First Deputy Health Minister among Kuwaiti surgical researchers in top 2% of global scientists list

Deputy Minister of Health Sheikh Dr. Salman Khalifa Al-Sabah ranked first among Kuwaiti researchers classified in the field of surgery in the 2026 update of the Stanford and Elsevier list of the top 2% of scientists and researchers worldwide.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health noted that the data showed Sheikh Dr. Salman Al-Sabah achieved the 765th rank among 146,713 researchers in the field of surgery globally, placing him within the top approximately 0.52% in his specialty, according to the annual ranking results.

The ministry clarified that this list is commonly known in the media as the Stanford and 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’ scientific presence through a set of indicators, including the number of citations for 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 results across the entire scientific career, while the second covers results recorded within a single year. The 2026 update was published on October 7, while its annual list is based on data and scientific citations recorded during 2025.

The ministry emphasized that this advanced ranking reflects the presence of Kuwaiti researchers in international scientific forums and the growing dissemination and interaction of Kuwaiti medical research within the global academic community.