UC Santa Cruz Named Among World’s Top Research Powerhouses in Clarivate Analysis
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UC Santa Cruz is among the world’s leading research institutions identified in Clarivate’s latest analysis of the 70 organizations most frequently home to Highly Cited Researchers. The report highlights where global research impact is most concentrated, based on data from 2021 to 2025.
Since 2001, Clarivate has recognized Highly Cited Researchers—an elite group representing roughly 1 in 1,000 scientists and social scientists whose published work ranks among the most cited in their fields. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, the organization selects approximately 7,000 researchers each year. Earlier analyses emphasized individual achievement, including 405 researchers who earned this distinction annually from 2014 through 2024. The current study shifts focus to institutions that consistently support high-impact research.
To be included, institutions needed to account for at least 0.3% of the global Highly Cited Researcher population over five years, or roughly 20 or more awardees annually. A total of 70 institutions met this threshold.
UC Santa Cruz ranks among the top 10 public universities in the United States for high-impact research and is one of five University of California campuses included on the list. It also outranked the University of Southern California in average share of Highly Cited Researchers during the 2021–2025 period.
More than 22 UC Santa Cruz researchers (six faculty and 16 staff) were named to Clarivate’s 2025 list. Their work spans fields such as astronomy and astrophysics, biomolecular engineering and genomics, and chemistry and biochemistry, contributing to advances in areas ranging from space science to human health and biotechnology.
Highly cited faculty: Jonathan Fortney, professor of astronomy and astrophysics; Garth Illingworth, distinguished professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics; David Haussler, distinguished professor of biomolecular engineering and director of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute; Karen Miga, associate professor of biomolecular engineering; Benedict Paten, professor of biomolecular engineering; and Yat Li, professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
Highly cited staff researchers: Mark Diekhans, technical director of the Genomics Institute’s Computational Genomics Laboratory; and James Kent, creator and former director of the UC Santa Cruz Genome Browser; along with Genomics Institute research and bioinformatics staff members Galt Barber, Jonathan Casper, Hiram Clawson, Jairo Navarro Gonzalez, Maximilian Haeussler, Angie Hinrichs, Robert Kuhn, Brian Lee, Christopher Lee, Brian Raney, Kate Rosenbloom, Matthew Speir, and Ann Zweig. Daniel Magee, a staff programmer with the UC Observatories, also made the list.
