India has 2,939 researchers on Stanford University’s list of top 2% scientists, a fifth of China’s 10,687

NEW DELHI: India lags behind China but has fared better than other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) nations on the latest annual list of Top Two Percent Most Cited Researchers by Stanford University. India has 2,939 scientists featured on the list, a fraction of China’s 10,687.

Three Chinese scientists featured among the top 100 most-cited researchers while the highest-ranking Indian scientist came in at 314. The Stanford University top two percent scientists’ list considered all citations from 1788 to the present.

India, however, did better than its other BRICS counterparts. Brazil has 1,077 scientists on the list, Russia has 980, and South Africa has 827. To put this into perspective, of the BRICS nations, only China has a population comparable to India’s 1.45 billion. Russia has 145 million people; South Africa, 63 million; and Brazil, 212.6 million.

For India, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, has the largest number of most-cited researchers with 133 scientists on the list. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Kharagpur, Bombay, Madras, Kanpur and Roorkee also feature in the top ten institutes for India. Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Jadavpur University, and Delhi University (DU) also feature on the list. The list overall has more than 2.17 lakh scientists from across the world.

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Stanford University Top 2% Scientists: BRICS nations

The difference in research between India and China is even more stark when the data for a single year is examined. India lagged behind China by quite a distance on the list of top 2% most-cited researchers for the year 2023. Here’s how many researchers each of the BRICS nations have on the list for 2023:

• India: 5,351
• China: 27,156
• Brazil: 1,340
• Russia: 969
• South Africa: 902

The difference can be attributed to the spending on research. According to the World Bank, China spends 2.34% of its GDP on research and development compared to a measly 0.65% by India.

China Vs India in Stanford’s top 2%: Engineering, ICT

A head-to-head comparison between the two countries for specific fields makes the situation clearer still.

In engineering, China has 1,893 scientists on the top 2% most-cited researchers list. This is at least four times that of India’s number, only 418.

In information and communication technology (ICT), China has at least six times more researchers on the top list compared to India.

A high citation count generally implies that the research findings have been influential or well-received by the scientific community. The table below shows the numbers in five fields.

Stanford University Top 2% Scientists List 2024: China Vs India

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Top 2 Percent Scientists List Stanford University: IISc on top

Among educational institutions, IISC Bengaluru and IIT Delhi are the only two institutions with more than 100 researchers on the Stanford University list. A majority of the top 10 performers are IITs.

Jadavpur University is the only state university to feature on the top list.

Stanford University 2 Percent Scientists List: Indian scientists by institute

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The highest citations for Indian researchers have come in the fields of materials, energy, artificial intelligence, mechanical engineering and applied physics.

Stanford University Elsevier List: Indian researchers by discipline

Chemical physics, general medicine, and botany also had more than 100 researchers among the top 2% scientists with the highest citations ever.