By Graham Andrews and Amanda Shaffer
A widely recognized list of the most frequently cited researchers in the world shows that the United States, powered by scientists at America’s research universities, continues to produce more highly cited researchers than any other nation. However, U.S. dominance is eroding as China rapidly gains ground.
Clarivate’s annual Highly Cited Researchers list recognizes researchers whose publications have had exceptional global influence. Only those researchers whose publications are among the top 1% of citations for their field(s) and publication year are included in the list. Highly Cited Researchers are widely regarded as leading experts in their fields, whose work other researchers rely on or use as a foundation for further discoveries.
While researchers based in the United States continue to have outsized scholarly impacts on their fields, the United States’ share of Highly Cited Researchers has fallen from 53% to 37% since 2014. At the same time, China’s share has risen significantly, vaulting from 4% to 20%. This striking trend illustrates that the United States is facing erosion of its dominance in scientific leadership and influence.
One key component to the United States’ scientific success over the decades is the highly successful partnership between the government and American universities that has, since World War II, contributed to nearly every major U.S. scientific and technological breakthrough. Federal investments in university research have allowed and encouraged the best scientists in the world to make their remarkable discoveries at U.S. universities. In fact, America’s leading research universities are the biggest drivers of U.S. scientific leadership: Most (59%) of the Highly Cited Researchers in the United States in 2025 are based at AAU member universities.
Recent executive branch actions have done little to strengthen American science. As China continues to invest in scientific advancements at a rapid pace, the administration’s efforts have put a damper on research, opening the door for America to lose its pole position as the global leader in scientific influence despite broad bipartisan support for scientific leadership. (According to a recent Pew survey, more than half of Democrats (63%) and Republicans (54%) alike say it is “very important” for the United States to be a world leader in scientific achievements.) And, indeed, it is only thanks to the bipartisan leaders of the congressional appropriations committees that the administration’s efforts to make drastic cuts to scientific research funding levels this fiscal year were averted.
In an era of intense global competition, science is an important contributor to innovation that drives our economic growth, new technologies, and cures. Degraded American science and global scientific influence threaten our ability to achieve these advances – a reality that should greatly concern Americans across the political spectrum.
Graham Andrews is research analyst at AAU; Amanda Shaffer is junior research analyst at AAU.