Lancaster University’s Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences is home to some of most influential researchers in the world. The latest Stanford/Elsevier list of the top 2% of scientists in the world, reveals that the Faculty is home to 13 colleagues listed in this prestigious ranking. Drawing on citation data from 2024 alone, many of the colleagues listed were ranked in the top 2% of scientists overall, and also in their disciplines.

Among current staff, this includes Paul Ashwin (Educational Research), Paul Baker (Linguistics), Michaela Benson (Sociology), Vaclav Březina (Linguistics), Sally Bushell (English Literature), Jonathan Culpeper (Linguistics), Christopher Hart (Linguistics), Judit Kormos (Linguistics), Tony McEnery (Linguistics), Elena Semino (Linguistics), Alison Stone (Philosophy), Malcolm Tight (Educational Research) and Imogen Tyler (Sociology). We are also pleased to see the continuing influence of our emeritus professors from across the Faculty reflected in this prestigious ranking.

The data also shows how research conducted by these colleagues in the disciplines contributes to a wide range of areas. Significant impact was documented in a wide range of scholarly fields that includes: artificial intelligence, communication and textual studies, education, experimental psychology, geography, language and linguistics, philosophy and religion, social sciences, and sociology. In this way, the data captures the interdisciplinary appeal of research conducted by colleagues in the Faculty.

Professor Edward Simpson, Executive Dean of FHASS said: "I am proud to see so many colleagues from across the Faculty ranked in the top 2%. This is an outstanding achievement for them as individuals and speaks to the depth of talent, curiosity, and dedication that runs through our academic community. This recognition is not just about numbers or rankings — it’s about the impact these individuals have made through years of thoughtful, rigorous work. Their research is shaping conversations, solving real-world problems, and inspiring others to push boundaries, values that we stand by as a Faculty."

About Stanford/Elsevier’s Top 2% Scientist Rankings

Devised to show, through a wide range of bibliometric reports based on extensive citation data, the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2%, now in its 8th iteration. Produced by data scientists at Elsevier’s ICSR Lab, this prestigious ranking has rapidly established itself as a gold standard for identifying the world’s top researchers.