Over 6,200 Indian scientists in Stanford’s Top 2% list; IITs and IISc lead the way

IITs continue to dominate the list with older IITs like the IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIT Roorkee and IIT Kanpur having the highest number of faculty members in the list.

India’s share in the global list of top scientists has gone up sharply this year. A total of 6,239 Indian scientists feature in the 2025 Stanford University–Elsevier Top 2% list, compared to 5,352 last year. The rise of nearly 900 names shows a growth of about 17 per cent.

The list is based on research output and citation impact and is issued in two parts — for career-long contributions and for the past year.

IITs take the lead

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) continue to dominate the list with older IITs like the IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, IIT Roorkee and IIT Kanpur having the highest number of faculty members among Indian scientists in the Stanford list.

More than 750 IIT faculty are on the list this year from IITs alone.

IISc, NITs and universities also feature

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru is the top contributor outside the IIT system, with more than 130 scientists. The National Institutes of Technology (NITs) have also improved their presence.

Academics from multi-disciplinary universities, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Delhi University and Jadavpur University, research centres like the BARC and medical colleges such as AIIMS New Delhi, are also in the list of top two percent scientists.

Top Indian Institutions (2024 vs 2025)

Wider research base

The rise in number of Indian institutions shows that Indian research is becoming more widespread. Though IITs and IISc have the highest numbers, NITs, central universities and medical institutes are improving their numbers every year.

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