United Kingdom's Top 2% Scientists 2022

The United Kingdom has 16,445 scientists on the 2022 single-year Top 2% list, up 3.8% from 15,844 in 2021. That places the United Kingdom 3rd in the world by number of listed scientists. Imperial College London has the most listed scientists (674), followed by University College London (660).

Single Year

16,445

+601 (+3.8%) vs 2021

Career Data

17,986

+749 (+4.3%) vs 2021

World rank by count

No change vs 2021

Institutes

1,406

+57 (+4.2%) vs 2021

Scientists in the United Kingdom on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 19% 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 list2022

Show the list

1Imperial College London674
2University College London660
3University of Oxford530
4University of Cambridge476
5King's College London410
6University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division409
7The University of Manchester318
8University of Birmingham308
9The University of Edinburgh304
10University of Southampton287

All 16,445 scientists

Single-year list2022

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	5	AD Altman, Douglas G.	University of Oxford	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 1
2	9	FK Friston, Karl	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1
3	15	HJ Higgins, Julian P.T.	Bristol Medical School	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 3
4	35	OE Ostrom, Elinor	Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA)	Political Science & Public Administration	Rank 1
5	36	GA Geim, Andre K.	The University of Manchester	Applied Physics	Rank 4
6	41	Yang, Xin She	Middlesex University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 7
7	51	SS Smith, Stephen	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 3
8	82	SH Snaith, Henry J.	University of Oxford	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 6
9	89	BP Barnes, Peter J.	National Heart and Lung Institute	Respiratory System	Rank 1
10	101	FA Ferrari, A. C.	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 6
11	103	CP Calder, Philip C.	University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 1
12	113	SB Sovacool, Benjamin K.	University of Sussex Business School	Energy	Rank 2
13	122	MM Marmot, Michael	University College London	Epidemiology	Rank 2
14	149	BS Baron-Cohen, S.	Autism Research Centre	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 1
15	151	GK Gaston, K. J.	University of Exeter	Ecology	Rank 3
16	153	SG Smith, George Davey	University of Bristol	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 2
17	155	BA Baddeley, Alan D.	University of York	Experimental Psychology	Rank 3
18	164	GM Griffiths, Mark D.	Nottingham Trent University	Substance Abuse	Rank 1
19	166	YZ Yang, Ziheng	University College London	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 2
20	179	MJ McMurray, John J.V.	Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 10
21	207	HD Hardie, D. Grahame	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 5
22	210	HS Hawking, S. W.	University of Cambridge	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 3
23	235	MM Murphy, Michael P.	MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 7
24	242	GT Greenhalgh, Trisha	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 12
25	269	RM Rutter, Michael	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 2
26	275	PJ Provis, John L.	The University of Sheffield	Building & Construction	Rank 1
27	282	RJ Robertson, John	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 10
28	283	PJ Pearce, J. A.	Cardiff University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 1
29	303	SA Steptoe, Andrew	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 7
30	320	AW Adger, W. Neil	University of Exeter	Environmental Sciences	Rank 4
31	327	HJ Hardy, John	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 26
32	331	GS Gordon, Siamon	Sir William Dunn School of Pathology	Immunology	Rank 14
33	333	AM Ashby, Michael F.	University of Cambridge	Materials	Rank 6
34	342	TR Thompson, Richard C.	University of Plymouth	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 2
35	346	MS Michie, Susan	University College London	Public Health	Rank 4
36	347	WS Wood, Simon N.	The University of Edinburgh	Statistics & Probability	Rank 8
37	355	FC Frith, Chris D.	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 28
38	359	GR Goodman, Robert	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 4
39	363	DJ Deeks, Jonathan J.	University of Birmingham	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 13
40	385	SP Smith, Pete	University of Aberdeen	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 5
41	394	CR Costanza, Robert	University College London	Ecology	Rank 9
42	414	BS Ball, Stephen J.	UCL Institute of Education	Education	Rank 4
43	426	SS Scheres, Sjors H.W.	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Developmental Biology	Rank 17
44	458	HK Hyland, Ken	University of East Anglia	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 1
45	460	PJ Pendry, J. B.	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 16
46	462	AJ Ashburner, John	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 37
47	467	PS Pocock, Stuart J.	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 19
48	472	DR Dunbar, Robin I.M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology	Rank 1
49	476	RP Rothwell, P.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 40
50	484	RC Ramsey, Christopher Bronk	Oxford Social Sciences Division	Paleontology	Rank 1
51	493	IT Ingold, Tim	University of Aberdeen	Anthropology	Rank 1
52	494	RT Robbins, Trevor W.	Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 43
53	505	MS Maier, Stefan A.	Imperial College London	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 20
54	529	PR Pekrun, Reinhard	University of Essex	Education	Rank 6
55	532	SJ Sterne, Jonathan A.C.	NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 15
56	542	DE Dickinson, Eric	University of Leeds	Chemical Physics	Rank 11
57	556	FC Foyer, Christine H.	University of Birmingham	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 5
58	560	GM Goedert, Michel	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 47
59	587	RE Rolls, Edmund T.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 50
60	605	SW Schultz, Wolfram	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 51
61	612	WN White, Nicholas J.	Nuffield Department of Medicine	Tropical Medicine	Rank 2
62	617	DI Deary, Ian J.	The University of Edinburgh	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 53
63	633	CC Cooper, Cyrus	University of Southampton	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 11
64	641	BS Blakemore, Sarah Jayne	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 54
65	642	HR Hill, Rodney	Gonville and Caius College	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 7
66	647	SN Sattar, N.	College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 22
67	658	DC Dobson, Christopher M.	University of Cambridge	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 19
68	662	RP Royston, Patrick	University College London	Statistics & Probability	Rank 12
69	693	SJ Scott, J. F.	University of St Andrews	Applied Physics	Rank 23
70	698	GP Gilbert, Paul	University of Derby	Clinical Psychology	Rank 4
71	726	ZH Zetterberg, Henrik	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 59
72	742	FB Flyvbjerg, Bent	University of Oxford, Saïd Business School	Logistics & Transportation	Rank 1
73	743	PJ Pollard, Jeffrey W.	University of Edinburgh, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine	Immunology	Rank 35
74	748	BF Balkwill, Frances R.	Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 21
75	753	BK Beven, Keith	Lancaster Environment Centre	Environmental Engineering	Rank 3
76	758	WI White, Ian R.	MRC Clinical Trials Unit	Statistics & Probability	Rank 16
77	777	SC Spence, Charles	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Experimental Psychology	Rank 15
78	786	BM Botvinick, Matthew	DeepMind Technologies Limited	Experimental Psychology	Rank 16
79	787	GD Goulson, D.	University of Sussex	Ecology	Rank 22
80	797	SM Singer, Mervyn	UCL Division of Medicine	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 6
81	809	PD Parkin, D. Maxwell	International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (INCTR)	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 22
82	812	BH Bhadeshia, Harshad Kumar Dharamshi Hansraj	University of Cambridge	Materials	Rank 12
83	818	CT Cole, T. J.	UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health	Pediatrics	Rank 1
84	819	JT Jombart, Thibaut	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 18
85	821	TS Thompson, Simon G.	University of Cambridge	Statistics & Probability	Rank 17
86	825	FL Floridi, Luciano	Oxford Social Sciences Division	Philosophy	Rank 1
87	831	WP White, Philip J.	The James Hutton Institute	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 8
88	835	GG Gibson, Glenn R.	University of Reading	Microbiology	Rank 16
89	852	WA Walsh, Aron	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 26
90	858	RD Rubinsztein, David C.	Cambridge Institute for Medical Research	Developmental Biology	Rank 39
91	862	SD Silver, David	DeepMind Technologies Limited	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 43
92	866	MI McInnes, Iain B.	College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences	Arthritis & Rheumatology	Rank 6
93	876	EA Eftekhari, Ali	Queen's University Belfast	Energy	Rank 21
94	882	JD Jones, Davey L.	Bangor University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 7
95	884	HA Harris, A. L.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 26
96	892	LM Levi, Marcel	University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 26
97	894	LD Lawlor, Deborah A.	University of Bristol	Epidemiology	Rank 6
98	897	SC Swanton, Charles	The Francis Crick Institute	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 27
99	902	FP Fonagy, Peter	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 21
100	906	BA Bird, Adrian	The University of Edinburgh	Developmental Biology	Rank 40
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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2022

United States68,565 scientistsin 2022

China19,310 scientistsin 2022

Germany9,961 scientistsin 2022

Canada7,737 scientistsin 2022

Australia7,349 scientistsin 2022

Italy6,839 scientistsin 2022

Explore other countries

Single-year list2022

Sweden2,472 scientistsin 2022

Denmark1,890 scientistsin 2022

Norway1,189 scientistsin 2022

Finland1,063 scientistsin 2022

Ireland758 scientistsin 2022

Estonia80 scientistsin 2022

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from the United Kingdom are in the 2022 Stanford Top 2% list?

16,445 scientists affiliated with the United Kingdom are on the 2022 single-year list, and 17,986 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2022 single-year list, Imperial College London has the most listed scientists from the United Kingdom, with 674. It is followed by University College London with 660.

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 16,445 in 2022, a change of +19.1%.

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.