United States' Top 2% Scientists 2021: Career-Long List

The United States has 75,908 scientists on the 2021 career-long Top 2% list, up 11.6% from 68,018 in 2020. That places the United States 1st in the world by number of listed scientists. University of Washington has the most listed scientists (1,040), followed by Harvard Medical School (965).

Single Year

66,247

+6,462 (+10.8%) vs 2020

Career Data

75,908

+7,890 (+11.6%) vs 2020

World rank by count

No change vs 2020

Institutes

7,713

+944 (+13.9%) vs 2020

Scientists in the United States on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 12% since 2020.

Career-long list, change on the previous year

2021+11.6%

2022+4.0%

2023+2.9%

2024+3.8%

2025+4.3%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	59,785		68,018
2021	66,247	+10.8%	75,908	+11.6%
2022	68,565	+3.5%	78,907	+4.0%
2023	69,386	+1.2%	81,159	+2.9%
2024	71,460	+3.0%	84,209	+3.8%
2025	73,020	+2.2%	87,861	+4.3%

Top 10 institutes in the United States

By number of listed scientists

Career-long list2021

Show the list

1University of Washington1,040
2Harvard Medical School965
3University of Michigan, Ann Arbor880
4Stanford University806
5University of California, Berkeley753
6University of California, San Francisco721
7University of California, Davis706
8University of California, Los Angeles686
9University of Minnesota Twin Cities670
10Massachusetts Institute of Technology668

All 75,908 scientists

Career-long list2021

The first 100 are free to browse.

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Rank in the United States	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	2	WW Willett, Walter C.	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Epidemiology	Rank 1
2	3	Wang, Zhong Lin	Georgia Institute of Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 2
3	4	KR Kessler, Ronald C.	Harvard Medical School	Psychiatry	Rank 1
4	6	WG Whitesides, George M.	Harvard University	General Chemistry	Rank 1
5	8	WE Witten, Edward	Institute for Advanced Studies	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 1
6	9	MB McEwen, Bruce S.	Rockefeller University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 2
7	13	KM Karin, Michael	University of California, San Diego	Developmental Biology	Rank 1
8	14	PJ Perdew, John P.	Temple University	Applied Physics	Rank 2
9	15	FJ Folkman, Judah	Children's Hospital Boston	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 1
10	17	SG Semenza, Gregg L.	Johns Hopkins School of Medicine	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 2
11	18	RP Ridker, Paul M.	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 2
12	20	LR Langer, Robert	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 1
13	21	LP Libby, Peter	Harvard Medical School	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 3
14	23	NM Newman, M. E.J.	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 1
15	24	Bandura, Albert	Stanford University	Social Psychology	Rank 1
16	25	SD Selkoe, Dennis J.	Harvard Medical School	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 3
17	26	MM Mattson, Mark P.	Johns Hopkins School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 4
18	29	JR Jain, Rakesh K.	Massachusetts General Hospital	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 3
19	30	HF Hu, Frank	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 1
20	31	KW Kannel, William B.	National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 4
21	32	ZL Zadeh, Lotfi A.	University of California, Berkeley	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 1
22	33	IJ Ioannidis, John P.A.	Stanford University School of Medicine	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 2
23	34	TB Trost, Barry M.	Stanford University	General Chemistry	Rank 2
24	35	MJ Massagué, Joan	Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center	Developmental Biology	Rank 2
25	36	WJ Wang, Joseph	Department of NanoEngineering	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 1
26	37	GS Grundy, Scott M.	UT Southwestern Medical Center	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 5
27	38	AA Alivisatos, A. Paul	University of California, Berkeley	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 3
28	39	LE Lander, Eric S.	Broad Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 3
29	41	LC Lieber, Charles M.	Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 1
30	42	RJ Reed, John C.	Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 2
31	45	GJ Goodenough, John B.	The University of Texas at Austin	Applied Physics	Rank 3
32	46	BD Bartel, David P.	Howard Hughes Medical Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 4
33	47	NM Nei, Masatoshi	Pennsylvania State University	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 1
34	48	BE Braunwald, Eugene	Harvard Medical School	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 6
35	49	FN Ferrara, Napoleone	Moores Cancer Center	Developmental Biology	Rank 5
36	50	JA Jain, Anil K.	Michigan State University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 2
37	52	RS Rosenberg, Steven A.	National Cancer Institute (NCI)	Immunology	Rank 4
38	56	HM Holick, Michael F.	Boston University School of Medicine	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 2
39	57	KE Koonin, Eugene	National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)	Developmental Biology	Rank 7
40	58	WR Weinberg, Robert A.	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Developmental Biology	Rank 8
41	59	GE Giovannucci, Edward L.	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 4
42	61	TD Tilman, David	University of Minnesota Twin Cities	Ecology	Rank 1
43	62	BD Barker, D. J.P.	Oregon Health & Science University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 4
44	63	TE Topol, Eric	Scripps Translational Science Institute	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 7
45	65	KK Kendler, Kenneth S.	Medical College of Virginia	Psychiatry	Rank 2
46	66	CG Colditz, Graham A.	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 5
47	67	MK Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof	Carnegie Mellon University	Polymers	Rank 1
48	69	KG Koob, George F.	National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 5
49	71	DR DeFronzo, Ralph A.	University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 3
50	72	TC Thompson, Craig B.	Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center	Immunology	Rank 5
51	74	DE Diener, Ed	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Social Psychology	Rank 2
52	75	KP Kamat, Prashant V.	University of Notre Dame	Chemical Physics	Rank 3
53	77	DD Donoho, David L.	Stanford University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 1
54	79	LR Lal, Rattan A.	The Ohio State University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 1
55	81	BA Barabási, Albert László	Northeastern University	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 2
56	82	GF Gage, Fred H.	Salk Institute for Biological Studies	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 6
57	83	AB Aggarwal, Bharat B.	Inflammation Research Center	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 6
58	85	HA Heeger, Alan	University of California, Santa Barbara	Applied Physics	Rank 7
59	86	AP Anderson, Philip W.	Princeton University	General Physics	Rank 1
60	87	XY Xia, Younan	Georgia Institute of Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 4
61	88	HJ Hartwig, John F.	University of California, Berkeley	General Chemistry	Rank 3
62	89	CJ Cummings, Jeffrey	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 8
63	90	RR Reiter, Russel Joseph	University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 9
64	91	OE Ostrom, Elinor	Indiana University	Political Science & Public Administration	Rank 1
65	92	LD Lovley, Derek R.	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Microbiology	Rank 1
66	94	ML Melton, L. Joseph	Mayo Clinic	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 4
67	95	HT Hunter, Tony	Salk Institute for Biological Studies	Developmental Biology	Rank 10
68	97	WR Weissleder, Ralph	Harvard Medical School	Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging	Rank 1
69	98	NE Nestler, Eric J.	Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 10
70	101	ST Südhof, Thomas C.	Stanford University School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 12
71	102	BG Buzsáki, György	NYU Langone Health	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 13
72	106	JW Jorgensen, William L.	Yale University	Chemical Physics	Rank 4
73	107	GD Green, Douglas R.	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	Immunology	Rank 7
74	109	PR Petersen, Ronald C.	Mayo Clinic	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 14
75	110	ST Springer, Timothy A.	Harvard Medical School	Immunology	Rank 8
76	111	MC Murray, Christopher	University of Oregon	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 6
77	112	YR Yager, Ronald R.	Machine Intelligence Institute	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 4
78	114	BM Beal, M. Flint	Weill Cornell Medicine Feil Family Brain & Mind Research Institute	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 15
79	116	LJ LeDoux, Joseph	New York University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 16
80	117	RG Reaven, Gerald	Stanford University	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 5
81	118	SR Steinman, Ralph M.	Rockefeller University	Immunology	Rank 9
82	119	AB Ames, Bruce N.	University of California, Berkeley	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 3
83	121	ID Ingber, Donald E.	Harvard University	Developmental Biology	Rank 12
84	122	RR Ross, Russell	University of Washington School of Medicine	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 4
85	124	WS Weinberg, Steven	The University of Texas at Austin	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 3
86	125	CK Chou, Kuo Chen	Gordon Life Science Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 5
87	128	PS Prusiner, Stanley B.	University of California, San Francisco	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 6
88	129	MT Mosmann, Tim R.	University of Rochester Medical Center	Immunology	Rank 10
89	131	HR Hynes, Richard O.	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Developmental Biology	Rank 13
90	132	MT Moffitt, Terrie E.	Duke University	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 2
91	134	MR Medzhitov, Ruslan	Yale School of Medicine	Immunology	Rank 11
92	135	BP Bentler, Peter M.	University of California, Los Angeles	Social Sciences Methods	Rank 1
93	136	VD Vanderbilt, David	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	Applied Physics	Rank 9
94	137	MB Maron, Barry J.	Tufts Medical Center	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 9
95	138	HM Hallett, Mark	National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 17
96	141	KM Karplus, Martin	Harvard University	Chemical Physics	Rank 5
97	143	DH Dai, Hongjie	Stanford University	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 5
98	145	CC Croce, Carlo M.	The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 9
99	146	TR Tsien, Roger Y.	University of California, San Diego	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 7
100	147	BA Beck, Aaron T.	University of Pennsylvania	Clinical Psychology	Rank 1
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2021

United Kingdom17,237 scientistsin 2021

Germany9,986 scientistsin 2021

Canada8,127 scientistsin 2021

Japan7,362 scientistsin 2021

China6,943 scientistsin 2021

Australia6,369 scientistsin 2021

Explore other countries

Career-long list2021

Brazil812 scientistsin 2021

Mexico342 scientistsin 2021

Argentina204 scientistsin 2021

Chile156 scientistsin 2021

Colombia42 scientistsin 2021

Venezuela24 scientistsin 2021

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from the United States are in the 2021 Stanford Top 2% list?

66,247 scientists affiliated with the United States are on the 2021 single-year list, and 75,908 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2021 career-long list, University of Washington has the most listed scientists from the United States, with 1,040. It is followed by Harvard Medical School with 965.

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

On the career-long list, the United States went from 68,018 scientists in 2020 to 75,908 in 2021, a change of +11.6%.

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.