{"id":289698,"date":"2026-02-26T07:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T07:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/?p=289698"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:41:54","slug":"the-top-70-institutions-home-to-highly-cited-researchers-2021-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/blog\/the-top-70-institutions-home-to-highly-cited-researchers-2021-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Research powerhouses: The top 70 institutions home to Highly Cited Researchers (2021-2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This analysis identifies the 70 top research institutions worldwide most frequently home to Highly Cited Researchers over the last five years, showing where research impact is most concentrated.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since 2001, Clarivate has identified Highly Cited Researchers<\/a> \u2014 an elite group of scientists and social scientists whose research published over the last decade has demonstrated global impact. They represent roughly 1 in 1,000 of the world\u2019s investigators in biomedical, physical, and social sciences research. Clarivate uses both quantitative and qualitative methods<\/a> to identify these \u2018influentials\u2019, with around 7,000 researcher awards each year.<\/p>\n

Last year we highlighted 405 individuals<\/a> who were selected every year from 2014 through 2024, in one or more specific fields or for cross-disciplinary contributions. This record represents outstanding and statistically exceptional individual performance worthy of acknowledgement.<\/p>\n

Shifting the focus to institutions<\/h3>\n

This year our focus turns to institutions \u2014 those that were consistently home to the largest number of Highly Cited Researcher awards over the last five years. We identified 70 institutions that averaged a 0.3% share or more of the Highly Cited Researcher population between 2021 and 2025.<\/p>\n

As with other ISI analyses, the size of the list is determined by an underlying value \u2014 not a target rank. Here, a 0.3% share of the Highly Cited Researcher population determined the cutoff, resulting in 70 institutions for this five\u2011year period. In practice, this means each institution fielded around 20 or more Highly Cited Researcher awards annually.<\/p>\n

\n

Although the top 70 institutions account for only 3.3% of all institutions represented in the Highly Cited Researcher data, they account for 43.3% of all Highly Cited Researcher awards.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The concentration becomes even more marked as thresholds rise.<\/p>\n

Concentration at the very top<\/h3>\n

The top 21 institutions \u2014 each with a share of 0.7% or more, or around 50 or more researcher awards annually \u2014 account for 23.2% of all Highly Cited Researcher awards. And just six institutions, each with at least a 1% share, collectively account for 12.1% of the total.<\/p>\n

These six are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (3.6%)<\/li>\n
  • Harvard University (3.2%)<\/li>\n
  • Stanford University (1.8%)<\/li>\n
  • U.S. National Institutes of Health (1.4%)<\/li>\n
  • Tsinghua University (1.1%)<\/li>\n
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1.0%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Such concentration, though remarkable, reflects the scale and capacity of these institutions. They are large research systems that provide education, infrastructure, and sustained investment. They attract top researchers, teachers, and trainees, which in turn strengthens their leadership position and creates a reinforcing cycle of excellence.<\/p>\n

    Top 70 institutions<\/h3>\n

    Top 70 institutions by the average share of Highly Cited Researcher awards, 2021-2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Rank<\/th>\nInstitution name<\/th>\nCountry\/ Region<\/th>\nAverage share<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
    1<\/td>\nChinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)<\/td>\nChina Mainland<\/td>\n3.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2<\/td>\nHarvard University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n3.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3<\/td>\nStanford University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n1.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    4<\/td>\nNational Institutes of Health (NIH)<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n1.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    5<\/td>\nTsinghua University<\/td>\nChina Mainland<\/td>\n1.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    6<\/td>\nMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n1.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    7<\/td>\nMax Planck Society<\/td>\nGermany<\/td>\n0.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    8=<\/td>\nUniversity of California Berkeley<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    8=<\/td>\nUniversity of California San Diego<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    8=<\/td>\nUniversity of Oxford<\/td>\nUnited Kingdom<\/td>\n0.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    8=<\/td>\nUniversity of Pennsylvania<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nColumbia University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nJohns Hopkins University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nUniversity College London<\/td>\nUnited Kingdom<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nUniversity of California San Francisco<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nUniversity of Cambridge<\/td>\nUnited Kingdom<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nUniversity of Hong Kong<\/td>\nHong Kong SAR<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nUniversity of Washington Seattle<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nWashington University (WUSTL)<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    12=<\/td>\nYale University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    22=<\/td>\nCornell University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    22=<\/td>\nNanyang Technological University<\/td>\nSingapore<\/td>\n0.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    22=<\/td>\nPeking University<\/td>\nChina Mainland<\/td>\n0.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    22=<\/td>\nUniversity of California Los Angeles<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    22=<\/td>\nUniversity of Queensland<\/td>\nAustralia<\/td>\n0.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    22=<\/td>\nZhejiang University<\/td>\nChina Mainland<\/td>\n0.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nImperial College London<\/td>\nUnited Kingdom<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nMayo Clinic<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nNational University of Singapore<\/td>\nSingapore<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nNorthwestern University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nUniversity of Melbourne<\/td>\nAustralia<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nUniversity of New South Wales Sydney<\/td>\nAustralia<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nUniversity of North Carolina Chapel Hill<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    28=<\/td>\nUniversity of Toronto<\/td>\nCanada<\/td>\n0.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nBeijing Institute of Technology<\/td>\nChina Mainland<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nBroad Institute<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nCity University of Hong Kong<\/td>\nHong Kong SAR<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nDuke University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nFudan University<\/td>\nChina Mainland<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nGhent University<\/td>\nBelgium<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nKing Saud University<\/td>\nSaudi Arabia<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nKing’s College London<\/td>\nUnited Kingdom<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nNew York University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nShanghai Jiao Tong University<\/td>\nChina Mainland<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nUniversity of Chicago<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nUniversity of Edinburgh<\/td>\nUnited Kingdom<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nUniversity of Maryland College Park<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nUniversity of Michigan<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nUniversity of Minnesota Twin Cities<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nUniversity of Sydney<\/td>\nAustralia<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nUtrecht University<\/td>\nNetherlands<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    37=<\/td>\nWeizmann Institute of Science<\/td>\nIsrael<\/td>\n0.4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nAdelaide University<\/td>\nAustralia<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nCalifornia Institute of Technology<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nETH Zurich<\/td>\nSwitzerland<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nKU Leuven<\/td>\nBelgium<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nLeiden University<\/td>\nNetherlands<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nMonash University<\/td>\nAustralia<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nPrinceton University<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nUniversite Paris Cite<\/td>\nFrance<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nUniversite Paris Saclay<\/td>\nFrance<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nUniversity of British Columbia<\/td>\nCanada<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nUniversity of California Santa Cruz<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nUniversity of Pittsburgh<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nUniversity of Southern California<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nUniversity of Texas Austin<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nUTMD Anderson Cancer Center<\/td>\nUnited States<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    55=<\/td>\nWageningen University and Research<\/td>\nNetherlands<\/td>\n0.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    What types of institutions are represented?<\/h3>\n

    Universities or medical schools dominate the list, accounting for 65 of the 70 institutions. The only government research organizations represented are the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (with the University of Science and Technology of China and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences counted under CAS). Independent research institutions include the Max Planck Society, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Broad Institute. Thus, universities are overwhelmingly where Highly Cited Researchers do their work.<\/p>\n

    Global distribution of top-performing institutions<\/h3>\n

    When extending this institutional analysis to countries\/regions, we again see strong concentration (see Figure 1). Of the 70 institutions, 34 are in the United States, seven in Mainland China, and six each in Australia and the United Kingdom. Among the top 21, the United States has 14, the United Kingdom three, and Mainland China two. The top six institutions are represented by the United States with four, and Mainland China with two.<\/p>\n

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