November 18, 2025
The University of California San Diego has once again been recognized among the top institutions in the world for most influential researchers on the 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list compiled by Clarivate.
UC San Diego tied for 18th in the world this year alongside University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Both schools have 50 Highly Cited Researchers in 2025.
The Highly Cited Researcher distinction refers to the top 1% of faculty and scientists in their respective fields over the past decade based on Clarivate’s citation records.
“We are proud to see UC San Diego once again recognized among the top research institutions in the world,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “Our faculty’s groundbreaking work continues to expand the frontiers of discovery and innovation, improving lives and shaping solutions to the world’s most complex challenges. This recognition is a testament to the strength — and global influence — of our collaborative, interdisciplinary research community.”
Highly Cited Researchers have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research. According to Clarivate: “This small fraction of the global researcher population contributes disproportionately to extending the frontiers of knowledge and contributing to innovations that make the world healthier, more sustainable and which drive societal impact.”
As usual, the University of California system has ranked among the world’s top institutions. With 266 Highly Cited Researchers, the UC system’s 10 campuses would rank first in the world if counted as a single entity. The top-ranked Chinese Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest research
Only the primary affiliation of each researcher counts toward their world ranking, but most institutions also have a subset of researchers with secondary affiliations. Those are also noted below:
- UC Berkeley, 53 HCRs (+6 with secondary affiliations)
- UC San Diego, 50 HCRs (+8)
- UC Los Angeles, 50 HCRs (+2)
- UC San Francisco, 48 HCRs (+2)
- UC Santa Cruz, 22 HCRs (+3)
- UC Irvine, 13 HCRs
- UC Davis, 10 HCRs (+1)
- UC Santa Barbara, 10 HCRs (+3)
- UC Merced, 5 HCRs (+3)
- UC Riverside, 5 HCRs
Clarivate’s list recognized 6,868 individual researchers (some of whom received multiple honors).
This year’s listing includes 7,131 awards from more than 1,300 institutions in 60 countries and regions. The number of awards exceeds the number of researchers because some researchers are recognized in more than one field of research.
Rare Distinction
Among the 2025 honorees in 21 scientific fields, 227 individuals appear in two or more identified scientific fields and 31 appear in three or more fields.
UC San Diego Professor Rob Knight is once again in the elite category of holding distinctions in three fields: Biology and Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology and Genetics.
Knight is director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation and an international leader in the study of the roles microbes play in human health and disease. He consistently receives recognition in multiple categories and was once named a Citation Laureate for work deemed to be of Nobel class.
UC San Diego is also home to three researchers with distinctions in two fields:
- Pieter Dorrenstein, Biology and Biochemistry; and Microbiology
- Daniel McDonald, Biology and Biochemistry; and Microbiology
- Alessandro Sette, Immunology; and Molecular Biology and Genetics
- However, Sette’s primary affiliation is the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. UC San Diego is the secondary affiliation for the adjunct professor; therefore, he is not included in the university’s global ranking.
“This recognition reflects the collective strength of UC San Diego’s interdisciplinary research community,” said Corinne Peek-Asa, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. “Our faculty are breaking boundaries between fields by integrating engineering, medicine, social sciences, and the arts to accelerate discoveries that have global reach and significance.”
This year, 25 researchers at UC San Diego were among the 3,569 individuals recognized for cross-field impact, meaning that they qualify for selection based on the sum of their Highly Cited Papers and citations but do not qualify outright in any one field.
Increased Global Standing
The Highly Cited Researchers list is one of the key indicators used to assess an institution’s global research standing, such as in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). UC San Diego now ranks 4th among U.S. public universities according to the ARWU’s 2024 Rankings.
The United States continues to hold the world’s top ranking for Highly Cited Researchers with 37 percent of the global share of faculty and scientists with the distinction.
Clarivate explained that the distinction exemplifies excellence in research as well as integrity in scientific publication and citation practices: “These researchers continue to shape the future of science, technology and academia globally and deliver innovation that drives societal progress.”
For the full analysis of this year’s global honorees and institutions, visit clarivate.com/highly-cited-researchers/analysis.
More Rankings
Earlier in 2025, UC San Diego was named 4th among public universities in the US for Academic Ranking of World Universities. UC San Diego was also named among the world’s top 10 universities in the Clarivate Top 50 Universities Powering Global Innovation report, which evaluates universities’ influence on innovation through research and patent activity. The Princeton Review also ranked UC San Diego No. 6 among the nation’s best value public colleges, recognizing the university’s strong academic programs, affordability and robust career preparation for students.
