Dr Santosh G Honavar Tops Indian Ophthalmology Researchers List for Fifth Consecutive Year
Dr Honavar, Honorary Secretary of the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS), is Director of Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery and Ocular Oncology at Centre for Sight Eye Hospital, Hyderabad.
He is a former Associate Director of LV Prasad Eye Institute and former Editor of the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.
The 2026 list features a record 64 Indian ophthalmologists among the world’s top two per cent of researchers based on their research impact during the latest assessment year.
Of these, 29 have been recognised for their career-long research impact.
The top 10 Indian ophthalmology researchers in the annual impact category are Dr Santosh G Honavar, Dr Mohd Javed Ali, Dr Kaliki Swathi, Dr Namrata Sharma, Dr Virender S Sangwan, Dr Vinod Kumar, Dr GVS Murthy, Dr Rohit Shetty, Dr Savitri Sharma and Dr Rajeev Raman.
In the career-long impact category, the top 10 include Dr Santosh G Honavar, Dr Gullapalli N Rao, Dr Virender S Sangwan, Dr Philip Aloysius Thomas, Dr Savitri Sharma, Dr Muthiah K Srinivasan, Dr Mohd Javed Ali, Dr D Balasubramanian, Dr GVS Murthy and Dr Amod Gupta.
Researchers featured in the list represent leading institutions across the country, including LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad; Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences at AIIMS, New Delhi; Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai; Aravind Eye Care System, Madurai; Narayana Nethralaya, Bengaluru; Centre for Sight, Hyderabad; and PGIMER, Chandigarh.
Dr Honavar, an internationally recognised specialist in eye cancers, has received several honours, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award from the Government of India.
He is the only ophthalmologist from the Indian subcontinent to have received the Honorary Fellowship, the highest distinction conferred by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in the United Kingdom.
He has more than 18,500 citations and an H-index of 73.
The Stanford–Elsevier World’s Top 2% Scientists List identifies researchers whose published work has achieved significant scholarly impact. It features separate rankings for annual research impact and cumulative career-long impact.
According to the 2026 list, 6,954 Indian researchers were recognised for their research impact during the latest year assessed, while 3,898 were included for their cumulative research impact over their careers.
AIOS President Dr Jeewan S Titiyal congratulated the Indian researchers featured in the list and reaffirmed the society’s commitment to advancing research through its publications, the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology and IJO Case Reports, scientific activities and initiatives under its Vision 2030 strategy.
He said the strategy aims to support and nurture the research potential of Indian ophthalmologists and expressed confidence that more young researchers from India would gain international recognition in the coming years.
Established in 1930, AIOS has more than 28,000 members and works to advance ophthalmology, eye research, medical education and public eye health.
