Clarivate Names 22 Citation Laureates for 2026

LONDON, Sept. 17, 2026 — Clarivate has announced its 2026 Citation Laureates, recognizing 22 researchers whose highly influential work spans physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry and economics.

Selected by experts at Clarivate’s Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), the Citation Laureates are recognized for pioneering contributions considered to be of Nobel stature and for research that has helped shape the future of science and society.

Since the program was established in 2002, 89 Citation Laureates have subsequently received Nobel Prizes, making the recognition a closely watched indicator of research that may later receive the world's highest scientific honors. Clarivate’s selection combines citation analysis with expert assessment of researchers whose work has demonstrated exceptional influence within their fields.

The 2026 laureates are affiliated with leading institutions across seven countries and regions. Sixteen are based in the United States, while Canada, Denmark, Israel, Japan, Mainland China and Switzerland each have one laureate.

Physiology or Medicine

Daniel J. Drucker — Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Sinai Health, Canada; Jens Juul Holst — University of Copenhagen, Denmark; and Svetlana Mojsov — Rockefeller University, United States, were recognized for the identification and characterization of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and studies of its biological activity.

James G. Fujimoto and Eric A. Swanson — Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and David Huang — Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, United States, were recognized for the development of optical coherence tomography, an imaging technology used in medicine and biomedical research.

Timothy A. Springer — Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States, was recognized for identifying key adhesion receptors in the immune system.

Physics

Chihaya Adachi — Kyushu University, Japan; Stephen R. Forrest — University of Michigan, United States; and Mark E. Thompson — University of Southern California, United States, were recognized for pioneering research on phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PHOLEDs) and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), contributing to highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes.

Nicola A. Spaldin — ETH Zurich, Switzerland, was recognized for theoretical work leading to the development of room-temperature magnetoelectric multiferroics, opening new possibilities for energy-efficient electronic devices.

Qikun Xue — Southern University of Science and Technology and Tsinghua University, Mainland China, was recognized for the experimental observation of the quantum anomalous Hall effect.

Chemistry

David L. Allara — Pennsylvania State University; Ralph G. Nuzzo — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and Jacob Sagiv — Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, were recognized for the development of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs).

Harry B. Gray and Jay R. Winkler — California Institute of Technology, United States, were recognized for advancing understanding of long-range electron transfer in proteins.

David R. Liu — Harvard University, Broad Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States, was recognized for developing base editing and prime editing, precision gene-editing technologies that can directly modify DNA in living systems and have opened new possibilities for programmable medicines.

Economics

Susan C. Athey — Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and Hal R. Varian — University of California, Berkeley, United States, were recognized for pioneering research on the economics of information technology.

Michael D. Woodford — Columbia University, United States, was recognized for contributions to the theory and practice of monetary policy.

Sidney G. Winter — The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, United States, was recognized for research on economic dynamism and organizational behavior inspired by evolutionary theory.

A Global Cohort of Highly Cited Researchers

The 2026 Citation Laureates represent a broad range of institutions and research traditions, while their work addresses areas with significant implications for medicine, technology, energy efficiency, genetics and the global economy.

The cohort includes researchers behind foundational advances in GLP-1 biology, optical imaging, immune-system receptors, OLED technology, quantum physics, self-assembled materials, precision gene editing, information economics and monetary policy.

Clarivate’s Citation Laureates program is based on highly cited research identified through the Web of Science Core Collection, combined with expert analysis from ISI. Clarivate says the program has identified more than 450 laureates since its inception, with 89 subsequently receiving Nobel Prizes.