United States in the Top 2% Scientists list 2026: 73,459 scholars, fields, and institutions
Live ABS Nexora analytics: United States lists 73,459 Top 2% scientists in the 2026 single-year cohort (~29.7% of the SY analytics total), led by Clinical Medicine (28,396) and Harvard Medical School (1,131).
How many Top 2% scientists are from United States?
Direct answer: ABS Nexora’s latest single-year country profile for United States (usa) lists 73,459 Top 2% scientists for selected year 2026 — about 29.7% of the Directory’s single-year country-analytics cohort (~247,376 researchers). Average citations in this snapshot are about 1,227, with average h-index near 13.5, across 7,237 distinct institutions.
The United States is the Directory’s largest single-year national cohort by a wide margin, with Clinical Medicine alone larger than most countries’ entire lists, and a dense mix of universities, medical schools, and research hospitals.
North America context: compare with Canada and the global top countries overview.
Who are the top 10 Top 2% scientists in United States?
Direct answer: In ABS Nexora’s United States country profile (usa, single-year 2026), the top 10 listed scholars by Directory ranking start with Bandura, Albert (Stanford University; Psychology & Cognitive Sciences; global rank 4; ~12,694 citations). The table below uses # in country for order within this national list and Global rank for the scholar’s overall rank_all in the single-year listing.
| # in country | Researcher | Institution | Field | Global rank | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bandura, Albert | Stanford University | Psychology & Cognitive Sciences | 4 | 12,694 |
| 2 | Ajzen, Icek | University of Massachusetts Amherst | Psychology & Cognitive Sciences | 7 | 13,888 |
| 3 | McClements, David Julian | University of Massachusetts Amherst | Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry | 11 | 24,612 |
| 4 | Gross, James J. | Stanford University | Psychology & Cognitive Sciences | 12 | 13,443 |
| 5 | Perdew, John | Tulane University School of Science and Engineering | Physics & Astronomy | 13 | 30,491 |
| 6 | Breiman, Leo | University of California, Berkeley | Mathematics & Statistics | 15 | 22,015 |
| 7 | Lal, Rattan A. | The Ohio State University | Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry | 16 | 11,694 |
| 8 | Li, Heng | Harvard Medical School | Enabling & Strategic Technologies | 17 | 21,786 |
| 9 | Tibshirani, Robert John | Stanford University | Mathematics & Statistics | 22 | 14,538 |
| 10 | Ioannidis, John P.A. | Stanford University School of Medicine | Clinical Medicine | 23 | 26,855 |
Open any linked name for the full Directory scholar profile. Country order follows the live top_researchers panel on United States analytics.
What are United States’s strongest fields?
United States’s largest Top 2% field cohort is Clinical Medicine with 28,396 listed scholars. The next fields in the live profile are:
| Field | Listed scholars |
|---|---|
| Clinical Medicine | 28,396 |
| Biomedical Research | 7,177 |
| Physics & Astronomy | 5,829 |
| Information & Communication Technologies | 4,451 |
| Engineering | 3,516 |
Which institutions lead in United States?
The largest institutional cohort in the United States profile is Harvard Medical School (1,131 listed scholars). Other leading affiliations:
| Institution | Listed scholars |
|---|---|
| Harvard Medical School | 1,131 |
| College of Engineering | 820 |
| Stanford University | 730 |
| University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | 703 |
| Mayo Clinic | 653 |
How has United States’s Top 2% cohort changed from 2020 to 2026?
In the country-profile timeline, United States moved from 59,725 listed scholars (2020) to 73,459 (2026) — a change of 13,734 (~+23%).
| Edition year | Listed scholars |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 59,725 |
| 2021 | 66,137 |
| 2022 | 68,351 |
| 2023 | 69,137 |
| 2024 | 71,238 |
| 2025 | 72,868 |
| 2026 | 73,459 |
Snapshot metrics (single-year 2026)
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Listed scholars | 73,459 |
| Share of global (SY analytics) | 29.7% |
| Avg. citations | 1,227 |
| Avg. h-index | 13.5 |
| Best rank (in profile) | 4 |
| Distinct institutions | 7,237 |
| Leading field | Clinical Medicine (28,396) |
One highly ranked profile example in this snapshot: Bandura, Albert (Stanford University; Psychology & Cognitive Sciences). Rankings shift with listing type and year — always verify on the live Directory.
Explore United States on ABS Nexora
- United States country analytics
- Directory search (filter by country / institution)
- Full analytics dashboard
- 2026 edition explained
- How to read country counts
Related country insights
- United Kingdom Top 2% directory 2026
- Canada Top 2% directory 2026
- Top countries overview
- Asia vs Europe vs Americas
FAQ
How many Top 2% scientists does United States have in 2026? 73,459 listed scholars in ABS Nexora’s single-year country profile for selected year 2026.
What share of the global list is that? About 29.7% of the single-year country-analytics cohort (~247,376 researchers in the matching dashboard snapshot).
Which field is strongest in United States? Clinical Medicine, with 28,396 listed scholars in the live profile.
Which institution has the most listed scholars? Harvard Medical School, with 1,131 in this snapshot (affiliation coding follows the underlying dataset).
Did United States grow between 2020 and 2026? Yes — from 59,725 to 73,459 listed scholars (~+23%) in the country timeline.
Who ranks highest among United States’s Top 2% scientists? In this snapshot, Bandura, Albert leads the country top_researchers list (see the top-10 table above for linked profiles).
Where can I verify these figures? Open the live United States country page or Analytics on ABS Nexora; numbers refresh with the Directory database. Data source: Elsevier / Stanford–Ioannidis World’s Top 2% Scientists lists via ABS Nexora.