On October 7, 2026, the research team led by Professor John P. A. Ioannidis from Stanford University, in partnership with Elsevier, published the 2026 edition of the World's Top 2% Scientists list.

The ranking is compiled based on standardized bibliometric metrics of nearly 10 million scientists globally, including citation counts, H-index, co-author-adjusted HM-index, citation impact by author position, and the composite c-score. To account for variations across research fields, the list classifies scholars into 22 major fields and 174 sub-fields. It is designed to provide a benchmark for scientists’ long-term research performance and reflect their academic impact in a more objective and accurate manner. The list consists of two separate rankings: the Career-Long Impact Ranking and the Single-Year Impact Ranking.

According to the 2026 data, 14,582 scientists from Chinese mainland appear on the Career-Long Impact Ranking, and 37,201 on the Single-Year Impact Ranking. Remarkably, Professor Zhonglin Wang, Visiting Chair Professor of the School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE) at Peking University, claims the No. 1 spot in both global rankings.

Career-Long Impact Ranking

A total of 27 scholars from PKU SMSE are named in the Career-Long Impact Ranking. Grouped by subject area, they are as follows (listed in no particular order):

• Nanoscience & Nanotechnology: Jin Zhang, Ruqiang Zou, Feng Pan, Qiang Sun, Qian Wang, Dingguo Xia, Hong Meng, Xiaowei Zhan, Haifeng Yu, Anyuan Cao, Yanfeng Zhang, Shaojun Guo, Huanping Zhou, Shuilin Wu, Ting Lei, Qing Zhang, Quanquan Pang, Yuanlong Shao, Xinwei Wang, Jiaxin Zheng, Mingchuan Luo

• Materials: Shulin Bai, Yufeng Zheng, Yonggang Wang

• Mechanical Engineering & Transports: Wenchang Tan

• Chemical Physics: Shihe Yang

• Applied Physics: Shuxiang Dong

Single-Year Impact Ranking

A total of 34 scholars from PKU SMSE are featured in the Single-Year Impact Ranking. Grouped by subject area, they are as follows (listed in no particular order):

• Nanoscience & Nanotechnology: Jin Zhang, Ruqiang Zou, Feng Pan, Anyuan Cao, Huanping Zhou, Ting Lei, Dingguo Xia, Yanfeng Zhang, Mingchuan Luo, Xiaowei Zhan, Hong Meng, Qiang Sun, Shaojun Guo, Shuilin Wu, Quanquan Pang, Qing Zhang, Jiaxin Zheng, Xiaoxu Zhao, Fan Lü, Luyi Yang, Xinwei Wang, Mingchao Wang, Yuanlong Shao

• Materials: Shulin Bai, Yufeng Zheng, Yonggang Wang, Shenzhen Xu

• Mechanical Engineering & Transports: Wenchang Tan

• Chemical Physics: Shihe Yang

• Applied Physics: Shuxiang Dong, Yinguo Xiao

• Organic Chemistry: Fanyang Mo

• Biomedical Engineering: Shixian Lü

• General Chemistry: Jinhu Dou

Data source: https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/9