez-González, Miguel Ángel	Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 59
68	6,766	TA Torres, Antoni	Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer - IDIBAPS	Respiratory System	Rank 63
69	6,917	TF Tomás-Barberán, F. A.	CSIC - Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS)	Food Science	Rank 24
70	7,118	Khan, Khalid S.	Universidad de Granada, Facultad de Medicina	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 30
71	7,120	AV Arroyo, Vicente A.	European Foundation for the Study of Chronic Liver Failure (EF-CLIF)	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 118
72	7,142	JP Jordano, Pedro	CSIC - Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD)	Ecology	Rank 143
73	7,235	NJ Nieto, Juan J.	Universidade de Santiago de Compostela	General Mathematics	Rank 17
74	7,413	HE Herrera-Viedma, Enrique Enrique	Universidad de Granada	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 181
75	7,435	KM Khayet, Mohamed	Universidad Complutense de Madrid	Chemical Engineering	Rank 26
76	7,601	SL Serrano, Luís	Centro de Regulacion Genomica, Barcelona	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 322
77	7,682	FR Fernández-Lafuente, Roberto	CSIC - Instituto de Catálisis y Petroleoquímica (ICP)	Biotechnology	Rank 19
78	7,772	SJ San-Miguel, Jesús Fernando	Clínica Universidad de Navarra	Immunology	Rank 281
79	7,851	AJ Avila, Jesús R.	CSIC-UAM - Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 639
80	7,857	VD van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.Mvan	ICTA-UAB Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals	Agricultural Economics & Policy	Rank 4
81	7,916	CE Campo, Elías	Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer - IDIBAPS	Immunology	Rank 284
82	7,968	RL Ruilope, Luis Miguel	Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 377
83	8,067	ËJ Ëlguero, José	CSIC - Instituto de Química Médica (IQM)	Organic Chemistry	Rank 167
84	8,082	TE Tiekink, Edward R.T.	Universitat de les Illes Balears	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 36
85	8,110	RR Rodríguez-Roisín, Roberto M.	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias	Respiratory System	Rank 78
86	8,354	OA Ortiz, Alberto Arduan	Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de la Fundación Jiménez Díaz	Urology & Nephrology	Rank 72
87	8,376	BB Bernevig, Bogdan Andrei	Donostia International Physics Center	Applied Physics	Rank 202
88	8,393	BF Bosch, Francisco Xavier	Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 360
89	8,413	KK Kostarelos, Kostas	UAB	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 151
90	8,472	LJ Lorenzo, Josè Manuel	Fundación Centro Tecnolóxico da Carne	Food Science	Rank 35
91	8,700	AJ Aguilar-Saavedra, Juan Antonio	CSIC-UAM - Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT)	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 109
92	8,728	DJ DeFelipe-Oroquieta, Javier	CSIC - Instituto Cajal (IC)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 704
93	8,807	FA Fuertes, A. B.	CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono (INCAR)	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 158
94	8,818	ÁS Álvarez, Santiago	Universitat de Barcelona	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 41
95	8,887	RR Rosell, Rafael Costa	Hospital Universitari Dexeus	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 384
96	8,917	MS Munné-Bosch, Sergi	Universitat de Barcelona	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 82
97	8,919	BE Bouza, Emilio Santiago	Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón	Microbiology	Rank 228
98	8,965	PY Picó, Yolanda	Universitat de València	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 42
99	8,993	AC Andrade, Carmen	Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics en Enginyeria (CIMNE)	Building & Construction	Rank 20
100	9,030	DL De Lorenzo Prieto, Víctor	CSIC - Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia (CNB)	Microbiology	Rank 231
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2026

France7,613 scientists

Italy7,363 scientists

Netherlands5,001 scientists

India3,898 scientists

Switzerland3,759 scientists

Sweden3,661 scientists

Explore other countries

Career-long list2026

Greece1,243 scientists

Portugal787 scientists

Slovenia242 scientists

Serbia117 scientists

Croatia109 scientists

United Kingdom21,350 scientists

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from Spain are in the 2026 Stanford Top 2% list?

4,408 scientists affiliated with Spain are on the 2026 single-year list, and 4,103 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2026 career-long list, Universitat de Barcelona has the most listed scientists from Spain, with 166. It is followed by Universidad Complutense de Madrid with 104.

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 4,103 in 2026, a change of +79.2%.

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.