United States' Top 2% Scientists 2023: Career-Long List

The United States has 81,159 scientists on the 2023 career-long Top 2% list, up 2.9% from 78,907 in 2022. That places the United States 1st in the world by number of listed scientists. Harvard Medical School has the most listed scientists (1,081), followed by University of Washington (1,077).

Single Year

69,386

+821 (+1.2%) vs 2022

Career Data

81,159

+2,252 (+2.9%) vs 2022

World rank by count

No change vs 2022

Institutes

8,209

+226 (+2.8%) vs 2022

Scientists in the United States on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 19% 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 list2023

Show the list

1Harvard Medical School1,081
2University of Washington1,077
3Stanford University859
4University of Michigan, Ann Arbor821
5University of California, Berkeley812
6Massachusetts Institute of Technology732
7University of California, Los Angeles722
8University of California, Davis704
9University of Minnesota Twin Cities702
10University of Wisconsin-Madison693

All 81,159 scientists

Career-long list2023

The first 100 are free to browse.

Export CSV

Rank in the United States	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	3	WW Willett, Walter C.	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Epidemiology	Rank 1
2	5	KR Kessler, Ronald C.	Harvard Medical School	Psychiatry	Rank 1
3	7	MB McEwen, Bruce S.	Rockefeller University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 2
4	9	WG Whitesides, George M.	Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences	General Chemistry	Rank 1
5	10	WE Witten, Edward	Institute for Advanced Study	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 1
6	13	PJ Perdew, John P.	Temple University	Applied Physics	Rank 2
7	14	KM Karin, Michael	UC San Diego School of Medicine	Developmental Biology	Rank 1
8	15	RP Ridker, Paul M.	Harvard Medical School	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 1
9	17	SG Semenza, Gregg L.	Johns Hopkins School of Medicine	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 2
10	18	Bandura, Albert	Stanford University	Social Psychology	Rank 1
11	19	LR Langer, Robert	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 1
12	20	FJ Folkman, Judah	Children's Hospital Boston	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 1
13	21	LP Libby, Peter	Harvard Medical School	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 3
14	22	NM Newman, M. E.J.	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 1
15	25	IJ Ioannidis, John P.A.	Stanford University School of Medicine	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 2
16	26	HF Hu, Frank B.	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 1
17	27	DC Dinarello, Charles A.	University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus	Immunology	Rank 2
18	28	MM Mattson, Mark P.	Johns Hopkins School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 3
19	29	JR Jain, Rakesh K.	Harvard Medical School	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 2
20	31	ZL Zadeh, Lotfi A.	University of California, Berkeley	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 1
21	32	SD Selkoe, Dennis J.	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 4
22	34	TB Trost, Barry M.	Stanford University	General Chemistry	Rank 2
23	35	WJ Wang, Joseph	Department of NanoEngineering	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 1
24	37	KW Kannel, William B.	National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 4
25	38	MJ Massagué, Joan	Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center	Developmental Biology	Rank 2
26	39	GS Grundy, Scott M.	UT Southwestern Medical Center	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 5
27	40	GJ Goodenough, John B.	The University of Texas at Austin	Applied Physics	Rank 3
28	41	LE Lander, Eric S.	Broad Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 3
29	43	AA Alivisatos, A. Paul	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 3
30	44	BD Bartel, David P.	Howard Hughes Medical Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 4
31	45	LC Lieber, Charles M.	Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 1
32	46	Hinton, Geoffrey	Google LLC	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 2
33	48	BE Braunwald, Eugene	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 6
34	49	JA Jain, Anil	Michigan State University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 3
35	50	RJ Reed, John C.	Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 3
36	52	NM Nei, Masatoshi	Pennsylvania State University	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 1
37	54	HM Holick, Michael F.	Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 2
38	55	RS Rosenberg, Steven A.	National Cancer Institute (NCI)	Immunology	Rank 4
39	56	KE Koonin, Eugene V.	National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)	Developmental Biology	Rank 6
40	57	LR Lal, Rattan A.	The Ohio State University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 1
41	58	FN Ferrara, Napoleone	University of California, San Diego	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 4
42	61	GE Giovannucci, Edward L.	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 3
43	63	TD Tilman, David	University of Minnesota Twin Cities	Ecology	Rank 1
44	65	WR Weinberg, Robert A.	Whitehead Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 7
45	66	TE Topol, Eric J.	Scripps Translational Science Institute	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 7
46	67	DE Diener, Ed	The University of Utah	Social Psychology	Rank 2
47	68	KK Kendler, Kenneth S.	Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics	Psychiatry	Rank 2
48	70	BD Barker, D.	Oregon Health & Science University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 4
49	72	MK Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof	Carnegie Mellon University	Polymers	Rank 1
50	73	DR DeFronzo, Ralph	University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 3
51	74	DR D’Agostino, Ralph	Wake Forest University School of Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 9
52	75	KG Koob, George F.	National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 5
53	76	CG Colditz, Graham	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 4
54	79	DD Donoho, David	Stanford University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 1
55	81	BA Barabási, Albert László	Northeastern University	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 2
56	82	TC Thompson, Craig B.	Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center	Immunology	Rank 5
57	83	KP Kamat, Prashant	University of Notre Dame	Chemical Physics	Rank 3
58	85	AB Aggarwal, Bharat B.	Inflammation Research Center	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 5
59	86	GF Gage, Fred H.	Salk Institute for Biological Studies	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 6
60	87	CJ Cummings, J.	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 7
61	88	PR Petersen, Ronald C.	Mayo Clinic	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 8
62	89	RR Reiter, Russel J.	University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 9
63	93	HJ Hartwig, John F.	Berkeley College of Chemistry	General Chemistry	Rank 3
64	94	XY Xia, Younan	Georgia Institute of Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 4
65	95	LD Lovley, Derek R.	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Microbiology	Rank 1
66	98	MD McClements, David Julian	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Food Science	Rank 1
67	99	HA Heeger, Alan	University of California, Santa Barbara	Applied Physics	Rank 7
68	100	MC Murray, Christopher J.L.	University of Washington	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 6
69	101	AP Anderson, Philip W.	Princeton University	General Physics	Rank 1
70	105	BG Buzsáki, György	NYU Grossman School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 11
71	106	WR Weissleder, Ralph	Massachusetts General Hospital	Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging	Rank 1
72	107	YR Yager, Ronald R.	Machine Intelligence Institute	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 5
73	108	ST Südhof, Thomas C.	Stanford University School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 12
74	110	ML Melton, L. Joseph	Mayo Clinic	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 4
75	111	GD Green, Douglas R.	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	Immunology	Rank 7
76	112	NE Nestler, Eric J.	Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 14
77	116	JW Jorgensen, William L.	Yale University	Chemical Physics	Rank 4
78	118	MT Moffitt, Terrie E.	Duke University	Psychiatry	Rank 3
79	119	HT Hunter, Tony	Salk Institute for Biological Studies	Developmental Biology	Rank 9
80	120	ID Ingber, Donald E.	Harvard Medical School	Developmental Biology	Rank 10
81	121	BP Bentler, Peter M.	University of California, Los Angeles	Social Sciences Methods	Rank 1
82	124	GJ Gross, James J.	Stanford University	Experimental Psychology	Rank 2
83	125	MB Maron, Barry J.	Tufts Medical Center	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 10
84	126	MR Medzhitov, Ruslan	Yale School of Medicine	Immunology	Rank 8
85	128	LJ LeDoux, Joseph	New York University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 15
86	129	AI Ajzen, Icek	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Social Psychology	Rank 5
87	130	HM Hallett, Mark	National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 16
88	131	ST Springer, Timothy	Harvard Medical School	Immunology	Rank 9
89	133	VD Vanderbilt, David	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	Applied Physics	Rank 8
90	134	RG Reaven, Gerald M.	Stanford University	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 5
91	136	BM Beal, M. Flint	Weill Cornell Medicine Feil Family Brain & Mind Research Institute	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 17
92	137	SJ Schwartz, Joel D.	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Toxicology	Rank 1
93	138	CK Chou, Kuo Chen	Gordon Life Science Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 5
94	140	JJ Jankovic, Joseph	Baylor College of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 18
95	141	HR Hynes, Richard O.	Howard Hughes Medical Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 12
96	142	AP Ajayan, Pulickel	Rice University	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 6
97	143	WS Weinberg, Steven	The University of Texas at Austin	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 3
98	148	PB Popkin, Barry M.	The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 1
99	149	PS Prusiner, Stanley B.	University of California, San Francisco	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 20
100	150	SR Steinman, Ralph M.	Rockefeller University	Immunology	Rank 10
No scientists match this filter.

Showing 1 to 100 of the first 100 Show

Paid plans

See all 81,159 scientists in the United States

You are seeing the first 100. 81,059 more are on the 2023 career-long list.

Ranks 101 to 81,159The 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

Career-long list2023

United Kingdom18,692 scientistsin 2023

Germany10,990 scientistsin 2023

China9,013 scientistsin 2023

Canada8,815 scientistsin 2023

Japan8,126 scientistsin 2023

Australia7,002 scientistsin 2023

Explore other countries

Career-long list2023

Brazil979 scientistsin 2023

Mexico352 scientistsin 2023

Argentina226 scientistsin 2023

Chile192 scientistsin 2023

Colombia54 scientistsin 2023

Puerto Rico27 scientistsin 2023

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

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

69,386 scientists affiliated with the United States are on the 2023 single-year list, and 81,159 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2023 career-long list, Harvard Medical School has the most listed scientists from the United States, with 1,081. It is followed by University of Washington with 1,077.

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 81,159 in 2023, a change of +19.3%.

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.