Celebrating exceptional, community-wide excellence, based on rigorous evaluation and selection

LONDON, Nov. 12, 2025 -- Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT), a leading global provider of transformative intelligence, today released the Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list. This annual list recognizes researchers whose contributions have demonstrated broad and significant influence in their fields.

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Analysts from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) at Clarivate recognized 6,868 individuals with 7,131 awards* from more than 1,300 institutions in 60 countries and regions. The rigorous evaluation and selection process draws on data from the Web of Science Core Collection, and uses quantitative metrics and qualitative analysis to identify individuals whose work has had a genuine, global influence on their fields.

The list offers valuable insights into the global landscape of top research talent and identifies trends across countries, regions and institutions. The United States is the world leader, while Mainland China and the United Kingdom maintain their respective second and third positions on the list.

Bar Veinstein, President of Academia & Government at Clarivate, said: "We celebrate the Highly Cited Researchers 2025 for advancing innovation and inspiring the global research community to tackle society's greatest challenges with creativity and ingenuity. As research environments become more complex, we are committed to upholding the highest standards of research integrity by continuing to strengthen the foundations of our Highly Cited Researchers program."

A snapshot of the global research landscape in 2025 shows:

  • The U.S. leads globally with 2,670 awards, making up 37% of the global total—a modest increase from last year that reverses a previous downward trend.
  • One in five awards is designated to researchers based in Mainland China. It holds second place with 1,406 awards (20%), showing growth in absolute numbers but a slight decrease in world share. Among all institutions globally, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is the top institution with 258 awards.
  • The U.K. ranks third with 570 awards (8%), followed by Germany (363), Australia (312), and Canada (227).
  • Switzerland returns to the top 10, while Hong Kong SAR continues to grow its number of awards, rising from 134 in 2024 to 145 this year, claiming a 2% share of the global total.
  • This year's Highly Cited Researchers work in 60 countries and regions, yet 86% of awards are concentrated in just 10 of them − and 75% in the first five. This highlights a remarkable concentration of top global research talent.
  • Among the 3,562 researcher awards* in the 21 Essential Science Indicators (ESI) fields, 227 individuals appear in two or more ESI fields and 31 appear in three or more fields. This year, there are 3,569 recipients of cross-field awards.

Figure 1: Top 10 countries/regions by number of Highly Cited Researcher awards

Rank

Country/Region

Number of Highly

Cited Researcher

2025 awards

Global Share

(%)

Change in global

share from 2024

1

U.S.

2670

37.4

1.0

2

China Mainland

1406

19.7

-0.7

3

U.K.

570

8

-0.2

4

Germany

363

5.1

0.3

5

Australia

312

4.4

-0.1

6

Canada

227

3.2

0.2

7

Netherlands

194

2.7

0.0

8

Hong Kong SAR

145

2.0

0.1

9

Switzerland

130

1.8

0.3

10

France

121

1.7

-0.2

Figure 2: Top 10 homes to Highly Cited Researcher awards

Rank 

Organization name  

Country/region  

Number of Highly Cited

Researcher 2025 awards

1

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

China Mainland

258

2

Harvard University

U.S.

170

3

Stanford University

U.S.

141

4

Tsinghua University

China Mainland

91

5

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

U.S.

85

6

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

U.S.

84

7

Max Planck Society

Germany

66

8

University of Oxford

U.K.

59

8

University of Pennsylvania

U.S.

59

8

University College London

U.K.

59

In an era when the credibility of scientific literature faces growing scrutiny, the Highly Cited Researchers program has continuously evolved to integrate robust checks. In 2025, the program added additional layers of scrutiny, ensuring that the list meets the needs of the community by honoring individual achievement for broad and significant influence while reinforcing the values that underpin meaningful and responsible research.

The full Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list, analysis and evaluation and selection policy are available here.

Follow us on social media: @ClarivateAG / Clarivate for Academia & Government / #HighlyCited2025.

* 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 7,131.

Highly Cited Researchers 2025 evaluation, selection and publication process

The Highly Cited Researchers program continues to evolve, with enhanced screening processes to address issues such as hyper-prolific authorship, excessive self-citation, and anomalous citation patterns. This year, 432 potential awards were excluded due to hyper-prolific publication. The evaluation process applies robust algorithmic analysis and qualitative expert review, ensuring that only those whose work meets the highest standards of impact and integrity are recognized. The additional layers of scrutiny added this year enabled the reintroduction of the Mathematics category. For more information about our evaluation and selection process, please see here.

About Clarivate

Clarivate is a leading global provider of transformative intelligence. We offer enriched data, insights & analytics, workflow solutions and expert services in the areas of Academia & Government, Intellectual Property and Life Sciences & Healthcare. For more information, please visit www.clarivate.com

Media contact:

Helen Chung-Kesl, Manager, External Communications, Academia & Government

newsroom@clarivate.com 

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