United Kingdom's Top 2% Scientists 2026: Career-Long List

The United Kingdom has 21,350 scientists on the 2026 career-long Top 2% list, up 3.8% from 20,571 in 2025. That places the United Kingdom 2nd in the world by number of listed scientists. University of Oxford has the most listed scientists (823), followed by University College London (765).

Single Year

18,300

+176 (+1.0%) vs 2025

Career Data

21,350

+779 (+3.8%) vs 2025

World rank by count

No change vs 2025

Institutes

2,158

+47 (+2.2%) vs 2025

Scientists in the United Kingdom on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 42% 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%

2026+3.8%

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	18,124	+3.2%	20,571	+4.7%
2026	18,300	+1.0%	21,350	+3.8%

Top 10 institutes in the United Kingdom

By number of listed scientists

Career-long list2026

Show the list

All 21,350 scientists

Career-long list2026

Showing the 2026 career-long list. Looking for single-year rankings? See the single-year list

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	FK Friston, K. J.	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 1
2	7	AD Altman, Douglas G.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 1
3	13	BP Barnes, Peter John	National Heart and Lung Institute	Respiratory System	Rank 1
4	14	RP Ridker, Paul M.	Imperial College London	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 1
5	61	GA Geim, Andre K.	The University of Manchester	Applied Physics	Rank 4
6	64	MM Marmot, M. G.	University College London	Epidemiology	Rank 2
7	75	HJ Higgins, Julian P.t.	Bristol Medical School	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 6
8	85	BA Baddeley, Alan D.	University of York	Experimental Psychology	Rank 2
9	95	RJ Robertson, John David	Cambridge University	Applied Physics	Rank 6
10	116	RT Robbins, Trevor W.	Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute	Psychiatry	Rank 3
11	124	FC Frith, Chris D.	Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 12
12	127	BS Baron-Cohen, Simon B.	Autism Research Centre	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 2
13	133	CP Calder, Philip C.	University of Southampton	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 1
14	134	DS Davey Smith, George	University of Bristol	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 2
15	150	SS Smith, Stephen M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 16
16	151	LG Lip, Gregory Y.H.	University of Liverpool	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 12
17	167	GK Gaston, Kevin J.	University of Exeter	Ecology	Rank 2
18	174	PJ Pendry, John Brian	Imperial College London	Applied Physics	Rank 10
19	175	BG Burnstock, Geoffrey	University College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 22
20	177	HJ Hardy, John Anthony	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 23
21	192	EE Ernst, Edzard Edzard W.	University of Exeter	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 9
22	210	MJ McMurray, John JV	Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 14
23	218	YZ Yang, Ziheng	University College London	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 3
24	243	RE Rolls, Edmund T.	University of Warwick	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 28
25	255	HD Hardie, David Grahame	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 15
26	261	DC Dobson, Christopher Martin	University of Cambridge	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 16
27	262	MR May, Robert M.	University of Oxford	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 4
28	271	AC A. C. Ferrari, A. Carlo	University of Cambridge	Applied Physics	Rank 13
29	273	CP Cohen, Philip	University of Dundee	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 17
30	280	HA Harris, Adrian L.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 13
31	281	PS Pocock, Stuart J.	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 18
32	288	GM Griffiths, Mark D.	Nottingham Trent University	Substance Abuse	Rank 1
33	307	SH Snaith, Henry James	University of Oxford	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 11
34	316	HS Hawking, Stephen W.	University of Cambridge	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 5
35	342	Yang, Xin She	Middlesex University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 13
36	344	HS Holgate, Stephen Townley	Southampton General Hospital	Respiratory System	Rank 2
37	349	RP Rothwell, Peter M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 37
38	353	BM Berridge, Michael John	Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 21
39	356	CC Cooper, Cyrus C.	University of Oxford	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 16
40	367	AM Ashby, Michael F.A.	Engineering Department	Materials	Rank 3
41	373	PM Pesaran, M. Hashem	Trinity College Cambridge	Econometrics	Rank 1
42	384	CT Cole, Timothy James	UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health	Pediatrics	Rank 1
43	402	HL Hench, Larry L.	Imperial College London	Materials	Rank 7
44	408	BA Bird, Adrian P.	Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology	Developmental Biology	Rank 26
45	422	SA Steptoe, Andrew	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 15
46	438	NK Nicolaides, Kypros Herodotos	King's College Hospital	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 1
47	441	SW Schultz, Wolfram	University of Cambridge	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 41
48	459	BK Beven, Keith J.	Lancaster Environment Centre	Environmental Engineering	Rank 2
49	462	MC Marsden, Charles David	Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 42
50	481	GP Goadsby, Peter James	King's College London	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 44
51	518	DD Denning, David W.	The University of Manchester	Microbiology	Rank 7
52	527	GT Greenhalgh, Trisha	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 14
53	529	HG Hannon, Gregory J.	Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 32
54	530	MM Murphy, Michael P.	MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 32
55	532	GM Goedert, Michel	The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 47
56	538	PR Peto, Richard R.	Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 15
57	556	SA Schapira, Anthony HV V.	UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 49
58	586	GF Geels, Frank W.	Alliance Manchester Business School	Science Studies	Rank 2
59	609	SJ Scott, James F.	University of St Andrews	Applied Physics	Rank 25
60	612	SC Spence, C. J.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Experimental Psychology	Rank 13
61	616	DI Deary, Ian J.	The University of Edinburgh	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 56
62	622	LD Livermore, David M.	University of East Anglia, Norwich Medical School	Microbiology	Rank 8
63	623	DJ Duncan, John S.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 59
64	639	CR Costanza, Robert	University College London	Ecology	Rank 14
65	644	CJ Cleland, John G.F.	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 31
66	654	CJ Cuzick, Jack M.	Queen Mary University of London	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 24
67	662	MD McKenzie, Dan P.	University of Cambridge	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 2
68	667	CT Clutton-Brock, Tim H.	University of Cambridge	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 7
69	672	DR Dunbar, Robin I.M.	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology	Rank 1
70	676	FP Fonagy, Peter	University College London	Psychiatry	Rank 24
71	679	SD Strachan, David Peter	St George’s, University of London	Respiratory System	Rank 3
72	684	PJ Pearce, Juliana A.	Cardiff University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 3
73	691	DE Dickinson, Eric M.	University of Leeds	Chemical Physics	Rank 18
74	692	SN Sattar, Naveed A.	University of Glasgow	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 35
75	701	KT Kouzarides, Tony	University of Cambridge	Developmental Biology	Rank 41
76	726	MS Mann, Stephen	University of Bristol	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 28
77	735	SP Smith, Pete	University of Aberdeen	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 4
78	737	FA Fersht, Alan R.	University of Cambridge	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 42
79	738	GR Goodman, Robert M.	King's College London	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 9
80	758	TS Thompson, Simon G.	Swansea University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 20
81	794	BS Ball, Stephen John	UCL Institute of Education	Education	Rank 5
82	799	FC FOYER, Christine H.	University of Birmingham	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 3
83	821	CJ Canny, John F.	Google DeepMind	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 28
84	837	WJ Wardle, Jane	University College London	Public Health	Rank 5
85	864	AW Adger, W. Neil	University of Exeter	Environmental Sciences	Rank 4
86	868	LT Langdon, Terence G.	University of Southampton	Materials	Rank 12
87	892	DJ Deeks, Jonathan J.	University of Birmingham	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 22
88	897	RJ Raven, John A.	The James Hutton Institute	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 6
89	901	LA Lees, Andrew John L.	Reta Lila Weston Institute of Neurological Studies	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 88
90	913	BF Balkwill, Frances R.	Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 32
91	916	BD Bishop, Dorothy Vera Margaret	University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division	Experimental Psychology	Rank 16
92	927	GG Gibson, G. R.	University of Reading	Microbiology	Rank 14
93	938	BH Bhadeshia, Harshad Kumar Dharamshi Hansraj	University of Cambridge	Materials	Rank 14
94	940	Chung, Kian Fan	Imperial College London	Respiratory System	Rank 4
95	950	CB Charlesworth, Brian	The University of Edinburgh	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 13
96	962	FA Fabian, Andrew C.	Institute of Astronomy	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Rank 3
97	964	RA Ridley, Anne J.	University of Bristol	Developmental Biology	Rank 56
98	965	FD Farrington, David P.	Institute of Criminology	Criminology	Rank 2
99	966	HK Hyland, Ken	University of East Anglia	Languages & Linguistics	Rank 1
100	968	CR Collins, Rory	Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 23
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Every year since 2020Single Year and Career Data.

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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2026

United States90,922 scientists

China14,583 scientists

Germany12,809 scientists

Canada10,063 scientists

Japan9,097 scientists

Australia8,551 scientists

Explore other countries

Career-long list2026

Sweden3,661 scientists

Denmark2,309 scientists

Finland1,612 scientists

Norway1,557 scientists

Ireland963 scientists

Estonia92 scientists

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from the United Kingdom are in the 2026 Stanford Top 2% list?

18,300 scientists affiliated with the United Kingdom are on the 2026 single-year list, and 21,350 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2026 career-long list, University of Oxford has the most listed scientists from the United Kingdom, with 823. It is followed by University College London with 765.

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 21,350 in 2026, a change of +42.3%.

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.