by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
On March 1, 2022, Research.com released the 8th edition of the annual ranking for top scientists in the area of computer science. This list of leading scholars is designed to offer the academic community more visibility and exposure to the influential research contributions made by those at the forefront of computer science.
What is more, we hope it will inspire researchers, decision-makers, and entrepreneurs around the world to find out where leading experts are heading. It is a great opportunity for all of us to learn who are the leading experts in different research areas, in different countries, as well as within different universities and research institutions.
NOTE: Due to our efforts to publish rankings for all major scientific disciplines in 2022 we have made a decision to feature a separate ranking for a discipline of electronics & electrical engineering which in previous years had been incorporated into the computer science ranking. As a result, this year’s edition of the computer science list may show more significant differences for some scientists, and some researchers may have been transferred to the electronics ranking entirely.
For the 2022 edition of the ranking, more than 9700 scientist profiles on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph have been examined with several indicators and metrics reviewed in order to consider each scientist’s inclusion in the ranking.
The h-index threshold for approving a scholar to be considered was set to 30 if most of their publications were in the field of computer science. The inclusion criteria for scholars to be considered into the ranking of top scientists are based on the discipline h-index, the proportion of contributions made within the given discipline in addition to the awards and achievements of the scientists.
The full ranking for the 2022 list of top computer scientists can be found here:
TOP COMPUTER SCIENTISTS RANKING
Scientists from the United States dominate the list with 591 scholars included in 2022 which represents 59.1% of the whole ranking. Among the top 1% of scientists affiliations are quite diverse, with 5 researchers working for the United States institutions, 2 scientists from Canadian universities, and one from Germany, the UK, and Australia.
China ranks second with 91 scientists.
The third spot was taken by the United Kingdom, which currently has 57 ranking scientists.
The other leading countries are Canada with 38 scientists, Germany with 35 scientists, Switzerland with 29 scientists, and Australia with 21 scholars.
Please note that the country associated with a scientist is based on their affiliated research institution according to MAG, not on their actual nationality.
In the 2022 edition of our ranking, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the leader, with 38 scientists affiliated with that university included in the ranking. Ranking second is the University of California, Berkeley with 33 scientists, and the third place is occupied by Stanford University with 33 scholars as well.
Only American universities and companies are present among the top 10 leading institutions.
Among the top 1% of leading scientists 5 out of 10 institutions in the top 1% are based in the USA (Michigan State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Carnegie Mellon University). The other five are the University of Montreal, Canada (ranked 2nd), the University of Oxford, UK (ranked 4th), the University of Melbourne, Australia (ranked 8th), the University of Toronto, Canada (ranked 9th), and the Technical University of Berlin, Germany (ranked 10th).
The only institution with more than one representative in the top 1% scientists of the ranking is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (with 2 scholars).
Among 20 leading institutions 16 are universities and companies based in the US, the other four are based in Switzerland (ETH Zurich as well as the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), the United Kingdom (University of Oxford), and China (Chinese University of Hong Kong).
Among private companies, the two that feature the most of their scientists in the ranking are Google (31 researchers) and Microsoft (29 researchers).
With more institutions offering online degrees in computer science, access to quality higher education has become more convenient and affordable. The 2022 Wiley study “Online learning at public universities 2022: Views of AASCU member institutions as COVID-19 transforms higher education” revealed that 85% of schools believed online education increased student access to their programs. Also, it has strengthened academic continuity in times of disaster (83%) and attracted students from outside the service area of the institutions (70%) (Wiley University Services, 2022).
Increased student access translates to more graduates who can build promising computer science careers. And these graduates can expect continued growth in their field’s job outlook. Employment in computer and information technology occupations is estimated to grow 14.6% from 2021 to 2031, making it well above the average for all occupations (5.3%) (BLS, 2022).
Meanwhile, one of the highest paying positions in computer science is Computer and Information Research Scientists with a median pay of $126,830. Computer science degree holders can also find opportunities in IT, software development, and cybersecurity. Students with an aptitude for computer science might also be interested in computer engineering. A clear understanding of computer engineering vs computer science can help students decide which specialization best suits their career goals.
For North America, Professor Anil K. Jain, from Michigan State University, US ranks 1st on our list of leading scientists with a high H-index of 201.
Professor Xiaoou Tang from the Chinese University of Hong Kong leads the top list in Asia with an H-index of 134 and a world ranking of 26.
For Europe, Professor Andrew Zisserman from the University of Oxford is ranked the first in the region, but he’s also listed no. 4 in the world ranking, with an H-index of 175.
For Oceania, Professor Rajkumar Buyya from the University of Melbourne in Australia is on top of the list with a world ranking of 8.
Professor Aboul Ella Hassanien who is affiliated with the Cairo University, Egypt is the first for Africa with a world ranking of 1215.
Professor Carlos A. Coello Coello from The Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINESTAV) in Mexico is the highest-ranking scientist from South America with a world ranking of 291.
The average H-index for the top 1% of scientists is 170 against an average of 84 for all 1000 scientists included in the ranking.
The scholar with the lowest index value who made it to the ranking in 2022 has an H-index of 67.
The average number of published articles within the field of computer science for the 1% scientists in the ranking is 822 against an average of 352 for all 1000 scholars.
The average number of citations for the top 1% of scientists is 259,472 against an average of 42,320 for all 1000 scholars. The highest cited scientist is Yoshua Bengio from the University of Montreal with 637,950 citations.
You can learn more about the methodology used to create the ranking here.
All research was coordinated by Imed Bouchrika, PhD, a computer scientist with a well-established record of collaboration on a number of international research projects with different partners from the academic community. His role was to make sure all data remained unbiased, accurate, and up-to-date.
Research.com is the number one research portal for science rankings. Our mission is to make it easier for professors, research fellows, and those studying for a PhD or a master’s degree to progress with their research and to ensure they are always up-to-date with the latest conferences around the world and publications related to their work. Research.com is also involved in the publication of an annual ranking of leading scientists in a wide range of scientific disciplines.
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
