United Kingdom's Top 2% Scientists 2026

The United Kingdom has 18,300 scientists on the 2026 single-year Top 2% list, up 1.0% from 18,124 in 2025. That places the United Kingdom 3rd in the world by number of listed scientists. University of Oxford has the most listed scientists (808), followed by University College London (735).

Single Year

18,300

+176 (+1.0%) vs 2025

Career Data

21,350

+779 (+3.8%) vs 2025

World rank by count

No change vs 2025

Institutes

1,622

-17 (-1.0%) vs 2025

Scientists in the United Kingdom on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 33% since 2020.

Single-year list, change on the previous year

2021+14.8%

2022+3.8%

2023+2.1%

2024+4.5%

2025+3.2%

2026+1.0%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	13,805		14,999
2021	15,844	+14.8%	17,237	+14.9%
2022	16,445	+3.8%	17,986	+4.3%
2023	16,795	+2.1%	18,692	+3.9%
2024	17,554	+4.5%	19,646	+5.1%
2025	18,124	+3.2%	20,571	+4.7%
2026	18,300	+1.0%	21,350	+3.8%

Top 10 institutes in the United Kingdom

By number of listed scientists

Single-year list2026

Show the list

All 18,300 scientists

Single-year list2026

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

The first 100 are free to browse.

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Rank in the United Kingdom	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	10	AD Altman, Douglas G.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 1
2	19	HJ Higgins, Julian P.t.	Bristol Medical School	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 3
3	23	FK Friston, K. J.	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1
4	48	PM Pesaran, M. Hashem	Trinity College Cambridge	Econometrics	Rank 1
5	50	RP Ridker, Paul M.	Imperial College London	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 3
6	71	BS Burgess, Stephen	MRC Biostatistics Unit	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 4
7	90	GA Geim, Andre K.	The University of Manchester	Applied Physics	Rank 4
8	95	GF Geels, Frank W.	Alliance Manchester Business School	Science Studies	Rank 1
9	103	SS Smith, Stephen M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 5
10	122	CP Calder, Philip C.	University of Southampton	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 1
11	139	GM Griffiths, Mark D.	Nottingham Trent University	Substance Abuse	Rank 1
12	141	BP Barnes, Peter John	National Heart and Lung Institute	Respiratory System	Rank 1
13	150	SP Smith, Pete	University of Aberdeen	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 3
14	154	HS Hawking, Stephen W.	University of Cambridge	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 2
15	159	MM Marmot, M. G.	University College London	Epidemiology	Rank 4
16	163	HK Hyland, Ken	University of East Anglia	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 1
17	184	BS Baron-Cohen, Simon B.	Autism Research Centre	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 1
18	186	Buhalis, Dimitrios	Bournemouth University	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 2
19	200	WS Wood, Simon N.	The University of Edinburgh	Statistics & Probability	Rank 7
20	207	Yang, Xin She	Middlesex University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 16
21	210	SH Snaith, Henry James	University of Oxford	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 7
22	215	GK Gaston, Kevin J.	University of Exeter	Ecology	Rank 6
23	234	LG Lip, Gregory Y.H.	University of Liverpool	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 10
24	242	AC A. C. Ferrari, A. Carlo	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 7
25	244	TR Thompson, Richard C.	University of Plymouth	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 2
26	250	SC Spence, C. J.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Experimental Psychology	Rank 5
27	257	SA Steptoe, Andrew	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 7
28	261	BA Baddeley, Alan D.	University of York	Experimental Psychology	Rank 6
29	275	YZ Yang, Ziheng	University College London	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 1
30	284	LQ Le, Quocviet	Google DeepMind	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 19
31	314	DJ Dewaele, Jean Marc	University College London	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 2
32	315	PS Pocock, Stuart J.	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 14
33	345	MJ McMurray, John JV	Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 15
34	347	MM Murphy, Michael P.	MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 6
35	349	RE Rolls, Edmund T.	University of Warwick	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 20
36	358	GT Greenhalgh, Trisha	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 13
37	362	BJ Barron, Jonathan T.	Google Deepmind	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 24
38	370	VD Van Der Linden, Sander L.	University of Cambridge	Social Psychology	Rank 22
39	378	AW Adger, W. Neil	University of Exeter	Environmental Sciences	Rank 5
40	383	SJ Sterne, Jonathan A.C.	University of Bristol	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 14
41	389	MS Michie, Susan F.	University College London	Public Health	Rank 4
42	390	DD Denning, David W.	The University of Manchester	Microbiology	Rank 2
43	395	CV Clarke, Victoria	University of the West of England	Social Psychology	Rank 25
44	404	CR Costanza, Robert	University College London	Ecology	Rank 8
45	414	RJ Robertson, John David	Cambridge University	Applied Physics	Rank 10
46	416	DS Davey Smith, George	University of Bristol	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 5
47	423	GA Gasparrini, Antonio G.	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Toxicology	Rank 2
48	427	SD Silver, David	Google DeepMind	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 29
49	433	IT Ingold, Tim	University of Aberdeen	Anthropology	Rank 1
50	441	Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés	London School of Economics and Political Science	Urban & Regional Planning	Rank 1
51	448	SN Sattar, Naveed A.	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 19
52	462	AM Ashby, Michael F.A.	Engineering Department	Materials	Rank 9
53	470	WI White, Ian R.	University College London	Statistics & Probability	Rank 13
54	473	BS Ball, Stephen John	UCL Institute of Education	Education	Rank 9
55	477	Choi, Tsan Ming	University of Liverpool Management School	Operations Research	Rank 4
56	483	BS Blakemore, Sarah Jayne	University of Cambridge	Experimental Psychology	Rank 8
57	485	DZ Dörnyei, Zoltán	University of Nottingham	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 3
58	504	OA Osman, Ahmed I.	Canterbury Christ Church University	Environmental Sciences	Rank 9
59	518	Wei, Li	UCL Institute of Education	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 5
60	520	GP Gilbert, Paul	University of Derby	Clinical Psychology	Rank 5
61	522	HJ Hardy, John Anthony	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 28
62	536	PJ Pearce, Juliana A.	Cardiff University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 1
63	562	CG Collins, Gary S.	University of Birmingham	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 20
64	618	FC Frith, Chris D.	Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 39
65	634	FP Fonagy, Peter	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 21
66	640	SS Scheres, Sjors H.W.	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Developmental Biology	Rank 18
67	652	JD Jones, Davey Leonard	Bangor University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 5
68	661	DJ Deeks, Jonathan J.	University of Birmingham	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 22
69	662	FC FOYER, Christine H.	University of Birmingham	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 5
70	674	HR Hill, Rodney J.	Gonville and Caius College	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 5
71	679	GR Goodman, Robert M.	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 11
72	688	GD Gabrilovich, Dmitry I.	AstraZeneca	Immunology	Rank 17
73	699	SG Smith, George Davey	Bristol Medical School	Epidemiology	Rank 6
74	700	TS Thompson, Simon G.	Swansea University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 24
75	705	BR Bardgett, Richard D.	Lancaster Environment Centre	Ecology	Rank 16
76	710	HD Hardie, David Grahame	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 10
77	717	CR Collins, Rory	Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 25
78	721	SM Singer, Mervyn	University College London	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 3
79	730	MN Maffulli, Nicola	Queen Mary University of London	Orthopedics	Rank 1
80	734	DR Dunbar, Robin I.M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology	Rank 1
81	742	Segata, Nicola	King's College London	Microbiology	Rank 7
82	752	BK Beven, Keith J.	Lancaster Environment Centre	Environmental Engineering	Rank 2
83	767	LD Lawlor, Debbie A.	University of Bristol	Epidemiology	Rank 7
84	783	RP Rothwell, Peter M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 45
85	795	MS Marginson, Simon	University of Oxford	Education	Rank 16
86	839	LT Lenton, Timothy M.	University of Exeter	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 8
87	847	BB Blocken, B. J.E.	Heriot-Watt University	Building & Construction	Rank 10
88	850	FB Flyvbjerg, Bent	University of Oxford, Saïd Business School	Logistics & Transportation	Rank 1
89	886	BM Batty, Michael J.	University College London	Urban & Regional Planning	Rank 2
90	895	TV Thakur, Vijay Kumar	Biorefining and Advanced Materials Research Centre	Polymers	Rank 6
91	906	PR Penrose, Roger	University of Oxford	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 9
92	926	GL Gardner, Leroy	Imperial College London	Civil Engineering	Rank 3
93	941	MR May, Robert M.	University of Oxford	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 5
94	944	PJ Pretty, Jules N.	University of Essex	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 6
95	955	TG Thornicroft, Graham	King's College London	Psychiatry	Rank 25
96	956	BE Birney, Ewan	EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 26
97	986	AM Alvesson, Mats	University of Bath	Business & Management	Rank 39
98	993	RT Robbins, Trevor W.	Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute	Psychiatry	Rank 26
99	1,003	WM Woodward, Mark A.	Imperial College London	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 28
100	1,064	PJ Pendry, John Brian	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 24
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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2026

United States73,638 scientists

China37,203 scientists

Germany10,938 scientists

Australia8,971 scientists

Italy8,537 scientists

Canada8,528 scientists

Explore other countries

Single-year list2026

Sweden2,728 scientists

Denmark2,138 scientists

Norway1,307 scientists

Finland1,274 scientists

Ireland995 scientists

Estonia116 scientists

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

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

18,300 scientists affiliated with the United Kingdom are on the 2026 single-year list, and 21,350 are on the career-long list.

Which institute in the United Kingdom has the most Top 2% scientists?

On the 2026 single-year list, University of Oxford has the most listed scientists from the United Kingdom, with 808. It is followed by University College London with 735.

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

On the single-year list, the United Kingdom went from 13,805 scientists in 2020 to 18,300 in 2026, a change of +32.6%.

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.