Concentration of top talent with 10 countries/regions representing over 80% of list
London, U.K. November 15, 2023. Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT), a global leader in connecting people and organizations to intelligence they can trust to transform their world, today revealed its 2023 list of Highly Cited Researchers™ – influential researchers at universities, research institutes and commercial organizations around the world who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their field(s) of research.
Analysts at the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)™ have recognized 6,849 Highly Cited Researchers in 2023, from more than 1,300 institutions in 67 nations and regions. The evaluation and selection process draws on data from the Web of Science™ citation index, together with analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the ISI at Clarivate™.
Bar Veinstein, President of Academia & Government at Clarivate said: “We celebrate the Highly Cited Researchers whose contributions transform our world by helping to make it healthier, more sustainable and more secure. Recognition of Highly Cited Researchers not only validates research excellence but also enhances reputation, fosters collaboration, and informs resource allocation, acting as a beacon for academic institutions and commercial organizations.”
This year the evaluation and selection process for Highly Cited Researchers has evolved as we respond to a rise in threats to research integrity. ISI analysts first reviewed Highly Cited Papers™ from the last decade to create a list of preliminary candidates. Enhanced qualitative filters were then used to identify publication anomalies including extreme levels of hyper-authorship, excessive self-citation, or unusual patterns of group citation activity, which warrant exclusion from the list.
David Pendlebury, Head of Research Analysis at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate said: “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 changes in the publishing landscape. Just as we have applied stringent standards and transparent selection criteria to identify trusted journals, we have evolved our evaluation and selection policies for our annual Highly Cited Researchers program to address the challenges of an increasingly complex and polluted scholarly record.”
The key findings for 2023 show:
- 6,849 individual researchers from institutions in 67 countries/regions have been named this year, but 83.8% are based in just 10 countries and 72.7% in the top five, a remarkable concentration of top talent.
- Some extraordinary researchers are recognized in multiple Essential Science Indicators™ (ESI) research fields: 238 named in two fields, 21 named in three fields, four named in four fields, and one named in five fields. Their achievements are truly exceptional and indicate broad, multidisciplinary influence among their peers.
- This year 2,669 Highly Cited Researcher designations were given to researchers at institutions in the United States, which amounts to 37.5% of the group, down from 43.3% in 2018. While the slow downward loss of share continues for U.S.-based Highly Cited Researchers, the U.S. clearly still leads the world in research influence.
- Mainland China is second this year, as it has been for several years, with 1,275 Highly Cited Researcher designations, or 17.9%, up from 7.9% in 2018. In five years, Mainland China has more than doubled its world share of the Highly Cited Researcher population. This reflects a transformational rebalancing of scientific and scholarly contributions at the top level through the globalization of research.
- Among all institutions, including governmental and other types of research organizations, the Chinese Academy of Sciences heads the list with 270 Highly Cited Researcher recognitions, up from 228 last year.Other top-ranked governmental or non-university institutions include the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (105), Max Planck Society (59), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (49) and the Broad Institute (27).
Figure 1: Highly Cited Researcher 2023 designations by country/region
| Ranking | Country/Region | Number Highly Cited Researchers | World share % | Change % share from 2022 |
| 1 | United States | 2,669 | 37.5 | -0.8 |
| 2 | China Mainland | 1,275 | 17.9 | 1.7 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 574 | 8.1 | 0.1 |
| 4 | Germany | 336 | 4.7 | -0.4 |
| 5 | Australia | 321 | 4.5 | -0.2 |
| 6 | Canada | 218 | 3.1 | 0 |
| 7 | Netherlands | 195 | 2.7 | -0.2 |
| 8 | France | 139 | 2 | 0.1 |
| 9 | Hong Kong | 120 | 1.7 | 0.3 |
| 10 | Italy | 115 | 1.6 | 0.1 |
Figure 2: Highly Cited Researcher 2023 designations by institution
| Ranking | Institution and Country/Region | Number Highly Cited Researchers |
| 1 | Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Mainland | 270 |
| 2 | Harvard University, United States | 237 |
| 3 | Stanford University, United States | 126 |
| 4 | National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States | 105 |
| 5 | Tsinghua University, China Mainland | 78 |
| 6 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States | 73 |
| 7 | University of California San Diego, United States | 71 |
| 8 | University of Pennsylvania, United States | 63 |
| 9 | University of Oxford, United Kingdom | 62 |
| 10 | Max Planck Society, Germany | 59 |
The full Highly Cited Researchers 2023 list, analysis and evaluation and selection policy are available here.
Follow us on social media: @ClarivateAG / Clarivate for Academia & Government / #HighlyCited2023.
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Our evaluation and selection process for Highly Cited Researchers 2023
The Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate is an annual recognition of influential scientists and social scientists worldwide who have made significant contributions to their fields. This year, 7,125 Highly Cited Researcher 2023 designations were issued to 6,849 individuals. The number of awards exceeds the number of unique individuals because some researchers are recognized in more than one Essential Science Indicators (ESI) field of research. Our analysis of countries/regions and institutions counts designated awards and is thus based on the total of 7,125. The 2023 list features 3,793 Highly Cited Researcher recognitions across 20 fields, with an additional 3,332 recognitions for outstanding performance in multiple fields (cross-field). These individuals represent just 1 in 1,000 researchers globally. The selection process involves rigorous evaluation and curation of data from Highly Cited Papers in trusted science and social sciences journals indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded™ and Social Sciences Citation Index™ during the 11-year period 2012 to 2022 and involves the review of 188,500 Highly Cited Papers across various fields.
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Media contact:
Rebecca Krahenbuhl, External Communications Manager, Academia & Government
