Agostinho Carvalho, António Salgado, João Espregueira-Mendes, Natália Cruz-Martins and Rui M. Reis are included in the 2026 ranking by Stanford University and Elsevier.
Five researchers from the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) at the University of Minho are included in the “World’s Top 2% Scientists 2026” list, compiled by Stanford University (USA) and the publishing group Elsevier. They are Agostinho Carvalho, António Salgado, João Espregueira-Mendes, Natália Cruz-Martins and Rui M. Reis.
Natália Cruz-Martins, from ICVS, is the University of Minho researcher with the highest position in the global list, ranked 3,221st.
Ranking of nearly 250,000 researchers
The list brings together nearly 250,000 researchers worldwide, 1,060 of whom are affiliated with Portuguese institutions. In total, the University of Minho has 72 scientists included in the ranking, spread across 17 research units.
The document identifies the most-cited researchers of the past year across 20 fields and 174 disciplines, taking into account their h-index, publication output and the citations of their work, based on Scopus data for 2025. The list has been published annually since 2019 and was created to provide a public repository on the impact and influence of researchers in the advancement of scientific knowledge, as well as to counter self-citation abuse.
More information: World’s Top 2% Scientists 2026 (Elsevier / Stanford)
