Top institutions in the United States for Biology

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Which institutions in the United States have the most top-cited scientists in Biology?

2,518 researchers in the United States whose main field is Biology are in the 2026 list of top-cited scientists, the annual ranking often called the Stanford–Elsevier top 2% scientists list: 3.4% of all listed authors in the United States, and 1st of 104 countries in the field. 1,493 of them rank in the global top 100,000 by composite citation score (c, excluding self-citations). University of California, Davis has the most (98), followed by Cornell University (59) and University of Florida (51). A row opens its scientists in the table of all authors.

Listed authors

2,518

3.4% of all in the United States

In the global top 100,000

1,493

59.3% of them

Country rank in the field

of 104 countries in Biology

Highest-ranked

#65

Tilman, David G.

#	Institution	Listed authors	Top 100k	Rank worldwide	Highest-ranked author
1	University of California, Davis	98	56	#1	Hijmans, Robert J. #2,449
2	Cornell University	59	42	#4	Luo, Yi #1,485
3	University of Florida	51	27	#5	Holt, Robert Dan #1,830
4	Michigan State University	44	25	#10	Liu, Jianguo #1,310
5	University of California, Riverside	44	22	#11	Franklin, Janet #6,657
6	University of Minnesota Twin Cities	41	32	#15	Tilman, David G. #65
7	University of Wisconsin-Madison	41	26	#16	Carpenter, Stephen R. #650
8	University of Georgia	38	22	#19	Paterson, Andrew H. #6,391
9	Pennsylvania State University	35	21	#20	Lynch, Jonathan Paul Aul #492
10	USDA Agricultural Research Service	31	7	#27	Weller, David M. #45,747
11	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	29	19	#30	Reich, Peter B. #102
12	Washington State University Pullman	29	12	#32	McDowell, Nate G. #1,768
13	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	28	18	#34	Ainsworth, Elizabeth Anna #2,706
14	Oregon State University	28	17	#35	Ripple, William J. #4,223
15	Duke University	27	22	#36	Pimm, Stuart L. #2,538
16	NC State University	27	19	#37	Dunn, Robert R. #10,975
17	University of California, Santa Barbara	25	22	#40	Halpern, Benjamin S. #1,906
18	Iowa State University	25	12	#41	Adams, Dean C. #5,957
19	Stanford University	23	21	#49	Vitousek, Peter M. #722
20	Kansas State University	23	11	#51	Dodds, Walter Kennedy #9,027
21	University of California, Los Angeles	22	17	#52	Blumstein, Daniel T. #2,641
22	University of California, Berkeley	22	15	#55	Huelsenbeck, John P. #6,201
23	Texas A&M University	22	9	#56	Winemiller, Kirk O. #7,328
24	University of Washington	21	13	#60	Felsenstein, Joseph #2,744
25	University of California, Santa Cruz	21	19	#62	Holl, Karen D. #11,738
26	Colorado State University	20	10	#66	Dayan, Franck E. #18,093
27	Harvard University	19	17	#67	Nowak, Martin A. #399
28	The University of Texas at Austin	18	12	#79	Chen, Zengjian Jeffrey #11,668
29	University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences	18	6	#80	Wang, Nian #12,445
30	United States Geological Survey	17	10	#84	Grace, James Benjamin #5,041
31	Yale University	17	15	#85	Jetz, Walter J. #5,331
32	American Museum of Natural History	17	6	#86	Jackson, Jeremy B.C. #17,628
33	College of the Environment	16	14	#90	Olden, Julian D. #1,769
34	Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute	16	8	#94	Wright, Stuart Joseph #2,996
35	College of Agriculture	16	11	#100	Gurevitch, Jessica #21,276
36	University of Missouri	15	11	#104	Mittler, Ron #109
37	The University of Tennessee, Knoxville	15	12	#105	Simberloff, Daniel S. #1,416
38	University of Montana	15	12	#106	Elser, James J. #3,036
39	University of Colorado Boulder	15	12	#110	Suding, Katharine Nash #7,592
40	University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa	15	13	#114	Mora, Camilo #18,375
41	College of Agriculture and Life Sciences	15	5	#103	Breshears, David D. #35,276
42	United States Department of Agriculture	15	6	#117	Bestelmeyer, B. T. #51,202
43	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	14	6	#122	Winfree, Rachael #7,768
44	The Ohio State University	14	8	#124	Denlinger, David L. #8,172
45	Institute of Ecosystem Studies	13	12	#136	Schlesinger, William H. #2,479
46	Scripps Institution of Oceanography	13	8	#137	Levin, Lisa Ann #3,505
47	Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History	13	6	#147	Wen, Jun #23,740
48	Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management	12	8	#149	Kremen, Claire #1,262
49	College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences	12	7	#155	Inouye, David William #7,009
50	Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution	12	3	#156	Anderson, Donald M. #7,156
51	USDA ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center	12	3	#158	Ziska, Lewis Hans #11,345
52	University of Massachusetts Amherst	12	8	#159	Bradley, Bethany A. #12,755
53	Indiana University Bloomington	12	8	#160	Phillips, Richard P. #13,063
54	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	12	5	#161	Tholl, Dorothea B. #13,391
55	Warner College of Natural Resources	12	11	#163	Ryan, Michael G. #13,938
56	Utah State University	12	7	#170	Bugbee, Bruce G. #27,875
57	Princeton University	11	10	#172	Levin, Simon A. #1,039
58	Texas Tech University	11	5	#179	Jagadish, Krishna SV #6,073
59	Louisiana State University	11	8	#183	Faircloth, Brant C. #7,905
60	The University of Arizona	11	5	#184	Tabashnik, Bruce E. #17,353
61	University of Nebraska–Lincoln	11	5	#187	Mower, Jeffrey P. #24,317
62	College of Science	10	8	#197	Wiens, John J. #1,075
63	University of Connecticut	10	10	#199	Chazdon, Robin L. #2,895
64	University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science	10	7	#200	Lefcheck, Jonathan S. #3,338
65	The University of Vermont	10	6	#202	Gotelli, Nicholas J. #4,951
66	Smithsonian Environmental Research Center	10	8	#206	Duffy, J. Emmett #10,647
67	Auburn University	10	6	#207	Hill, Geoffrey E. #10,688
68	University of Idaho	10	7	#217	Bull, James J. #33,325
69	Florida State University	10	9	#219	Houle, David #37,899
70	Arizona State University	9	8	#225	Wu, Jianguo (Jingle) #610
71	University of California, Irvine	9	9	#227	Allison, Steven D. #1,461
72	Stony Brook University	9	6	#230	Gobler, Christopher J. #4,964
73	School of Life Sciences	9	5	#233	Bastías, Daniel A. #7,719
74	Donald Danforth Plant Science Center	9	3	#246	Kellogg, Elizabeth A. #29,023
75	Oak Ridge National Laboratory	9	4	#252	Wullschleger, Stan Duane #43,047
76	Field Museum of Natural History	9	3	#256	Patterson, Bruce D. #64,027
77	The University of New Mexico	8	7	#260	Brown, James Hemphill #1,218
78	College of Natural Sciences	8	6	#263	Poff, N. Leroy #2,688
79	University of California, San Diego	8	7	#265	Zhao, Yunde #5,153
80	Smithsonian Institution	8	3	#269	Knowlton, Nancy #7,339
81	Northern Arizona University	8	7	#283	Johnson, Nancy Collins #19,411
82	Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology	8	4	#293	Friedlander, Alan Marc #48,425
83	USDA Agricultural Research Service, Gainesville	8	1	#300	Nagoshi, Rodney N. #80,725
84	College of Arts and Sciences	7	4	#304	Paerl, Hans W. #728
85	The University of Utah	7	7	#305	Anderegg, William R.L. #2,887
86	Washington University in St. Louis	7	7	#306	Losos, Jonathan B. #2,903
87	Santa Fe Institute	7	6	#310	Hastings, Alan M. #4,838
88	University of New Hampshire Durham	7	6	#316	Lesser, Michael P. #12,252
89	Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science	7	3	#318	Baker, Andrew C. #20,645
90	Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory	7	7	#319	Blonder, Benjamin Wong #21,472
91	Boyce Thompson Institute	7	4	#325	Harrison, Maria J. #28,278
92	College of Arts & Sciences	7	2	#329	Kunz, Thomas H. #37,173
93	Oklahoma State University	7	2	#331	Sunkar, Ramanjulu #39,592
94	University of Nevada, Reno	7	5	#333	Vander Wall, Stephen B. #41,446
95	University of South Carolina	7	5	#334	Boggs, Carol L. #42,293
96	USDA Forest Service	7	3	#336	Ulyshen, Michael D. #48,560
97	Clemson University	7	1	#337	Fridley, Jason D. #55,134
98	University of Kentucky	7	1	#339	Baskin, Jerry Mack #66,276
99	University of Kansas	6	5	#348	Peterson, Andrew Townsend #1,208
100	University of Alaska Fairbanks	6	3	#350	Chapin, F. Stuart #1,728
101	University of Notre Dame	6	4	#351	Agrawal, Arun #2,590
102	Florida Museum of Natural History	6	3	#352	Soltis, Pamela S. #3,265
103	New York University	6	2	#360	Purugganan, Michael D. #9,288
104	University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment	6	4	#361	Palli, Subba Reddy #9,335
105	Florida International University	6	3	#371	Heithaus, Michael R. #16,232
106	Carnegie Institution of Washington	6	3	#377	Berry, Joseph A. #19,071
107	The University of Oklahoma	6	4	#379	Kaspari, Michael E. #19,681
108	Nature Conservancy	6	5	#382	McRae, Brad H. #21,606
109	University of Connecticut Avery Point Campus	6	2	#386	Shumway, Sandra E. #28,823
110	Purdue University	6	2	#393	Hasegawa, Paul Michael #33,981
111	University of Arkansas	6	3	#411	Pereira, Andy #70,603
112	University of Maine	5	2	#427	McGill, Brian J. #5,318
113	UNC School of Medicine	5	4	#431	Dangl, Jeffery L. #7,777
114	Faculty of Arts and Sciences	5	4	#434	Guerinot, Mary Lou #10,304
115	Columbia University	5	4	#439	Naeem, Shahid #11,128
116	ORNL Environmental Sciences Division	5	3	#446	Norby, Richard J. #15,879
117	Northeastern University	5	5	#372	Weng, Jingke #16,248
118	University of Montana College of Forestry and Conservation	5	4	#449	Dobrowski, Solomon Z. #17,536
119	The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	5	5	#451	Bruno, John Francis #18,234
120	University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences	5	3	#455	Janzen, Daniel H. #19,840
121	East Carolina University	5	2	#461	Zhang, Baohong #23,888
122	Georgia Institute of Technology	5	2	#470	Hay, Mark E. #36,506
123	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	5	3	#484	Walker, Lawrence R. #53,742
124	SDSU College of Sciences	5	1	#486	Lipson, David A. #59,560
125	Friday Harbor Laboratories	5	1	#498	Strathmann, Richard R. #83,612
126	Yale School of the Environment	4	4	#524	Bradford, Mark A. #2,979
127	Tulane University School of Science and Engineering	4	3	#525	Friess, Daniel A. #3,788
128	USDA ARS Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health	4	4	#528	Giovannoni, James J. #4,967
129	Wildlife Conservation Society	4	3	#535	McClanahan, Tim R. #9,649
130	University of Minnesota Duluth	4	2	#536	Downing, John A. #10,993
131	Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	4	3	#541	Howe, Gregg A. #13,217
132	Georgetown University	4	2	#551	Marra, Peter P. #20,910
133	University of Virginia	4	3	#555	Díaz, Robert J. #22,302
134	Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute	4	3	#556	Vrijenhoek, Robert C. #25,330
135	San Francisco State University	4	2	#557	Stillman, Jonathon H. #26,354
136	Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability	4	4	#566	Crowder, Larry B. #34,165
137	SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry	4	2	#568	Lomolino, Mark V. #37,183
138	Moss Landing Marine Laboratories	4	2	#572	Graham, Michael H. #42,183
139	University of Southern California	4	3	#574	Caron, David A. #42,270
140	Syracuse University	4	2	#576	McNaughton, Samuel J. #43,684
141	Virginia Institute of Marine Science	4	2	#577	Orth, Robert J.W. #43,964
142	Rice University	4	4	#580	Bartel, Bonnie #47,125
143	Brookhaven National Laboratory Biology Department	4	1	#584	Liu, Changjun #49,349
144	University of Missouri School of Medicine	4	1	#609	Zhang, Shuqun #80,351
145	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	4	1	#613	Crooks, Jeffrey A. #85,118
146	University of Maryland, College Park	4	1	#618	Murphy, Angus S. #92,005
147	University KS Natural History Museum	4	0	#628	Wiley, E. O. #113,833
148	University of North Texas	3	3	#642	Dixon, Richard Arthur #1,855
149	Temple University	3	2	#644	Kumar, Sudhir #2,595
150	University of Massachusetts Boston	3	3	#645	Revell, Liam J. #3,051
151	University of Colorado Museum of Natural History	3	2	#657	Colwell, Robert K. #7,392
152	Morton Arboretum	3	2	#658	Hubbell, Stephen P. #7,526
153	Brown University	3	2	#668	Bertness, Mark D. #14,247
154	The George Washington University	3	2	#669	Pyron, Robert Alexander #15,324
155	Montana State University	3	2	#671	Creel, Scott R. #16,724
156	George Mason University	3	2	#672	Mooney, Harold A. #17,056
157	Missouri Botanical Garden	3	2	#685	Raven, Peter H. #24,465
158	Pacific Biosciences Research Center	3	2	#688	Cowie, Robert H. #25,631
159	North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences	3	1	#689	Kays, Roland W. #26,057
160	University of Miami	3	3	#691	Feeley, Kenneth James #26,901
161	University of South Florida, Tampa	3	2	#696	Lajeunesse, Marc J. #30,560
162	USDA ARS Center for Grain and Animal Health Research	3	1	#699	Arthur, Frank H. #31,077
163	Brigham Young University	3	2	#700	Koide, Roger T. #31,396
164	University of Delaware	3	1	#703	Bais, Harsh Pal #33,482
165	Cornell Lab of Ornithology	3	2	#706	Bonney, Rick E. #34,140
166	USDA ARS U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center	3	1	#710	Kimball, Bruce A. #36,424
167	The Ecosystems Center	3	2	#711	Peterson, Bruce J. #36,518
168	NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center	3	1	#715	Ver Hoef, M. Jay #37,518
169	Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago	3	3	#719	Price, Trevor D. #40,867
170	University of Missouri-St. Louis, Department of Biology	3	2	#720	Wang, Xuemin #41,072
171	University of Rhode Island Narragansett Bay Campus	3	3	#722	Smayda, Theodore J. #42,147
172	Department of Cell and Developmental Biology	3	3	#724	Crawford, Nigel M. #42,760
173	San Diego State University	3	2	#738	Lewison, Rebecca L. #50,948
174	California Academy of Sciences	3	2	#740	Rocha, Luiz Alves #52,048
175	NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center	3	2	#748	Ward, Eric J. #61,303
176	Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering	3	2	#757	Altieri, Andrew H. #65,058
177	University of Oregon	3	1	#761	Muraca, Barbara #67,400
178	USDA ARS U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory	3	1	#763	Gottwald, Timothy R. #68,298
179	LSU Agricultural Center	3	1	#787	Schowalter, Timothy D. #85,232
180	New Mexico State University	3	1	#790	Gompper, Matthew Edzart #89,661
181	University of North Carolina Wilmington	3	1	#797	Halanych, Kenneth M. #97,454
182	College of Engineering	3	0	#810	Gamage, Ashoka #115,453

The top 100 in Biology in the United States, in order

1
Tilman, David G.
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
2
Reich, Peter B.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
3
Mittler, Ron
University of Missouri
4
Nowak, Martin A.
Harvard University
5
Lynch, Jonathan Paul Aul
Pennsylvania State University
6
Wu, Jianguo (Jingle)
Arizona State University
7
Carpenter, Stephen R.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
8
Nei, Masatoshi
Pennsylvania State University
9
Vitousek, Peter M.
Stanford University
10
Paerl, Hans W.
College of Arts and Sciences
11
Jackson, Robert B.
Stanford University
12
Asner, Gregory P.
Arizona State University
13
Levin, Simon A.
Princeton University
14
Wiens, John J.
College of Science
15
Peterson, Andrew Townsend
University of Kansas
16
Brown, James Hemphill
The University of New Mexico
17
Kremen, Claire
Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
18
Cosgrove, Daniel J.
Pennsylvania State University
19
Liu, Jianguo
Michigan State University
20
Simberloff, Daniel S.
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
21
Allison, Steven D.
University of California, Irvine
22
Luo, Yi
Cornell University
23
Falkowski, Paul G.
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
24
Keeley, Jon E.
United States Geological Survey Western Region
25
Douglas, Angela Elizabeth
Cornell University
26
Treseder, Kathleen K.
University of California, Irvine
27
Chapin, F. Stuart
University of Alaska Fairbanks
28
McDowell, Nate G.
Washington State University Pullman
29
Olden, Julian D.
College of the Environment
30
Bennett, Nathan J.
World Wildlife Fund
31
Turner, Monica Goigel
University of Wisconsin-Madison
32
Altieri, Miguel Angel
Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
33
Sinsabaugh, Robert L.
The University of New Mexico
34
Holt, Robert Dan
University of Florida
35
Dixon, Richard Arthur
University of North Texas
36
Halpern, Benjamin S.
University of California, Santa Barbara
37
Field, Christopher B.
Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
38
Hobbie, Sarah E.
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
39
Hijmans, Robert J.
University of California, Davis
40
Schlesinger, William H.
Institute of Ecosystem Studies
41
Pimm, Stuart L.
Duke University
42
Agrawal, Arun
University of Notre Dame
43
Kumar, Sudhir
Temple University
44
Blumstein, Daniel T.
University of California, Los Angeles
45
Poff, N. Leroy
College of Natural Sciences
46
Ainsworth, Elizabeth Anna
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
47
Felsenstein, Joseph
University of Washington
48
Sih, Andrew
University of California, Davis
49
Ellis, Erle Christopher
University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)
50
Anderegg, William R.L.
The University of Utah
51
Chazdon, Robin L.
University of Connecticut
52
Losos, Jonathan B.
Washington University in St. Louis
53
Bradford, Mark A.
Yale School of the Environment
54
Wright, Stuart Joseph
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
55
Elser, James J.
University of Montana
56
Revell, Liam J.
University of Massachusetts Boston
57
Lambin, Eric F.
Stanford University
58
Pimentel, David P.
Cornell University
59
Soltis, Pamela S.
Florida Museum of Natural History
60
Waples, Robin S.
College of the Environment
61
Lefcheck, Jonathan S.
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
62
Callaway, Ragan Morrison
University of Montana
63
Long, Stephen Patrick
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
64
Duke, Stephen O.
University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy
65
Levin, Lisa Ann
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
66
Howarth, Robert W.
Cornell University
67
Agrawal, Anurag A.
Cornell University
68
Friess, Daniel A.
Tulane University School of Science and Engineering
69
Enquist, Brian J.
College of Science
70
Daily, Gretchen C.
Stanford University
71
Sharkey, Thomas David
University of Wisconsin-Madison
72
Holling, Crawford S.
University of Florida
73
Ackerly, David D.
Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
74
Ripple, William J.
Oregon State University
75
Lafferty, Kevin D.
University of California, Santa Barbara
76
Glibert, Patricia M.
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
77
Ellison, Aaron M.
Sound Solutions for Sustainable Science
78
Swenson, Nathan G.
University of Notre Dame
79
Renner, Susanne Sabine
Washington University in St. Louis
80
Cavender-Bares, Jeannine M.
Harvard University
81
Hastings, Alan M.
Santa Fe Institute
82
Palumbi, Stephen R.
Stanford University
83
Smith, Melinda D.
College of Natural Sciences
84
Ricklefs, Robert Eric
University of Missouri-St. Louis
85
Gotelli, Nicholas J.
The University of Vermont
86
Gobler, Christopher J.
Stony Brook University
87
Giovannoni, James J.
USDA ARS Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health
88
Stedman, Richard Clark
Cornell University
89
Grace, James Benjamin
United States Geological Survey
90
Zhao, Yunde
University of California, San Diego
91
Hakkı Şekercioğlu, Çağan Hakkı
The University of Utah
92
Bever, James D.
University of Kansas
93
McGill, Brian J.
University of Maine
94
Jetz, Walter J.
Yale University
95
Urban, Mark C.
University of Connecticut
96
Ralph, John
University of Wisconsin-Madison
97
Strayer, David L.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
98
Chesson, Peter L.
College of Science
99
Royle, Jeffrey Andrew
United States Geological Survey
100
Niklas, Karl Joseph
Cornell University

2,518 listed scientists in Biology in the United States

See all 2,518 in the interactive table →