United Kingdom's Top 2% Scientists 2024: Career-Long List

The United Kingdom has 19,646 scientists on the 2024 career-long Top 2% list, up 5.1% from 18,692 in 2023. That places the United Kingdom 2nd in the world by number of listed scientists. University College London has the most listed scientists (842), followed by University of Cambridge (818).

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

1,760

-135 (-7.1%) vs 2023

Scientists in the United Kingdom on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 31% since 2020.

Career-long list, change on the previous year

2021+14.9%

2022+4.3%

2023+3.9%

2024+5.1%

2025+4.7%

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

Career-long list2024

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All 19,646 scientists

Career-long 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	6	FK Friston, Karl	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1
2	7	AD Altman, Douglas G.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 1
3	11	BP Barnes, Peter J.	National Heart and Lung Institute	Respiratory System	Rank 1
4	59	RM Rutter, Michael	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 1
5	60	GA Geim, Andre K.	The University of Manchester	Applied Physics	Rank 4
6	66	MM Marmot, Michael	University College London	Epidemiology	Rank 2
7	81	BA Baddeley, Alan	University of York	Experimental Psychology	Rank 1
8	95	HJ Higgins, Julian P.T.	University of Bristol	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 7
9	98	SG Smith, George Davey	University of Bristol	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 2
10	101	RT Robbins, Trevor W.	University of Cambridge	Psychiatry	Rank 3
11	112	FC Frith, Chris	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 11
12	119	MT Moffitt, Terrie E.	King's College London	Psychiatry	Rank 4
13	134	BS Baron-Cohen, Simon	University of Cambridge	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 2
14	145	SS Smith, Stephen	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 17
15	152	BG Burnstock, Geoffrey	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 19
16	153	CP Calder, Philip C.	University of Southampton	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 2
17	154	PJ Pendry, J. B.	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 9
18	164	LG Lip, Gregory Y.H.	University of Liverpool	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 12
19	169	EE Ernst, Edzard	University of Exeter	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 9
20	190	HJ Hardy, John	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 26
21	195	GK Gaston, Kevin J.	University of Exeter	Ecology	Rank 2
22	209	YZ Yang, Ziheng	University College London	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 2
23	222	GS Gordon, Siamon	Sir William Dunn School of Pathology	Immunology	Rank 15
24	225	CP Cohen, Philip	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 14
25	227	DC Dobson, Christopher M.	University of Cambridge	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 15
26	230	HD Hardie, D. Grahame	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 16
27	233	MR May, Robert M.	University of Oxford	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 4
28	248	HA Harris, Adrian L.	University of Oxford	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 11
29	255	MJ McMurray, John	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 14
30	263	PM Packer, Milton	Imperial College London	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 16
31	264	FA Ferrari, Andrea C.	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 14
32	265	RE Rolls, Edmund	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 31
33	282	BM Berridge, Michael J.	The Babraham Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 19
34	299	HS Holgate, Stephen T.	University of Southampton	Respiratory System	Rank 2
35	305	HS Hawking, S. W.	University of Cambridge	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 5
36	320	DR Dolan, Raymond J.	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 34
37	342	SH Snaith, Henry J.	University of Oxford	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 10
38	346	TR Turner, R. C.	University of Oxford	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 14
39	347	CC Cooper, Cyrus	MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 15
40	348	CT Cole, Tim J.	UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health	Pediatrics	Rank 1
41	353	BA Bird, Adrian	The University of Edinburgh	Developmental Biology	Rank 23
42	364	HL Hench, L. L.	Imperial College London	Materials	Rank 4
43	367	RP Rothwell, Peter	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 39
44	377	Yang, Xin She	Middlesex University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 12
45	379	AM Ashby, Mike	University of Cambridge	Materials	Rank 5
46	386	MC Marsden, C. D.	King's College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 40
47	400	SW Schultz, Wolfram	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 41
48	424	NK Nicolaides, Kypros	King's College Hospital	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 1
49	425	GM Griffiths, Mark D.	Nottingham Trent University	Substance Abuse	Rank 1
50	440	HG Hannon, Gregory J.	University of Cambridge	Developmental Biology	Rank 30
51	446	PS Pocock, Stuart	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 22
52	455	BK Beven, K. J.	Lancaster University	Environmental Engineering	Rank 2
53	469	PR Peto, Richard	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 12
54	482	GM Goedert, Michel	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 43
55	483	GP Goadsby, Peter J.	King's College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 44
56	497	SA Steptoe, Andrew	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 16
57	539	SA Schapira, Anthony	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 52
58	558	LD Livermore, David M.	University of East Anglia	Microbiology	Rank 6
59	563	SJ Scott, J. F.	University of St Andrews	Applied Physics	Rank 24
60	576	DJ Duncan, John	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 55
61	579	DD Denning, David W.	The University of Manchester	Microbiology	Rank 7
62	597	FA Fersht, Alan R.	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 37
63	601	KT Kouzarides, Tony	Wellcome Trust/ Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 39
64	610	MD McKenzie, Dan	Bullard Laboratories	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 2
65	612	MM Murphy, Michael P.	MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 40
66	613	CJ Cuzick, Jack	Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 23
67	640	GT Greenhalgh, Trisha	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 17
68	644	MS Maier, Stefan A.	Imperial College London	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 23
69	647	MS Mann, Stephen	University of Bristol	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 24
70	650	CJ Cleland, John G.F.	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 30
71	652	SD Strachan, David P.	St George’s, University of London	Respiratory System	Rank 3
72	659	LT Lüscher, Thomas F.	Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 33
73	669	PJ Pearce, Julian A.	Cardiff University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 3
74	679	DI Deary, Ian J.	The University of Edinburgh	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 63
75	700	DE Dickinson, Eric	University of Leeds	Chemical Physics	Rank 22
76	759	CR Costanza, Robert	University College London	Ecology	Rank 17
77	770	GR Goodman, R.	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 9
78	774	DR Dunbar, Robin I.M.	University of Oxford	Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology	Rank 1
79	778	WJ Wardle, Jane	University College London	Public Health	Rank 5
80	779	RA Ridley, Anne J.	University of Bristol	Developmental Biology	Rank 47
81	789	VJ Vane, John R.	Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 5
82	792	TS Thompson, S.	Swansea University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 19
83	800	BF Balkwill, Frances	Queen Mary University of London	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 31
84	802	GF Geels, Frank W.	The University of Manchester	Science Studies	Rank 2
85	814	FP Fonagy, Peter	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 29
86	835	LA Lees, Andrew J.	Reta Lila Weston Institute of Neurological Studies	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 86
87	837	PC Ponting, Chris P.	MRC Human Genetics Unit	Developmental Biology	Rank 50
88	858	CB Charlesworth, Brian	The University of Edinburgh	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 12
89	862	FL Farrugia, Louis J.	University of Glasgow	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 6
90	880	FC Foyer, Christine H.	University of Birmingham	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 5
91	884	LT Langdon, T. G.	University of Southampton	Materials	Rank 12
92	895	SN Sattar, N.	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 48
93	896	HD Hunter, David J.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 34
94	901	BD Bishop, Dorothy V.M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Experimental Psychology	Rank 15
95	914	DJ Downward, Julian	The Francis Crick Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 56
96	915	LN Logothetis, Nikos K.	The University of Manchester	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 91
97	917	ED Easton, Douglas F.	University of Cambridge	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 35
98	918	BS Ball, Stephen J.	UCL Institute of Education	Education	Rank 5
99	922	GG Gibson, Glenn R.	University of Reading	Microbiology	Rank 13
100	936	RJ Raven, John A.	University of Dundee	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 6
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2024

United States84,209 scientistsin 2024

Germany11,573 scientistsin 2024

China10,689 scientistsin 2024

Canada9,265 scientistsin 2024

Japan8,261 scientistsin 2024

Australia7,447 scientistsin 2024

Explore other countries

Career-long list2024

Sweden3,353 scientistsin 2024

Denmark2,114 scientistsin 2024

Finland1,445 scientistsin 2024

Norway1,397 scientistsin 2024

Ireland836 scientistsin 2024

Estonia70 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 career-long list, University College London has the most listed scientists from the United Kingdom, with 842. It is followed by University of Cambridge with 818.

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

On the career-long list, the United Kingdom went from 14,999 scientists in 2020 to 19,646 in 2024, a change of +31.0%.

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.