United Kingdom's Top 2% Scientists 2023

The United Kingdom has 16,795 scientists on the 2023 single-year Top 2% list, up 2.1% from 16,445 in 2022. That places the United Kingdom 3rd in the world by number of listed scientists. University College London has the most listed scientists (686), followed by Imperial College London (631).

Single Year

16,795

+350 (+2.1%) vs 2022

Career Data

18,692

+706 (+3.9%) vs 2022

World rank by count

No change vs 2022

Institutes

1,435

+29 (+2.1%) vs 2022

Scientists in the United Kingdom on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 22% 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 list2023

Show the list

1University College London686
2Imperial College London631
3University of Oxford542
4University of Cambridge453
5King's College London409
6University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division386
7University of Birmingham321
8The University of Manchester310
9The University of Edinburgh294
10University of Bristol271

All 16,795 scientists

Single-year list2023

The first 100 are free to browse.

Export CSV

Rank in the United Kingdom	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	6	AD Altman, Douglas G.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 1
2	11	FK Friston, Karl	Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1
3	17	HJ Higgins, Julian P.T.	Bristol Medical School	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 4
4	40	GA Geim, Andre K.	The University of Manchester	Applied Physics	Rank 4
5	54	Yang, Xin She	Middlesex University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 7
6	59	SS Smith, Stephen	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 3
7	88	SH Snaith, Henry J.	University of Oxford	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 6
8	90	CP Calder, Philip C.	University of Southampton, Faculty of Medicine	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 1
9	95	BP Barnes, Peter J.	National Heart and Lung Institute	Respiratory System	Rank 1
10	97	GF Geels, Frank W.	The University of Manchester	Science Studies	Rank 1
11	100	MM Marmot, Michael	University College London	Epidemiology	Rank 2
12	119	GM Griffiths, Mark D.	Nottingham Trent University	Substance Abuse	Rank 1
13	130	SG Smith, George Davey	University of Bristol	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 2
14	135	FA Ferrari, Andrea	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 6
15	158	MJ McMurray, John J.V.	Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 8
16	160	BS Baron-Cohen, Simon	Autism Research Centre	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 1
17	178	LG Lip, Gregory Y.H.	University of Liverpool	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 9
18	203	GK Gaston, Kevin J.	University of Exeter	Ecology	Rank 4
19	210	PJ Provis, John L.	The University of Sheffield	Building & Construction	Rank 1
20	214	BA Baddeley, Alan D.	University of York	Experimental Psychology	Rank 5
21	220	WS Wood, Simon N.	The University of Edinburgh	Statistics & Probability	Rank 7
22	223	YZ Yang, Ziheng	University College London	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 1
23	230	SA Steptoe, Andrew	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 6
24	233	GT Greenhalgh, Trisha	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 9
25	236	TR Thompson, Richard C.	University of Plymouth	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 2
26	250	MS Michie, Susan	University College London	Public Health	Rank 4
27	253	HS Hawking, S. W.	Faculty of Mathematics	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 4
28	259	ME Mahase, Elisabeth	British Medical Journal	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 10
29	301	PJ Pearce, J. A.	Cardiff University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 1
30	304	HD Hardie, D. Grahame	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 8
31	306	CR Costanza, Robert	University College London	Ecology	Rank 6
32	320	MM Murphy, Michael P.	MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 10
33	343	RM Rutter, Michael	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 5
34	373	RJ Robertson, John	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 12
35	379	HJ Hardy, John	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 24
36	386	SP Smith, Pete	University of Aberdeen	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 5
37	402	PR Pekrun, Reinhard	University of Essex	Education	Rank 4
38	409	BS Ball, Stephen J.	UCL Institute of Education	Education	Rank 5
39	412	AM Ashby, Michael F.	University of Cambridge	Materials	Rank 6
40	413	PS Pocock, Stuart	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 17
41	415	AW Adger, W. Neil	University of Exeter	Environmental Sciences	Rank 6
42	432	GS Gordon, Siamon	Sir William Dunn School of Pathology	Immunology	Rank 16
43	438	SD Silver, David	DeepMind Technologies Limited	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 28
44	440	SJ Sterne, Jonathan Ac	Bristol Medical School	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 14
45	476	GR Goodman, R.	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 8
46	479	FC Frith, Chris	Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 34
47	497	SS Scheres, Sjors H.W.	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Developmental Biology	Rank 19
48	504	ZH Zetterberg, Henrik	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 36
49	508	HK Hyland, Ken	University of East Anglia, Faculty of Social Sciences	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 1
50	509	RP Rothwell, Peter M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 37
51	522	CE Callaway, Ewen	Nature	Developmental Biology	Rank 21
52	523	DJ Deeks, Jonathan J.	NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 15
53	529	FC Foyer, Christine H.	University of Birmingham	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 5
54	534	MS Maier, Stefan A.	Imperial College London	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 23
55	542	SN Sattar, Naveed	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 20
56	543	GM Goedert, Michel	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 39
57	554	PJ Pendry, John B.	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 15
58	574	DE Dickinson, Eric	University of Leeds	Chemical Physics	Rank 10
59	585	VJ Vandenbroucke, Jan P.	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 16
60	588	PJ Paul, Justin	Universidad de Puerto Rico	Marketing	Rank 4
61	596	DR Dunbar, Robin I.M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology	Rank 1
62	600	AJ Ashburner, John	Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 44
63	601	SC Spence, Charles	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Experimental Psychology	Rank 11
64	637	Choi, Tsan Ming	University of Liverpool Management School	Operations Research	Rank 5
65	644	RP Royston, Patrick	University College London	Statistics & Probability	Rank 13
66	658	GP Gilbert, Paul	University of Derby	Clinical Psychology	Rank 5
67	664	RA Rambaut, Andrew	The University of Edinburgh	Microbiology	Rank 9
68	667	SW Schultz, Wolfram	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 49
69	673	RE Rolls, Edmund T.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 50
70	684	DC Dobson, Christopher M.	University of Cambridge	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 17
71	691	RT Robbins, Trevor W.	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 53
72	695	BS Blakemore, Sarah Jayne	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 54
73	696	BK Beven, Keith	Lancaster Environment Centre	Environmental Engineering	Rank 2
74	705	CC Cooper, Cyrus	MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 11
75	718	HR Hill, Rodney	Gonville and Caius College	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 9
76	725	MM McKee, Martin	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Public Health	Rank 8
77	732	SA Sheikh, Aziz	Edinburgh Medical School	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 20
78	735	CR Collins, Rory	Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 21
79	743	DZ Dörnyei, Zoltán	University of Nottingham	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 2
80	757	DI Deary, Ian J.	The University of Edinburgh	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 57
81	762	JD Jones, Davey L.	Bangor University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 7
82	774	SJ Scott, J. F.	University of St Andrews	Applied Physics	Rank 21
83	782	IT Ingold, Tim	University of Aberdeen	Anthropology	Rank 1
84	787	TS Thompson, Simon	Swansea University Medical School	Statistics & Probability	Rank 16
85	798	VD van der Linden, S.	University of Cambridge	Social Psychology	Rank 35
86	799	WJ Wardlaw, Joanna M.	Edinburgh Medical School	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 59
87	842	WI White, I. R.	University College London	Statistics & Probability	Rank 18
88	849	BC Bronk-Ramsey, C.	Oxford Social Sciences Division	Paleontology	Rank 1
89	859	Buhalis, Dimitrios	The Business School at BU	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 4
90	869	SM Singer, Mervyn	UCL Division of Medicine	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 4
91	873	PM Padgett, Miles J.	University of Glasgow	Optics	Rank 4
92	876	BB Binks, Bernard P.	University of Hull	Chemical Physics	Rank 17
93	900	GP Goadsby, Peter J.	King's College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 65
94	912	PJ Pollard, Jeffrey W.	MRC Centre for Reproductive Health	Immunology	Rank 35
95	916	SC Swanton, Charles	The Francis Crick Institute	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 25
96	924	BE Bullmore, Edward T.	Department of Psychiatry	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 67
97	935	LD Lawlor, Deborah A.	Bristol Medical School	Epidemiology	Rank 6
98	937	BF Balkwill, Frances	Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 26
99	940	BM Botvinick, Matthew	DeepMind Technologies Limited	Experimental Psychology	Rank 17
100	952	GA Gasparrini, Antonio	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Toxicology	Rank 4
No scientists match this filter.

Showing 1 to 100 of the first 100 Show

Paid plans

See all 16,795 scientists in the United Kingdom

You are seeing the first 100. 16,695 more are on the 2023 single-year list.

Ranks 101 to 16,795The whole list, not only the top 100.

Every year since 2020Single Year and Career Data.

Search the full listBy name, institute or sub-field.

CSV exportDownload the list for your own work.

View Plans & Upgrade Compare plans

Cancel anytime · Secure billing

Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2023

United States69,386 scientistsin 2023

China23,487 scientistsin 2023

Germany10,088 scientistsin 2023

Canada7,889 scientistsin 2023

Australia7,600 scientistsin 2023

Italy7,099 scientistsin 2023

Explore other countries

Single-year list2023

Sweden2,548 scientistsin 2023

Denmark1,958 scientistsin 2023

Norway1,188 scientistsin 2023

Finland1,109 scientistsin 2023

Ireland777 scientistsin 2023

Estonia77 scientistsin 2023

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from the United Kingdom are in the 2023 Stanford Top 2% list?

16,795 scientists affiliated with the United Kingdom are on the 2023 single-year list, and 18,692 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2023 single-year list, University College London has the most listed scientists from the United Kingdom, with 686. It is followed by Imperial College London with 631.

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 16,795 in 2023, a change of +21.7%.

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.