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

The United States has 84,209 scientists on the 2024 career-long Top 2% list, up 3.8% from 81,159 in 2023. That places the United States 1st in the world by number of listed scientists. Harvard Medical School has the most listed scientists (1,158), followed by University of Washington (1,147).

Single Year

71,460

+2,074 (+3.0%) vs 2023

Career Data

84,209

+3,050 (+3.8%) vs 2023

World rank by count

No change vs 2023

Institutes

7,820

-389 (-4.7%) vs 2023

Scientists in the United States on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 24% 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 list2024

Show the list

1Harvard Medical School1,158
2University of Washington1,147
3Stanford University1,082
4University of Michigan, Ann Arbor1,072
5University of California, Berkeley961
6University of California, San Francisco831
7University of California, San Diego826
8University of California, Los Angeles798
9Massachusetts Institute of Technology765
10University of California, Davis751

All 84,209 scientists

Career-long list2024

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	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	8	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	12	PJ Perdew, John P.	Tulane University	Applied Physics	Rank 2
7	14	RP Ridker, Paul	Harvard Medical School	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 1
8	15	KM Karin, Michael	UC San Diego School of Medicine	Developmental Biology	Rank 1
9	16	Bandura, Albert	Stanford University	Social Psychology	Rank 1
10	17	SG Semenza, Gregg L.	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 2
11	19	LP Libby, Peter	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 3
12	20	LR Langer, Robert	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 1
13	21	NM Newman, M. E.J.	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 1
14	22	IJ Ioannidis, John P.A.	Stanford University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 2
15	24	FJ Folkman, Judah	Harvard Medical School	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 1
16	26	HF Hu, Frank B.	Harvard Medical School	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 1
17	28	ZL Zadeh, Lotfi A.	University of California, Berkeley	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 1
18	29	JR Jain, Rakesh K.	Massachusetts General Hospital	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 2
19	30	MM Mattson, Mark P.	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 3
20	31	DC Dinarello, Charles A.	University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus	Immunology	Rank 2
21	33	SD Selkoe, Dennis J.	Harvard Medical School	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 4
22	35	WJ Wang, Joseph	University of California, San Diego	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 1
23	36	GJ Goodenough, John B.	The University of Texas at Austin	Applied Physics	Rank 3
24	37	TB Trost, Barry M.	Stanford University	General Chemistry	Rank 2
25	39	GS Grundy, Scott M.	UT Southwestern Medical Center	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 4
26	40	MJ Massagué, Joan	Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center	Developmental Biology	Rank 2
27	41	KW Kannel, William B.	National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 5
28	43	LE Lander, Eric S.	Broad Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 3
29	46	LR Lal, Rattan A.	The Ohio State University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 1
30	47	BD Bartel, David P.	Howard Hughes Medical Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 4
31	49	AA Alivisatos, A. Paul	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 3
32	50	BE Braunwald, Eugene	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 6
33	51	JA Jain, Anil K.	Michigan State University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 4
34	52	LC Lieber, Charles M.	Lieber Research Group	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 1
35	53	RJ Reed, John C.	Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 3
36	54	HM Holick, Michael F.	Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 2
37	55	RS Rosenberg, Steven A.	National Cancer Institute (NCI)	Immunology	Rank 4
38	56	NM Nei, Masatoshi	Pennsylvania State University	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 1
39	57	KE Koonin, Eugene V.	National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)	Developmental Biology	Rank 6
40	58	DE Diener, Ed	The University of Utah	Social Psychology	Rank 2
41	61	GE Giovannucci, Edward	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 3
42	62	TE Topol, Eric J.	Scripps Translational Science Institute	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 7
43	64	FN Ferrara, Napoleone	University of California, San Diego	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 4
44	65	TD Tilman, David	University of California, Santa Barbara	Ecology	Rank 1
45	68	WR Weinberg, Robert A.	Whitehead Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 7
46	69	KK Kendler, Kenneth S.	Virginia Commonwealth University	Psychiatry	Rank 2
47	70	MD McClements, David Julian	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Food Science	Rank 1
48	72	MK Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof	Carnegie Mellon University	Polymers	Rank 1
49	73	BD Barker, D.	Oregon Health & Science University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 5
50	74	OE Ostrom, Elinor	Indiana University Bloomington	Political Science & Public Administration	Rank 1
51	75	DR D'Agostino, Ralph B.	Wake Forest University School of Medicine	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 9
52	76	KG Koob, George F.	National Institutes of Health (NIH)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 5
53	77	DR DeFronzo, Ralph A.	The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 3
54	79	DD Donoho, David	Stanford University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 1
55	80	BA Barabási, Albert László	Harvard Medical School	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 2
56	84	CG Colditz, Graham A.	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 4
57	85	CJ Cummings, Jeffrey	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 6
58	86	KP Kamat, Prashant V.	University of Notre Dame	Chemical Physics	Rank 3
59	87	RR Reiter, Russel J.	The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 7
60	88	PR Petersen, Ronald	Mayo Clinic	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 8
61	91	TC Thompson, Craig B.	Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center	Immunology	Rank 5
62	92	AB Aggarwal, Bharat B.	Inflammation Research Center	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 6
63	94	MC Murray, Christopher J.L.	Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 6
64	97	GF Gage, Fred H.	Salk Institute for Biological Studies	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 9
65	99	HJ Hartwig, John F.	University of California, Berkeley	General Chemistry	Rank 3
66	102	XY Xia, Younan	Georgia Institute of Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 4
67	103	BG Buzsáki, György	New York University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 10
68	104	YR Yager, Ronald R.	Machine Intelligence Institute	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 5
69	105	HA Heeger, Alan	University of California, Santa Barbara	Applied Physics	Rank 7
70	106	GJ Gross, James J.	Stanford University	Experimental Psychology	Rank 2
71	108	BR Baumeister, Roy F.	The University of Queensland	Social Psychology	Rank 4
72	109	WR Weissleder, Ralph	Harvard Medical School	Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging	Rank 1
73	110	LD Lovley, Derek R.	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Microbiology	Rank 1
74	111	AP Anderson, Philip W.	Princeton University	General Physics	Rank 1
75	113	GD Green, Douglas R.	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	Immunology	Rank 7
76	114	ST Südhof, Thomas C.	Howard Hughes Medical Institute	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 12
77	115	AI Ajzen, Icek	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Social Psychology	Rank 5
78	116	NE Nestler, Eric J.	Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 13
79	117	JW Jorgensen, William L.	Yale University	Chemical Physics	Rank 4
80	118	BP Bentler, Peter M.	University of California, Los Angeles	Social Sciences Methods	Rank 1
81	121	ML Melton, L. Joseph	Mayo Clinic	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 4
82	122	ID Ingber, Donald E.	Harvard University	Developmental Biology	Rank 9
83	123	MR Medzhitov, Ruslan	Yale School of Medicine	Immunology	Rank 8
84	128	HT Hunter, Tony	Salk Institute for Biological Studies	Developmental Biology	Rank 10
85	129	SJ Schwartz, Joel	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Toxicology	Rank 1
86	130	MB Maron, Barry J.	Lahey Hospital & Medical Center	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 11
87	132	JJ Jankovic, Joseph	Baylor College of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 14
88	133	HM Hallett, Mark	National Institutes of Health (NIH)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 15
89	135	VD Vanderbilt, David	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	Applied Physics	Rank 8
90	137	LJ LeDoux, Joseph E.	New York University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 16
91	140	AP Ajayan, Pulickel M.	Rice University	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 6
92	142	PB Popkin, Barry M.	The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 1
93	144	HR Hynes, Richard O.	Howard Hughes Medical Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 12
94	147	ST Springer, Timothy A.	Harvard Medical School	Immunology	Rank 9
95	148	RG Reaven, Gerald	Stanford University School of Medicine	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 5
96	149	WS Weinberg, Steven	The University of Texas at Austin	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 3
97	150	BM Beal, M. Flint	Weill Cornell Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 18
98	151	CK Chou, Kuo Chen	Gordon Life Science Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 6
99	156	AB Ames, Bruce N.	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 7
100	159	RM Raichle, Marc	Washington University in St. Louis	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 20
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2024

United Kingdom19,646 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

Brazil1,077 scientistsin 2024

Mexico384 scientistsin 2024

Argentina240 scientistsin 2024

Chile214 scientistsin 2024

Colombia55 scientistsin 2024

Puerto Rico35 scientistsin 2024

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Frequently asked questions

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

71,460 scientists affiliated with the United States are on the 2024 single-year list, and 84,209 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2024 career-long list, Harvard Medical School has the most listed scientists from the United States, with 1,158. It is followed by University of Washington with 1,147.

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 84,209 in 2024, a change of +23.8%.

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.