About & methodology
What this site is
A non-commercial search interface over a public dataset. You search for a name; if that name appears in the database, the site shows the values published for it and lets you download a Statement of Listing. Nothing on this site is an assessment made by us — every figure shown is reproduced from the source database.
Data source and licence
Ioannidis JPA, Boyack KW, Baas J. “Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators”, August 2026 data-update (Version 9), Elsevier Data Repository, DOI: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.9. Licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0.
This site is not affiliated with, and is not operated by, the creators of that database, and their inclusion here does not imply any endorsement of this site.
How the database is built, in the authors’ own words
The description published with the dataset, quoted in full:
Citation metrics are widely used and misused. We have created a publicly available database of top-cited scientists that provides standardized information on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions and a composite indicator (c-score). Separate data are shown for career-long and, separately, for single recent year impact. Metrics with and without self-citations and ratio of citations to citing papers are given and data on retracted papers (based on Retraction Watch database) as well as citations to/from retracted papers have been added.
Scientists are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields according to the standard Science-Metrix classification. Field- and subfield-specific percentiles are also provided for all scientists with at least 5 papers. Career-long data are updated to end-of-2025 and single recent year data pertain to citations received during calendar year 2025.
The selection is based on the top 100,000 scientists by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above in the sub-field. This version (9) is based on the August 1, 2025 snapshot from Scopus, updated to end of citation year 2025. This work uses Scopus data. Calculations were performed using all Scopus author profiles as of August 1, 2026.
If an author is not on the list, it is simply because the composite indicator value was not high enough to appear on the list. It does not mean that the author does not do good work.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT THE DATABASE HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN AN ARCHIVAL FORM AND WILL NOT BE CHANGED. The published version reflects Scopus author profiles at the time of calculation. We thus advise authors to ensure that their Scopus profiles are accurate. REQUESTS FOR CORRECTIONS OF THE SCOPUS DATA (INCLUDING CORRECTIONS IN AFFILIATIONS) SHOULD NOT BE SENT TO US. They should be sent directly to Scopus, preferably by use of the Scopus to ORCID feedback wizard (https://orcid.scopusfeedback.com/) so that the correct data can be used in any future annual updates of the citation indicator databases.
The c-score focuses on impact (citations) rather than productivity (number of publications) and it also incorporates information on co-authorship and author positions (single, first, last author). If you have additional questions, see attached file on FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.
Finally, we alert users that all citation metrics have limitations and their use should be tempered and judicious. For more reading, we refer to the Leiden manifesto.
— Ioannidis JPA, Boyack KW, Baas J, August 2025 data-update (Version 9), doi:10.17632/btchxktzyw.9, CC BY-NC 3.0. Capitalisation as in the original.
Coverage of this site
Data versions 2019–2025, both lists published in each version: career-long and single-year. 2,907,538 records in total, across 174 Science-Metrix sub-fields.
| Data version | Release date | Career-long | Single-year | Complete dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2025-10-07 | 243,949 | 249,310 | - |
| 2024 | 2025-09-19 | 230,333 | 236,313 | 10,932,827 |
| 2023 | 2024-09-16 | 217,097 | 223,152 | 10,256,892 |
| 2022 | 2023-10-04 | 204,643 | 210,198 | 9,617,281 |
| 2021 | 2022-10-10 | 194,983 | 200,196 | 9,070,632 |
| 2020 | 2021-10-19 | 186,177 | 190,063 | 8,545,559 |
| 2019 | 2020-10-08 | 159,683 | 161,441 | 6,987,292 |
What this site adds
We did not modify any value. All rankings, scores, counts and affiliation strings are reproduced as published. What we added, for searching and display only:
- merged the six data versions and both lists into one searchable table;
- normalised names (accents removed, punctuation and word order ignored) so that a search matches spelling variants;
- derived the six normalisation constants of the composite score from the published data, so that the six components can be shown separately. The normalisation is done once per list — each indicator is divided by the log of its largest value anywhere on that list — so the same six constants apply to every sub-field;
- cached per-country totals so that a country rank can be displayed with a denominator.
Statement of Listing, verification and privacy
The downloadable PDF records that a researcher appears in the database, together with the values published for that data version and list. It is not an award, an endorsement, or an evaluation. Each download issues a fresh verification code; entering the code (or scanning the QR code on the PDF) shows the values held in our database, so a PDF whose figures have been altered will not match. Corrections to the underlying data go to Scopus, as the dataset description above explains.
No cookies, no analytics, no advertising. Statement codes are stored with the record they refer to and the time of issue, and nothing else.
Updates
- v0.99.0, on 2026-09-22, first release.
- v0.99.1, on 2026-10-08, add 2025 dataset.
Contact
Zuguang Gu < guzuguang@suat-sz.edu.cn >