Top 2% scientists search (Stanford/Elsevier, 2019-2026)
Type a name and see in seconds whether it is on the 2026 Stanford/Elsevier list: world rank, rank in their country and institution, and how it has evolved in every edition since 2019.
What the top 2% list is
Every year John Ioannidis (Stanford University) and Elsevier publish a database of the world's most cited researchers, built from Scopus. Each person is assigned to one of 174 subfields and ranked by a composite indicator, the c-score. The list includes the top 100,000 worldwide and anyone in the top 2% of their subfield.
The 2026 edition (version 9) came out on 7 October with Scopus data from August 2026. It has two lists: a career-long one, with citations from 1996 to 2025, and a single-year one, with citations received in 2025. Every earlier edition is here too, back to 2019 (citations from 2017), so you can follow each person over time.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the Stanford "World's Top 2% Scientists" ranking?
Yes. It is the database usually called the "Stanford ranking". John Ioannidis and Elsevier publish it, and the data come from Scopus. We query it as it is, without changing any value.
What is the difference between the career and the single-year list?
The career list counts citations from 1996 to 2025 to everything published. The single-year list counts only citations received in 2025, so it favours people at a strong moment even with fewer years behind them. You can be on one, both or neither.
What is the c-score?
It combines six citation measures: total citations, the h-index, the hm-index (which shares credit among co-authors) and citations to papers as single, first or last author. It is also calculated without self-citations.
I cannot find myself. Why?
Most likely you are not on the list, which covers less than 2% of authors. Scopus may also spell your name differently or split your profile into several. Try your surname alone and check your Scopus author profile.
How are the country and institution ranks calculated?
The official ranking only publishes the world rank in each subfield. Using the same data, we rank the people on the list from the same country or institution. Country and institution are the ones Scopus assigns to each person in 2026.
Source: Ioannidis JPA, Elsevier (2026). August 2026 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators". Mendeley Data, version 9. Licence CC BY-NC 3.0. doi:10.17632/btchxktzyw.9
Explore Labs is not affiliated with Stanford University or Elsevier. This tool is free.