United Kingdom's Top 2% Scientists 2021

The United Kingdom has 15,844 scientists on the 2021 single-year Top 2% list, up 14.8% from 13,805 in 2020. That places the United Kingdom 3rd in the world by number of listed scientists, down 1 place. University College London has the most listed scientists (645), followed by Imperial College London (637).

Single Year

15,844

+2,039 (+14.8%) vs 2020

Career Data

17,237

+2,238 (+14.9%) vs 2020

World rank by count

down 1 place vs 2020

Institutes

1,349

+302 (+28.8%) vs 2020

Scientists in the United Kingdom on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 15% since 2020.

Single-year list, change on the previous year

2021+14.8%

2022+3.8%

2023+2.1%

2024+4.5%

2025+3.3%

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	18,125	+3.3%	20,571	+4.7%

Top 10 institutes in the United Kingdom

By number of listed scientists

Single-year list2021

Show the list

1University College London645
2Imperial College London637
3University of Cambridge574
4University of Oxford532
5King's College London423
6The University of Manchester385
7University of Birmingham327
8University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division325
9The University of Edinburgh299
10University of Southampton290

All 15,844 scientists

Single-year list2021

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	4	AD Altman, Douglas G.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 1
2	12	FK Friston, Karl	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1
3	16	HJ Higgins, Julian P.T.	Bristol Medical School	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 4
4	29	GA Geim, Andre K.	The University of Manchester	Applied Physics	Rank 4
5	39	Yang, Xin She	Middlesex University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 7
6	55	SS Smith, Stephen	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 3
7	62	SH Snaith, Henry J.	University of Oxford	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 6
8	83	FA Ferrari, Andrea C.	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 6
9	96	CP Calder, Philip C.	University of Southampton, Faculty of Medicine	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 1
10	104	MA Mantovani, Alberto	Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry	Immunology	Rank 3
11	111	GF Geels, F. W.	The University of Manchester	Science Studies	Rank 1
12	113	MM Marmot, Michael	University College London	Epidemiology	Rank 2
13	114	BP Barnes, Peter J.	National Heart and Lung Institute	Respiratory System	Rank 1
14	133	BS Baron-Cohen, S.	Autism Research Centre	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 1
15	153	GK Gaston, Kevin J.	University of Exeter	Ecology	Rank 3
16	154	SG Smith, George Davey	University of Bristol	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 2
17	158	BA Baddeley, Alan D.	University of York	Experimental Psychology	Rank 3
18	171	HD Hardie, D. Grahame	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 3
19	195	YZ Yang, Ziheng	University College London	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 2
20	200	MJ McMurray, John J.V.	Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 10
21	201	GM Griffiths, Mark D.	Nottingham Trent University	Substance Abuse	Rank 1
22	207	RJ Robertson, John	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 8
23	248	RM Rutter, Michael	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 3
24	264	PJ Pearce, Julian A.	Cardiff University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 1
25	283	HJ Hardy, John	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 21
26	287	AW Adger, W. Neil	University of Exeter	Environmental Sciences	Rank 3
27	292	AM Ashby, Michael F.	University of Cambridge	Materials	Rank 5
28	298	GR Goodman, R.	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 6
29	302	GT Greenhalgh, Trisha	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 11
30	327	PJ Provis, John L.	The University of Sheffield	Building & Construction	Rank 1
31	329	SP Smith, Pete	University of Aberdeen	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 5
32	347	GS Gordon, Siamon	Sir William Dunn School of Pathology	Immunology	Rank 15
33	363	FC Frith, Chris D.	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 30
34	369	HS Hawking, S. W.	University of Cambridge	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 5
35	375	MS Michie, Susan	University College London	Public Health	Rank 4
36	377	SA Steptoe, Andrew	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 10
37	390	BS Ball, Stephen	UCL Institute of Education	Education	Rank 4
38	394	RP Rothwell, Peter M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 35
39	400	TR Thompson, Richard C.	University of Plymouth	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 2
40	401	PJ Pendry, J. B.	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 15
41	410	RT Robbins, Trevor W.	Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 36
42	428	MS Maier, Stefan A.	Imperial College London	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 19
43	442	WS Wood, Simon	The University of Edinburgh	Statistics & Probability	Rank 9
44	451	BJ Baselga, José	AstraZeneca	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 17
45	452	RC Ramsey, Christopher Bronk	University of Oxford	Paleontology	Rank 1
46	454	AJ Ashburner, John	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 41
47	473	DC Dobson, Christopher M.	University of Cambridge	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 13
48	506	DE Dickinson, Eric	University of Leeds	Chemical Physics	Rank 11
49	508	PS Pocock, Stuart J.	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 19
50	529	SJ Scott, James F.	University of St Andrews	Applied Physics	Rank 19
51	540	DI Deary, I. J.	The University of Edinburgh	Social Psychology	Rank 21
52	545	WN White, Nicholas J.	Nuffield Department of Medicine	Tropical Medicine	Rank 1
53	547	GM Goedert, Michel	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 45
54	555	CC Cooper, Cyrus	University of Southampton	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 9
55	559	SS Scheres, Sjors H.W.	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Developmental Biology	Rank 19
56	578	DR Dunbar, Robin IM	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology	Rank 1
57	585	DJ Deeks, Jonathan J.	University of Birmingham	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 13
58	587	BH Bhadeshia, Harshad Kumar Dharamshi Hansraj	University of Cambridge	Materials	Rank 12
59	589	BK Beven, Keith J.	Lancaster Environment Centre	Environmental Engineering	Rank 3
60	590	GP Gilbert, Paul	University of Derby	Clinical Psychology	Rank 4
61	596	SJ Sterne, Jonathan	University of Bristol	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 14
62	602	SW Schultz, Wolfram	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 48
63	614	FC Foyer, Christine H.	University of Birmingham	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 4
64	624	BB Binks, Bernard P.	University of Hull	Chemical Physics	Rank 14
65	625	PR Pekrun, Reinhard	University of Essex	Education	Rank 6
66	632	HK Hyland, Ken	University of East Anglia	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 1
67	668	SC Spence, Charles	University of Oxford	Experimental Psychology	Rank 13
68	672	EA Eftekhari, Ali	Queen's University Belfast	Energy	Rank 16
69	678	WA Walsh, Aron	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 24
70	685	HR Hill, Rodney	Gonville and Caius College	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 9
71	686	PD Parkin, D. Max	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 23
72	695	ZH Zetterberg, Henrik	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 54
73	698	SN Sattar, Naveed	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 22
74	711	RE Rolls, Edmund T.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 55
75	738	CT Cole, T. J.	UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health	Pediatrics	Rank 1
76	755	WI White, I. R.	University College London	Statistics & Probability	Rank 13
77	756	BF Balkwill, Frances R.	Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 25
78	768	RP Royston, Patrick	University College London	Statistics & Probability	Rank 15
79	772	TS Thompson, Simon G.	University of Cambridge	Statistics & Probability	Rank 16
80	774	BP Bruce, Peter G.	University of Oxford	Energy	Rank 20
81	790	BS Blakemore, Sarah Jayne	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 58
82	810	GD Goulson, David	University of Sussex	Ecology	Rank 22
83	811	BA Bird, Adrian	The University of Edinburgh	Developmental Biology	Rank 31
84	876	BR Bardgett, Richard D.	The University of Manchester	Ecology	Rank 26
85	882	WM Wright, Mike	Imperial College Business School	Business & Management	Rank 23
86	890	JD Jones, David L.	Bangor University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 7
87	908	SM Singer, Mervyn	University College London	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 5
88	910	IT Ingold, Tim	University of Aberdeen	Anthropology	Rank 1
89	919	RD Rubinsztein, David C.	Cambridge Institute for Medical Research	Developmental Biology	Rank 35
90	921	DR Dolan, Raymond J.	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 65
91	926	EE Ernst, Edzard	University of Exeter	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 19
92	933	HA Harris, Adrian L.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 28
93	937	BA Bridgwater, Anthony V.	Aston University	Energy	Rank 25
94	938	PJ Pollard, Jeffrey W.	University of Edinburgh, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine	Developmental Biology	Rank 37
95	940	GG Gibson, Glenn R.	University of Reading	Microbiology	Rank 16
96	964	FP Fonagy, P.	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 20
97	970	SA Schapira, Anthony	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 68
98	989	AN Apergis, Nicholas	University of Derby	Economics	Rank 24
99	994	KT Kouzarides, Tony	Wellcome Trust/ Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 40
100	998	PM Padgett, Miles J.	University of Glasgow	Optics	Rank 7
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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2021

United States66,247 scientistsin 2021

China16,611 scientistsin 2021

Germany9,436 scientistsin 2021

Canada7,479 scientistsin 2021

Australia7,138 scientistsin 2021

Italy6,126 scientistsin 2021

Explore other countries

Single-year list2021

Sweden2,438 scientistsin 2021

Denmark1,795 scientistsin 2021

Norway1,100 scientistsin 2021

Finland1,016 scientistsin 2021

Ireland710 scientistsin 2021

Estonia63 scientistsin 2021

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Frequently asked questions

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

15,844 scientists affiliated with the United Kingdom are on the 2021 single-year list, and 17,237 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2021 single-year list, University College London has the most listed scientists from the United Kingdom, with 645. It is followed by Imperial College London with 637.

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 15,844 in 2021, a change of +14.8%.

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.