2024 Analysis
Transforming human ingenuity into our world’s greatest breakthroughs
“As the need for high-quality data from rigorously selected sources is becoming ever more important, we have adapted and responded to technological advances and shifts in the publishing landscape. Just as we have applied stringent standards and transparent selection criteria to identify trusted journals in the Web of Science™, we continue to refine our evaluation and selection policies for our annual Highly Cited Researchers™ program to address the challenges of an increasingly complex and polluted scholarly record.”
– David Pendlebury
Head of Research Analysis at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate
The Highly Cited Researchers 2024 list identifies and celebrates individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research. Through rigorous selection criteria and comprehensive analysis, we recognize researchers whose exceptional and community-wide contributions shape the future of science, technology and academia globally.
This program also emphasizes our commitment to research integrity. Our evaluation and selection process continues to evolve with filters to address hyper-authorship, excessive self-citation, anomalous citation patterns and more, ensuring that recognized researchers meet the benchmarks we require for this program.
An exploration of this global landscape of top-tier research talent provides us with insights on global research and innovation trends.
This year Clarivate™ has awarded 6,886 Highly Cited Researcher designations to 6,636 individuals. Some researchers have been recognized in more than one Essential Science Indicators™ (ESI) field, resulting in more designations than individual awardees. This analysis, which includes the distribution of designations across nations and institutions, reflects the impact of these 6,886 appearances, distributed across fields, in accordance with the size of each.
The table below summarizes the number of researcher designations by field of research and the cross-field category.
Highly Cited Researcher awards by ESI field and cross-field category
| Essential Science Indicators (ESI) field | Number of Highly Cited Researcher awards |
|---|---|
| Agricultural Sciences | 106 |
| Biology and Biochemistry | 247 |
| Chemistry | 218 |
| Clinical Medicine | 443 |
| Computer Science | 87 |
| Cross-Field | 3,326 |
| Economics and Business | 41 |
| Engineering | 108 |
| Environment and Ecology | 141 |
| Geosciences | 175 |
| Immunology | 193 |
| Materials Science | 232 |
| Microbiology | 192 |
| Molecular Biology and Genetics | 198 |
| Neuroscience and Behavior | 231 |
| Pharmacology and Toxicology | 150 |
| Physics | 151 |
| Plant and Animal Science | 194 |
| Psychiatry and Psychology | 184 |
| Social Sciences | 204 |
| Space Science | 65 |
| Total | 6,886 |
This year’s Highly Cited Researchers work in 59 countries and regions, yet 85.4% are concentrated in just 10 of them − and 74.4% in the first five alone − highlighting a remarkable concentration of top global research talent.
Our analysis is based on primary researcher affiliations, drawn from the scholarly record (i.e., the contact details on their Highly Cited Papers™ in ESI), combined with updates requested by the researchers themselves.
The United States still has the highest concentration of Highly Cited Researchers in the world with 2,507 in 2024. This amounts to 36.4% of the group, though this share has gradually declined – from 37.5% in 2023, 38.3% in 2022, 39.7% in 2021, 41.5% in 2020, 44.0% in 2019 and 43.3% in 2018.
Mainland China maintains its second position again this year, with 1,405 Highly Cited Researchers (20.4%), marking a significant rise from 17.9% in 2023, 16.2% in 2022, 14.2% in 2021, 12.1% in 2020, 10.2% in 2019 and 7.9% in 2018. Mainland China has more than doubled its share of the Highly Cited Researchers population since 2018.
The United Kingdom, with 563 researchers (8.2%), is in third spot again this year, followed by Germany (332), Australia (313), Canada (206), the Netherlands (185), Hong Kong (134), France (126) and Singapore (108), which joins the top 10 this year, replacing Italy.
These figures do not include instances in which a Highly Cited Researcher opted to list a Research Fellowship affiliation rather than a permanent home base as their primary institution, since we do not recognize a Research Fellowship as a primary affiliation when a researcher has a permanent, tenured position elsewhere.
20.4%
Of Highly Cited Researchers 2024 based in Mainland China
1.1%
Loss in share of Highly Cited Researchers for the United States this year
We continue to observe a notable increase in the share of Highly Cited Researchers based in Mainland China in recent years. Since world share is a zero-sum metric, Mainland China’s growth in its number of Highly Cited Researchers has corresponded with declines in other countries and regions. This year, the United States saw a continued decline in share, reflecting a 6.9% decrease since 2018. This contrasts with a 12.5% increase for Mainland China since 2018. The United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands have all maintained their respective ranks from 2023, with minimal fluctuations in their percentage shares. Hong Kong and France traded places, with Hong Kong rising to eighth position and France shifting to ninth.
Hong Kong has seen strong growth in its number of Highly Cited Researchers, rising to 134, now claiming a 1.9% share of the global total. Together, Hong Kong and Mainland China increased their combined world share of Highly Cited Researchers by 2.7% in 2024.
The headline story continues to be one of sizeable gains for Mainland China and Hong Kong, alongside a gradual loss of share for the United States. This trend reflects a rebalancing of top-tier scientific and scholarly contributions, underscoring the globalization of the research landscape.
Top 10 countries/regions by number of Highly Cited Researcher awards
| Rank | Country/Region | Number of Highly Cited Researcher 2024 awards | World Share (%) | Change in world share from 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | U.S. | 2,507 | 36.4 | -1.1 |
| 2 | Mainland China | 1,405 | 20.4 | 2.5 |
| 3 | U.K. | 563 | 8.2 | 0.1 |
| 4 | Germany | 332 | 4.8 | 0.1 |
| 5 | Australia | 313 | 4.5 | 0 |
| 6 | Canada | 206 | 3.0 | -0.1 |
| 7 | The Netherlands | 185 | 2.7 | 0 |
| 8 | Hong Kong | 134 | 1.9 | 0.2 |
| 9 | France | 126 | 1.8 | -0.2 |
| 10 | Singapore | 108 | 1.6 | 0.1 |
In the 2024 ranking of institutions with the highest number of affiliated Highly Cited Researchers, 50 organizations − including universities, government agencies or other research institutes − are home to 26 or more Highly Cited Researchers. Harvard leads among universities, as it has in past years, with 231 Highly Cited Researchers, well ahead of third-ranked Stanford University, with 133.
In the United States, some states have an especially high concentration of Highly Cited Researchers, reflecting a diverse array of influential research institutions. In California, this includes universities like Stanford, with 133 awardees, along with the ten campuses of the University of California system, which also perform exceptionally well. California is home to organizations conducting groundbreaking research across fields at leading companies and medical institutions specializing in cancer care, biotechnology, solar technology and IT.
Massachusetts, known for its world-leading academic institutions around Boston, also has a high concentration of individuals named to our list this year. The Boston area hosts top-tier institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, each contributing to its strong global research impact.
Among all institutions, including governmental and other types of research organizations, the Chinese Academy of Sciences heads the list with 308 Highly Cited Researchers, up from 270 in 2023 and 228 in 2022. We include the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) which is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as indicated in the Organization-Enhanced data in the Web of Science . USTC itself is home to 37 Highly Cited Researchers.
Other leading governmental or non-university institutions include the U.S. National Institutes of Health (90), the Max Planck Society in Germany (56), and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the U.S. (44).
522
Highly Cited Researcher awardees based at institutions in California
Top 50 homes to Highly Cited Researchers
| Rank | Organization name | Country/region | Number of Highly Cited Researcher 2024 awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chinese Academy of Sciences | Mainland China | 308 |
| 2 | Harvard University | U.S. | 231 |
| 3 | Stanford University | U.S. | 133 |
| 4 | Tsinghua University | Mainland China | 92 |
| 5 | National Institutes of Health | U.S. | 90 |
| 6 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | U.S. | 76 |
| 7 | University of Oxford | U.K. | 61 |
| 8 | University College London | U.K. | 60 |
| 9 | Max Planck Society | Germany | 56 |
| 10 | University of California San Diego | U.S. | 55 |
| 10 | University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 55 |
| 12 | Peking University | Mainland China | 52 |
| 12 | University of California Berkeley | U.S. | 52 |
| 12 | University of California San Francisco | U.S. | 52 |
| 12 | University of Pennsylvania | U.S. | 52 |
| 12 | Zhejiang University | Mainland China | 52 |
| 17 | Yale University | U.S. | 51 |
| 18 | Columbia University | U.S. | 49 |
| 19 | Johns Hopkins University | U.S. | 48 |
| 19 | Washington University St Louis | U.S. | 48 |
| 21 | University of Cambridge | U.K. | 46 |
| 22 | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | U.S. | 44 |
| 23 | National University of Singapore | Singapore | 43 |
| 23 | University of California Los Angeles | U.S. | 43 |
| 25 | University of Washington | U.S. | 41 |
| 26 | University of Melbourne | Australia | 39 |
| 26 | University of Queensland | Australia | 39 |
| 28 | Nanyang Technological University | Singapore | 38 |
| 29 | City University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 36 |
| 29 | Imperial College London | U.K. | 36 |
| 31 | Fudan University | Mainland China | 35 |
| 31 | Northwestern University | U.S. | 35 |
| 31 | University of Edinburgh | U.K. | 35 |
| 34 | University of Toronto | Canada | 34 |
| 35 | Cornell University | U.S. | 33 |
| 35 | King's College London | U.K. | 33 |
| 35 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | Mainland China | 33 |
| 35 | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill | U.S. | 33 |
| 35 | University of New South Wales Sydney | Australia | 33 |
| 40 | Beijing Institute of Technology | Mainland China | 32 |
| 40 | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | U.S. | 32 |
| 40 | Mayo Clinic | U.S. | 32 |
| 43 | University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | U.S. | 30 |
| 44 | Utrecht University | The Netherlands | 29 |
| 45 | KU Leuven | Belgium | 27 |
| 45 | University of Maryland College Park | U.S. | 27 |
| 45 | University of Minnesota | U.S. | 27 |
| 45 | University of Pittsburgh | U.S. | 27 |
| 45 | Weizmann Institute of Science | Israel | 27 |
| 50 | Université Paris Cité | France | 26 |
308
Highly Cited Researchers are from the research institutions aligned to the Chinese Academy of Sciences
It is notable that in the Top 50 there are now six universities based in Mainland China and two in Hong Kong: Tsinghua University (90) rose from fifth to fourth this year, while the University of Hong Kong (55) is now tied at tenth. Other prominent institutions include Peking University (52) and Zhejiang University (52), tied at twelfth; City University of Hong Kong (36), tied at twenty-ninth; Fudan University (35), tied at thirty-first; Shanghai Jiao Tong University (33), new to the top 50 this year and tied at thirty-fifth; and Beijing Institute of Technology (32), tied at fortieth. Collectively, these institutions account for 387 recognitions of Highly Cited Researchers, or 5.6% of the list.
The top 10 ranked institutions are mostly consistent with the 2023 list, although some shifts occurred. The University of Pennsylvania (52) slipped from eighth to twelfth, replaced by University College London (60), which rose from twelfth to eighth. Oxford (61) climbed two places, from ninth to seventh, and the Max Planck Society (56) moved up one place, from tenth to ninth. The University of Hong Kong (55), tied at tenth, rose from thirteenth last year. Institutions that lost ground included the US National Institutes of Health (90) and the University of California San Diego (55), which fell from fourth to fifth and from seventh to tenth, respectively.
Several institutions saw double-digit improvements in rank, including Zhejiang University, up 20 places, rising from thirty-second last year to twelfth; City University of Hong Kong, rising 15, from forty-fourth to twenty-ninth; and Peking University, which rose 13 places, from twenty-fifth to twelfth. By contrast, two U.S. institutions experienced notable declines of 10 or more places: Cornell University dropped from twenty-fifth last year to thirty-fifth and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai fell from twenty-ninth to fortieth this year.
Newcomers to the top 50 this year were Shanghai Jiao Tong University (33), at thirty-fifth, and KU Leuven, University of Pittsburgh and Weizmann Institute of Science (each with 27) tied at forty-fifth.
The top 50 ranked institutions continue to reflect the dominance of the United States: United States (24), Mainland China (7), United Kingdom (6), Australia (3), Hong Kong (2), Singapore (2), and Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, and the Netherlands (all 1 apiece).
Highly Cited Researchers identified in the cross-field category
This is the seventh year we have sought to identify researchers with cross-field impact – those who contribute multiple Highly Cited Papers in several different fields but do not register enough in any single ESI field to qualify for selection.
It is important to distinguish cross-field selection from selection in more than one ESI field. Both classes of individuals have demonstrated significant research influence across fields. Cross-field researchers qualify for selection based on the sum of their Highly Cited Papers and citations that meets a normalized threshold equivalent to selection in any field – whereas those named in multiple fields qualify outright in each field.
Highly Cited Researchers identified in the multiple ESI fields
Among the 3,560 researcher designations in the 20 ESI fields, 216 (6.1%) appear in two ESI fields and 22 (just 0.6%) appear in three or more fields. Recipients of cross-field awards, of which there are 3,326, qualify in only one category or else they would have been chosen in one or more ESI fields.
22
Highly Cited Researchers appear in three or more fields
Upholding research integrity
Trust in research is increasingly at risk, creating additional challenges for the research community. As the need for high-quality data from rigorously selected sources is becoming ever more important, the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)™ has had to respond to technological advances and shifts in the publishing landscape when selecting individuals for the Highly Cited Researchers program.
Just as we have applied stringent standards and transparent selection criteria to identify trusted journals in the Web of Science, we continue to refine our evaluation and selection policies for our annual Highly Cited Researchers program to address the challenges of an increasingly complex and polluted scholarly record.
Some aspects of our evaluation are straight-forward. To credit a single author among many tens or hundreds listed on a paper strains reason, so we eliminate Highly Cited Papers with more than 30 authors or with explicit group authorship as defined by publishers from our analysis. In addition, retracted papers are not considered in our evaluation and individuals formally found to have engaged in scientific misconduct by their institution, a government agency, funding agency or a publisher are not eligible for selection to this program.
Our evaluation process has evolved to include additional layers of scrutiny each year. For our 2024 analysis, we have introduced more filters and checks to examine an expanding set of factors that signal potential integrity concerns, including, but not limited to:
- Extreme levels of hyper-authorship: We expect authors named on a paper to have made a meaningful contribution to any paper which bears their name and the publication of multiple papers per week over prolonged periods strains conventional norms of authorship and academic contribution.
- Excessive self-citation: We screen for Highly Cited Papers with extreme levels of self-citation, isolating and evaluating these outliers for each ESI field. We also look for evidence of prodigious, very recent publications that may represent research of incremental value, accompanied by high levels of author self-citation.
- Unusual collaborative citation patterns: Excessive reliance on citations from co-authors can suggest limited influence beyond a researcher’s immediate network; for example, if more than half of a researcher’s citations derive from co-authors, we consider this suggests a narrow influence, rather than the broad community recognition we seek to reflect.
ISI analysts will continue to apply additional filters to flag and investigate anomalous publication and citation patterns. As a result of recent refinements, many candidates did not pass our stringent evaluation and selection criteria. This number increased from 500 in 2022, to more than 1,000 in 2023, approaching 2,000 in 2024. These figures can only be described as sobering and they highlight the need for deep qualitative review alongside any quantitative assessments in analyzing the research literature.
We explicitly call upon the research community to safeguard integrity through thorough peer review and adherence to other internationally recognized practices to maintain the integrity of research and its publication.
