Archive · 9 Oct 2026
IISc Leads Indian Institutions in 2026 Global Scientists List
A new science list includes 3,898 researchers connected to Indian institutions.
It covers 1,185 institutions.
IISc has the most researchers on the list, with 139.
IIT Delhi is next, with 114.
Other institutions, including Jadavpur University and research centres, are also represented.
The list uses citation information to help measure the influence of researchers’ work.
It has separate lists for career-long impact and performance in a single year, which measure different things.
The reported number of Indian researchers is lower than last year’s 6,239.
The 2026 Stanford–Elsevier career-long list includes 3,898 researchers affiliated with Indian institutions across 1,185 institutions.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) leads the Indian institutions with 139 researchers, followed by IIT Delhi with 114.
IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Bombay have 97, 81 and 73 researchers, respectively.
Jadavpur University has 48 researchers; the list also includes universities, public research bodies and private institutions.
The list uses Scopus citation records and a composite score across 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields; India’s count is reported as down from 6,239 last year.
- Who
- 3,898 researchers affiliated with Indian institutions, including researchers at IISc, IITs and Jadavpur University.
- What
- They are included in the 2026 Stanford–Elsevier World’s Top 2% Scientists career-long list.
- When
- The 2026 edition; the report compares the total with 6,239 listed last year.
- Where
- Researchers are affiliated with institutions across India; the database is published by Elsevier.
- Why
- The list assesses scientific impact using citation indicators; the articles do not explain the decline in India’s count.
What the list indicates
What the list does not indicate
Institutional representation
What the list indicates
The figures show how many listed researchers are affiliated with each institution; IISc has the largest count among Indian institutions.
What the list does not indicate
The article cautions that these counts are not a direct measure of an institution’s overall research output.
Different measures of impact
What the list indicates
The career-long list reflects citation impact across a researcher’s career, while a separate list measures single-year performance.
What the list does not indicate
The two datasets measure different aspects of research impact and should not be treated as interchangeable rankings.
- Indian-affiliated researchers listed
- 3,898
- Institutions represented
- 1,185
- IISc researchers
- 139
- IIT Delhi researchers
- 114
- Jadavpur University researchers
- 48
- Assessment data
- Scopus citation records and a composite citation score
- Coverage
- 22 broad scientific fields and 174 sub-fields
- Previous-year Indian count
- 6,239
