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

The United States has 90,922 scientists on the 2026 career-long Top 2% list, up 3.5% from 87,861 in 2025. That places the United States 1st in the world by number of listed scientists. College of Engineering has the most listed scientists (1,171), followed by Harvard Medical School (1,025).

Single Year

73,638

+618 (+0.8%) vs 2025

Career Data

90,922

+3,061 (+3.5%) vs 2025

World rank by count

No change vs 2025

Institutes

9,896

+347 (+3.6%) vs 2025

Scientists in the United States on the list, by year

The career-long count has grown 34% 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%

2026+3.5%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	59,785		68,018
2021	66,248	+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%
2026	73,638	+0.8%	90,922	+3.5%

Top 10 institutes in the United States

By number of listed scientists

Career-long list2026

Show the list

1College of Engineering1,171
2Harvard Medical School1,025
3University of Michigan, Ann Arbor845
4Stanford University722
5University of California, Berkeley722
6University of Washington721
7Mayo Clinic634
8University of California, Davis588
9University of California, Los Angeles578
10Massachusetts Institute of Technology573

All 90,922 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 States	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	4	WW Willett, Walter Churchill	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Epidemiology	Rank 1
2	6	KR Kessler, Ronald C.	Harvard University	Psychiatry	Rank 1
3	8	MB McEwen, Bruce S.	Rockefeller University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 2
4	9	WG Whitesides, G. 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	11	Bandura, Albert	Stanford University	Social Psychology	Rank 1
7	12	PJ Perdew, John	Tulane University School of Science and Engineering	Applied Physics	Rank 2
8	16	IJ Ioannidis, John P.A.	Stanford University School of Medicine	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 2
9	17	LP Libby, Peter A.	Harvard Medical School	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 2
10	20	SG Semenza, Gregg L.	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 2
11	21	KM Karin, Michael J.	Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 1
12	22	LR Langer, Robert Samuel M.	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Biomedical Engineering	Rank 1
13	23	NM Newman, Mark E.J.	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 1
14	24	HF Hu, Frank B.	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 1
15	28	MM Mattson, Mark P.	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 3
16	29	ZL Zadeh, Lotfi A.	University of California, Berkeley	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 2
17	30	JR Jain, Rakesh K.	Massachusetts General Hospital	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 1
18	31	LR Lal, Rattan A.	The Ohio State University	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 1
19	32	WJ Wang, Joseph	University of California, San Diego	Analytical Chemistry	Rank 1
20	33	DC Dinarello, C. A.	Olatec Therapeutics LLC	Immunology	Rank 2
21	36	FM Folkman, M. Judah	Boston Children's Hospital	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 2
22	38	TR Tibshirani, Robert John	Stanford University	Statistics & Probability	Rank 1
23	39	GJ Goodenough, John B.	Texas Materials Institute	Applied Physics	Rank 3
24	40	SD Selkoe, Dennis J.	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 4
25	41	MD McClements, David Julian	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Food Science	Rank 1
26	42	TB Trost, Barry M.	Stanford University	General Chemistry	Rank 2
27	44	DE Diener, Edward	University of Virginia	Social Psychology	Rank 2
28	46	GS Grundy, Scott M.	UT Southwestern Medical Center	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 4
29	48	MJ Massagué, Joan	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	Developmental Biology	Rank 3
30	49	JA Jain, Anil K.	Michigan State University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 4
31	50	LE Lander, Eric S.	Broad Institute	Developmental Biology	Rank 4
32	52	KW Kannel, William Bill	National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 5
33	53	BD Bartel, David P.	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Developmental Biology	Rank 5
34	54	BE Braunwald, Eugene B.	Brigham and Women's Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 6
35	55	KE Koonin, Eugene V.	National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)	Developmental Biology	Rank 6
36	56	TE Topol, Eric J.	Scripps Research Institute	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 7
37	57	PA Paul Alivisatos, A. Paul	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 3
38	59	TD Tilman, David G.	University of Minnesota Twin Cities	Ecology	Rank 1
39	60	HM Holick, Michael Francis	Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 2
40	62	RS Rosenberg, Steven Aaron	National Cancer Institute (NCI)	Immunology	Rank 4
41	63	LC Lieber, Charles M.	Harvard Medical School	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 1
42	65	GE Giovannucci, Edward Luciano	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 3
43	66	OE Ostrom, Elinor	Indiana University Bloomington	Political Science & Public Administration	Rank 1
44	67	MC Murray, Christopher J.L.	University of Washington	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 5
45	68	RS Rutter, Sir Michael	Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 1
46	69	GJ Gross, James J.	Stanford University	Experimental Psychology	Rank 1
47	71	NM Nei, Masatoshi	Pennsylvania State University	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 1
48	72	RJ Reed, John C.	Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 3
49	73	KK Kendler, Kenneth S.	Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics	Psychiatry	Rank 2
50	74	CJ Cummings, Jeffrey L.	Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 5
51	76	FN Ferrara, Napoleone M.A.	University of California San Diego	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 4
52	77	PR Petersen, Ronald C.	Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 6
53	79	DR D’Agostino, Ralph B.	Boston University	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 9
54	80	MK Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof	Carnegie Mellon University	Polymers	Rank 1
55	81	WR Weinberg, Robert A.	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Developmental Biology	Rank 7
56	83	KG Koob, George F.	National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 7
57	84	AI Ajzen, Icek	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Social Psychology	Rank 4
58	86	DR DeFronzo, Ralph Albarado	Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 3
59	87	BA Barabási, Albert Lásló	Northeastern University	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 2
60	91	BD Barker, David J.P.	Oregon Health & Science University	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 7
61	94	RD Rubin, Donald B.	Harvard University	Statistics & Probability	Rank 2
62	96	RR Reíter, Rüssel J.	The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 8
63	97	DD Donoho, David L.	Stanford University	Networking & Telecommunications	Rank 1
64	99	KP Kamat, Prashant V.	Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory	Chemical Physics	Rank 4
65	101	HJ Hartwig, John F.	Berkeley College of Chemistry	General Chemistry	Rank 3
66	102	AB Aggarwal, Bharat Bhushan	Inflammation Research Center	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 5
67	103	BG Buzsáki, Gÿorgy	NYU Grossman School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 9
68	104	YR Yager, Ronald R.	Iona College	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 6
69	105	CG Colditz, Graham A.	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 6
70	108	TC Thompson, Craig B.	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	Developmental Biology	Rank 9
71	110	MA Manthiram, Arumugam	Texas Materials Institute	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 4
72	111	BP Bentler, Peter M.	University of California, Los Angeles	Social Sciences Methods	Rank 1
73	112	GD Green, Douglas R.	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	Immunology	Rank 6
74	113	GY Gogotsi, Yury G.	Drexel University	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 5
75	114	GF Gage, Fred H.	Salk Institute for Biological Studies	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 10
76	115	XY Xia, Younan	Georgia Institute of Technology	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 6
77	118	MT Moffitt, Terrie Edith	Duke University	Psychiatry	Rank 4
78	119	WR Weissleder, R.	Harvard Medical School	Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging	Rank 1
79	120	Acemoglu, Daron	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Economics	Rank 1
80	122	ST Südhof, Thomas Christian	Stanford University School of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 11
81	123	AP Anderson, Philip Warren	Santa Fe Institute	General Physics	Rank 1
82	125	HA Heeger, Alan J.	University of California, Santa Barbara	Applied Physics	Rank 7
83	126	JW Jorgensen, William L.	Yale University	Chemical Physics	Rank 5
84	128	NE Nestler, Eric J.	Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 13
85	129	ID Ingber, Donald E.	Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences	Developmental Biology	Rank 10
86	131	MB Maron, Barry J.	Lahey Hospital & Medical Center	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 11
87	132	JJ Jankovic, Joseph J.	Baylor College of Medicine	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 14
88	135	MR Medzhitov, Ruslan M.	Yale School of Medicine	Immunology	Rank 7
89	136	AP Ajayan, Pulickel Madhava	Rice University	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	Rank 8
90	138	HM HALLETT, MARK	National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 15
91	141	TD Teece, David J.	University of California, Berkeley	Business & Management	Rank 1
92	142	VD Vanderbilt, David H.	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	Applied Physics	Rank 8
93	144	PB Popkin, Barry Michael	Department of Nutrition	Nutrition & Dietetics	Rank 2
94	146	SJ Schwartz, Joel D.	Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health	Toxicology	Rank 1
95	149	ML Melton, Lee Joseph	Mayo Clinic	Endocrinology & Metabolism	Rank 4
96	153	LJ LeDoux, Joseph E.	New York University	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 17
97	154	GS Greenland, Sander	University of California, Los Angeles	Epidemiology	Rank 3
98	155	BA Beck, Aaron T.	University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine	Clinical Psychology	Rank 1
99	156	VN Volkow, N. D.	National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 18
100	159	MJ Morris, John C.	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis	Neurology & Neurosurgery	Rank 19
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Countries with a similar count

Career-long list2026

United Kingdom21,350 scientists

China14,583 scientists

Germany12,809 scientists

Canada10,063 scientists

Japan9,097 scientists

Australia8,551 scientists

Explore other countries

Career-long list2026

Brazil1,304 scientists

Mexico461 scientists

Argentina279 scientists

Chile251 scientists

Colombia81 scientists

Puerto Rico56 scientists

All countries on the world map

Frequently asked questions

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

73,638 scientists affiliated with the United States are on the 2026 single-year list, and 90,922 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2026 career-long list, College of Engineering has the most listed scientists from the United States, with 1,171. It is followed by Harvard Medical School with 1,025.

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 90,922 in 2026, a change of +33.7%.

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.