U of A among top institutions in global research impact list
More than 500 researchers from the University of Arizona were ranked among the best in their fields.
The Stanford-Elsevier Top 2% Scientists list ranks institutions based on the amount of faculty members they have and the impact their research has made.
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More than 500 University of Arizona researchers have been recognized among the world’s top scientists in the 2025 Stanford–Elsevier Top 2% Scientists list. The annual ranking, developed jointly by Stanford University and Elsevier, a publishing company, lists faculty whose work is among the most cited around the world in 2024.
The list includes more than 236,000 researchers across 22 scientific fields and 174 subfields, placing the U of A among the top institutions worldwide by number of researchers recognized for their scholarship and impact.
The Stanford–Elsevier study reflects the career-long scientific impact or single-year output in a field of study of more than 6 million scientists as measured through standardized citation indicators using data from the Scopus database. Scopus is an abstract and citation database from Elsevier that includes peer-reviewed research from U.S. and international publishers.
The U of A’s strong showing demonstrates the productivity and global reach of its research. Of the 503 U of A researchers on the list, 50 are in the top 10% globally by ranking.
U of A researchers continue to address challenges and find solutions in a wide range of fields. The top fields U of A researchers were ranked in were: astronomy and astrophysics, optoelectronics and photonics, oncology and carcinogenesis, neurology and neurosurgery, pharmacology and pharmacy, optics, meteorology and atmospheric sciences, artificial intelligence and image processing, applied physics, cardiovascular system and hematology, and education.
“The Stanford-Elsevier study results underscore the University of Arizona’s deep culture of innovation and collaboration,” said Tomas Díaz de la Rubia, Senior Vice President for Research and Partnerships. “They reflect the dedication of our faculty and researchers, whose discoveries are advancing knowledge, shaping new industries and improving lives here in Arizona and around the world.”
The full Stanford-Elsevier dataset and institutional rankings are publicly available through Elsevier’s open data repository, which is updated annually to reflect the world’s most-cited scholars.