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IISc Bengaluru Tops India’s 2026 Top 2% Researcher List

By Drooid · Oct 10, 2026, 4:12 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

IISc Bengaluru leads Indian institutions with 139 researchers on the 2026 Stanford-Elsevier Top 2% list.
The list records 3,898 Indian researchers from 1,185 institutions, down from 6,239 in 2025.
IIT Delhi ranks second with 114 researchers on the list.
IIT Kharagpur ranks third with 97 researchers on the list.
Pune institutions added 92 scientists, including 13 in the career-long impact category.

History

Historical Context

Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list, inherited from ISI’s “Highly Cited” database and issued annually since 2001, ranks scientists with papers in the top 1% of citations across 21 fields. Launched in 2008, elite Indian institutes such as IISc earned a modest share, and by 2026 IISc leads India with 139 researchers, illustrating how early citation-metric use entrenched institutional prestige and funding influence.

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Story summary

IISc Bengaluru leads Indian institutions with 139 researchers on the 2026 Stanford-Elsevier Top 2% list.
The list records 3,898 Indian researchers from 1,185 institutions, down from 6,239 in 2025.
IIT Delhi ranks second with 114 researchers on the list.
IIT Kharagpur ranks third with 97 researchers on the list.
Pune institutions added 92 scientists, including 13 in the career-long impact category.

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