First Deputy Health Minister Among Kuwaiti Researchers in Surgery in Stanford and Elsevier's List of Top 2 Percent Global Scientists

Kuwait City, October 14 (KUNA) -- Assistant Minister of Health Sheikh Dr. Salman Khalifa Al-Sabah ranked first among researchers from Kuwait and was classified within the field of surgery in the 2026 update of the Stanford-Elsevier list of the top 2% of scientists and researchers worldwide. The Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday that the data showed Sheikh Dr. Salman Al-Sabah ranked 765th among 146,713 researchers in surgery globally, placing him within the top 0.52% of his field according to the annual ranking results.

The statement explained that this list is commonly known as the Stanford-Elsevier list of the top 2% of scientists worldwide. It is a scientific database compiled by a research team led by Professor John Ioannidis of Stanford University and published via the Elsevier data repository, relying on Scopus data. The list evaluates researchers’ academic presence through a set of indicators, including the number of citations to published research, the h-index, the volume of research participation, and the researcher’s position within the authorship order of studies; it does not rely solely on the number of publications.

The ranking includes two separate tracks: the first tracks research outcomes across the researcher’s entire academic career, while the second covers results recorded over a single year. The 2026 update was published on October 7, while the annual list is based on data and scientific citations recorded during 2025.

The ministry affirmed that this high ranking reflects the presence of Kuwaiti researchers at international scientific forums and the growing reach and engagement of Kuwaiti medical research within the global academic community. (End) M.N.M. / T.A.B.