Two scientists from BRIC-Institute of Life Sciences (BRIC-ILS), Bhubaneswar, have been included in the 2026 edition of Stanford University's World's Top 2% Scientists list. This ranking, compiled by Stanford in collaboration with Elsevier, evaluates researchers globally based on citation metrics including h-index, co-authorship adjusted citations, and career-long and single-year impact. BRIC-ILS operates under the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council, formerly DBT, under India's Ministry of Science and Technology.

The Stanford-Elsevier World's Top 2% Scientists list is one of the most widely cited global academic rankings. It covers over 200,000 researchers across 22 major scientific fields and 174 sub-fields, evaluated on standardised citation data from the Scopus database. Two separate lists are published: one for career-long impact and one for single-year citation performance.

BRIC-ILS (Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council – Institute of Life Sciences) is a premier autonomous institution located in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It was formerly under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and now operates under BRIC — the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council — which was constituted in 2023 by merging multiple DBT-funded autonomous institutions to streamline India's biotech research ecosystem. BRIC functions under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

For UPSC aspirants, the significance lies in the static hinterland: the institutional structure of India's biotechnology research, the role of DBT/BRIC, and how India measures and advances its science output globally. The examiner uses such rankings as entry points to test knowledge of the organisation's mandate, its parent ministry, and India's broader science and technology ecosystem. ILS Bhubaneswar specifically works on infectious diseases, cancer biology, and stem cell research — areas that frequently appear in S&T questions.