Croatians Among the World’s Most-Cited Researchers: More Than 250 Scientists Rank in the Top 2%

A total of 109 scientists working in Croatia have been included in the list of the world’s top 2% of researchers ranked by career-long citation impact, including 20 members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU).

A research group at Stanford University in California published its latest study on scientific citations on October 7. The study identifies approximately 250,000 of the world’s most-cited scientists across all disciplines.

Two Lists of Scientific Excellence

Two rankings have been published: one covering the most influential scientists over their entire careers and another ranking the most influential scientists for 2025.

Among the 20 HAZU members included in the career-long ranking are academicians Željko Reiner, Ivica Kostović, Dario Vretenar, Sven Lončarić, Stipan Jonjić, Josip Pečarić, Sanja Martinez, Marko Pećina, Andrej Dujella, Vida Demarin, Bojan Jelaković, Ivo Senjanović and Zvonko Kusić, as well as deceased academicians Nenad Trinajstić, Svetozar Musić and Stanko Popović.

The list also includes corresponding members Miroslav Radman, Ante Munjiza and Krešimir Pavelić, as well as associate member Hrvoje Pandžić.

The 2025 ranking features 149 scientists working in Croatia, including 15 HAZU members. They are academicians Željko Reiner, Ivica Kostović, Dario Vretenar, Sven Lončarić, Bojan Jelaković, Stipan Jonjić, Josip Pečarić, Andrej Dujella, Slobodan Vukičević and Vida Demarin, along with deceased academicians Nenad Trinajstić and Svetozar Musić. Corresponding member Ante Munjiza and associate members Hrvoje Pandžić and Ivan Halasz are also included.

12 Scientists Appear on Both Lists

Among scientists working abroad, 34 corresponding members of HAZU appear in the career-long ranking, while 27 are included in the list for 2025.

Researchers appearing on both lists include Jean-Marie Lehn, Paško Rakić, Joseph Schlessinger, Svante Pääbo, Stanley Alan Plotkin, Hedvig Hričak, Tomislav Friščić, Željko Ivezić, Danica Kragić Jensfelt, Dimitri Krainc, Nenad Ban and Nenad Šestan.

The study is based on citation data from the Scopus database as of August 1, 2026. Scientists are classified into 20 scientific fields and 174 subfields according to the Science-Metrix classification system.