United Kingdom's Top 2% Scientists 2024

The United Kingdom has 17,554 scientists on the 2024 single-year Top 2% list, up 4.5% from 16,795 in 2023. That places the United Kingdom 3rd in the world by number of listed scientists. University College London has the most listed scientists (828), followed by University of Cambridge (815).

Single Year

17,554

+759 (+4.5%) vs 2023

Career Data

19,646

+954 (+5.1%) vs 2023

World rank by count

No change vs 2023

Institutes

1,256

-179 (-12.5%) vs 2023

Scientists in the United Kingdom on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 27% 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 list2024

Show the list

All 17,554 scientists

Single-year list2024

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	9	AD Altman, Douglas G.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 1
2	14	FK Friston, Karl	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1
3	22	HJ Higgins, Julian P.T.	University of Bristol	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 4
4	47	GA Geim, Andre K.	The University of Manchester	Applied Physics	Rank 4
5	60	Yang, Xin She	Middlesex University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 7
6	63	SS Smith, Stephen	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 3
7	109	PM Packer, Milton	Imperial College London	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 5
8	110	CP Calder, Philip C.	University of Southampton	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 1
9	114	GM Griffiths, Mark D.	Nottingham Trent University	Substance Abuse	Rank 1
10	118	MM Marmot, Michael	University College London	Epidemiology	Rank 3
11	121	GF Geels, Frank W.	The University of Manchester	Science Studies	Rank 1
12	122	BP Barnes, Peter J.	National Heart and Lung Institute	Respiratory System	Rank 1
13	126	SH Snaith, Henry J.	University of Oxford	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 6
14	135	BS Baron-Cohen, Simon	University of Cambridge	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 1
15	138	SG Smith, George Davey	University of Bristol	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 2
16	182	WS Wood, Simon N.	The University of Edinburgh	Statistics & Probability	Rank 7
17	184	FA Ferrari, Andrea C.	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 6
18	189	PJ Provis, John L.	The University of Sheffield	Building & Construction	Rank 3
19	197	SP Smith, Pete	University of Aberdeen	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 4
20	202	LG Lip, Gregory Y.H.	University of Liverpool	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 8
21	207	HK Hyland, Ken	University of East Anglia	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 1
22	208	GK Gaston, Kevin J.	University of Exeter	Ecology	Rank 6
23	210	HS Hawking, S. W.	University of Cambridge	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 3
24	215	SA Steptoe, Andrew	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 5
25	224	MJ McMurray, John	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 11
26	230	PR Pekrun, Reinhard	University of Essex	Education	Rank 4
27	233	BA Baddeley, Alan	University of York	Experimental Psychology	Rank 5
28	247	TR Thompson, Richard C.	University of Plymouth	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 2
29	260	YZ Yang, Ziheng	University College London	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 1
30	266	MT Moffitt, Terrie E.	King's College London	Psychiatry	Rank 6
31	278	GT Greenhalgh, Trisha	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 9
32	285	MS Michie, Susan	University College London	Public Health	Rank 3
33	337	Choi, Tsan Ming	University of Liverpool Management School	Operations Research	Rank 4
34	346	BS Ball, Stephen J.	UCL Institute of Education	Education	Rank 5
35	354	CR Costanza, Robert	University College London	Ecology	Rank 7
36	372	SD Silver, David	DeepMind Technologies Limited	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 27
37	389	MM Murphy, Michael P.	MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 7
38	405	PS Pocock, Stuart	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 17
39	409	FC Frith, Chris	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 22
40	412	SJ Sterne, Jonathan A.C.	University of Bristol	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 13
41	420	AW Adger, W. Neil	University of Exeter	Environmental Sciences	Rank 4
42	432	HJ Hardy, John	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 25
43	433	AM Ashby, Mike	University of Cambridge	Materials	Rank 6
44	436	SN Sattar, N.	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 18
45	441	RM Rutter, Michael	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 7
46	471	SC Spence, Charles	University of Oxford	Experimental Psychology	Rank 9
47	491	PJ Pearce, Julian A.	Cardiff University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 1
48	495	WI White, Ian R.	University College London	Statistics & Probability	Rank 11
49	503	Buhalis, Dimitrios	The Business School at BU	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 4
50	506	SS Scheres, Sjors H.W.	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Developmental Biology	Rank 18
51	541	BS Blakemore, Sarah Jayne	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 35
52	552	FC Foyer, Christine H.	University of Birmingham	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 5
53	553	HD Hardie, D. Grahame	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 9
54	556	GR Goodman, R.	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 10
55	561	IT Ingold, Tim	University of Aberdeen	Anthropology	Rank 1
56	578	RE Rolls, Edmund	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 39
57	579	BS Burgess, Stephen	MRC Biostatistics Unit	Epidemiology	Rank 6
58	595	MS Maier, Stefan A.	Imperial College London	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 21
59	606	HR Hill, Rodney	Gonville and Caius College	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 5
60	614	GP Gilbert, Paul	University of Derby	Clinical Psychology	Rank 5
61	616	VD van der Linden, Sander	University of Cambridge	Social Psychology	Rank 29
62	621	DJ Deeks, Jon J.	University of Birmingham	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 17
63	633	GS Gordon, Siamon	Sir William Dunn School of Pathology	Immunology	Rank 21
64	671	CR Collins, Rory	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 21
65	675	FP Fonagy, Peter	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 19
66	693	DR Dunbar, Robin I.M.	University of Oxford	Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology	Rank 1
67	697	LD Lawlor, Deborah A.	University of Bristol	Epidemiology	Rank 7
68	708	PJ Pendry, J. B.	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 18
69	715	WM Woodward, Mark	Imperial College London	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 22
70	726	JD Jones, Davey L.	Bangor University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 5
71	733	DI Deary, Ian J.	The University of Edinburgh	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 48
72	734	RP Royston, Patrick	University College London	Statistics & Probability	Rank 18
73	739	AJ Ashburner, John	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 49
74	747	MR May, Robert M.	University of Oxford	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 5
75	752	RP Rothwell, Peter	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 51
76	769	BR Bardgett, R. D.	The University of Manchester	Ecology	Rank 19
77	780	SW Schultz, Wolfram	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 53
78	795	SA Sheikh, Aziz	The University of Edinburgh	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 23
79	808	CE Callaway, Ewen	Caring in Bristol Ltd	Developmental Biology	Rank 26
80	814	TS Thompson, S.	Swansea University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 24
81	816	DJ Dewaele, Jean Marc	Birkbeck, University of London	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 3
82	852	Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés	London School of Economics and Political Science	Urban & Regional Planning	Rank 1
83	861	CC Cooper, Cyrus	MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 13
84	870	SM Singer, Mervyn	University College London	Emergency & Critical Care Medicine	Rank 4
85	880	BG Burnstock, Geoffrey	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 60
86	881	BC Bronk-Ramsey, C.	University of Oxford	Paleontology	Rank 1
87	883	BB Blocken, Bert	Heriot-Watt University	Building & Construction	Rank 8
88	885	GD Goulson, Dave	University of Sussex	Ecology	Rank 22
89	899	RT Robbins, Trevor W.	University of Cambridge	Psychiatry	Rank 23
90	914	PM Padgett, Miles J.	University of Glasgow	Optics	Rank 5
91	915	GA Gasparrini, Antonio	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Toxicology	Rank 4
92	917	DE Dickinson, Eric	University of Leeds	Chemical Physics	Rank 15
93	921	BA Bateman, A.	European Molecular Biology Laboratory	Developmental Biology	Rank 29
94	933	BL Barsalou, Lawrence W.	University of Glasgow	Experimental Psychology	Rank 19
95	935	DY Dwivedi, Yogesh K.	Swansea University	Information Systems	Rank 9
96	939	AM Alvesson, Mats	University of Bath	Business & Management	Rank 32
97	953	GM Goedert, Michel	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 63
98	977	GT Galloway, Tamara	University of Exeter	Environmental Sciences	Rank 18
99	992	TG Thornicroft, Graham	King's College London	Psychiatry	Rank 27
100	1,001	SJ Scott, J. F.	University of St Andrews	Applied Physics	Rank 27
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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2024

United States71,460 scientistsin 2024

China27,166 scientistsin 2024

Germany10,422 scientistsin 2024

Canada8,185 scientistsin 2024

Australia8,032 scientistsin 2024

Italy7,620 scientistsin 2024

Explore other countries

Single-year list2024

Sweden2,644 scientistsin 2024

Denmark2,013 scientistsin 2024

Norway1,250 scientistsin 2024

Finland1,179 scientistsin 2024

Ireland841 scientistsin 2024

Estonia83 scientistsin 2024

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from the United Kingdom are in the 2024 Stanford Top 2% list?

17,554 scientists affiliated with the United Kingdom are on the 2024 single-year list, and 19,646 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2024 single-year list, University College London has the most listed scientists from the United Kingdom, with 828. It is followed by University of Cambridge with 815.

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 17,554 in 2024, a change of +27.2%.

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.