ICI Honors║Professors Lei Hao and Zhang Wei Named to World’s Top 2% Scientists List for Another Consecutive Year

On September 19, Stanford University and Elsevier jointly released the 8th Edition (2025) of the "World's Top 2% Scientists" list.

Selected from a pool of nearly 7 million researchers across 22 major fields and 174 sub-fields, ICI Professors Lei Hao and Zhang Wei have once again been named to the "Single Year Impact" list in the field of Education. Among the selections for this year's impact list, only 33 scholars in 

the field of Education were selected from across China.

About the Ranking 

Compiled by a team led by Professor John P. A. Ioannidis at Stanford University, the "World's Top 2% Scientists" list is widely recognized as one of the most prestigious indicators of global research impact. The ranking is based on Scopus data and evaluates scholars using a composite indicator based on six key metrics, focusing on citation impact and authorship contribution:

1.Total citations

2.Hirsch h-index

3.Co-authorship adjusted Schreiber hm-index

4.Citations as single author

5.Citations as single or first author

6.Citations as single, first, or last author

Scholar Profiles

Prof. LEI Hao

Professor and PhD Supervisor at the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction (ICI); Vice Dean of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, East China Normal University.

Professor Lei has been consecutively named to the Stanford "World's Top 2% Scientists" (Single Year Impact) list and Elsevier’s "Highly Cited Chinese Researchers" list. His research primarily focuses on curriculum reform, textbook usage, and curriculum development.

He has led multiple key projects funded by the National Social Science Fund of China (Key, General, and Youth categories). In recent years, he has published over 30 papers in SSCI-indexed journals (e.g., Educational Psychology Review) and over 30 papers in CSSCI-indexed journals (e.g., Educational Research). He serves as a reviewer for leading journals such as Child Development (SSCI) and the Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences).

Key Publications & Awards:

Author:Teaching for Learning: Research on Learning-Centered Instruction.

Co-Editor:Interpretation of the Compulsory Education Curriculum Scheme (2022 Edition).

Honors: Recipient of multiple prestigious awards, including the Ministry of Education’s Award for Outstanding Scientific Research in Higher Education (Second Prize), the Shanghai Philosophy and Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award (First Prize), and the National Teaching Achievement Award (First Prize).

Prof. ZHANG Wei

Professor and PhD Supervisor at the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction (ICI); Director of the Center for International Research in Supplementary Education; Executive Director of the UNESCO ASPnet International Center; Honorary Professor at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Professor Zhang specializes in Shadow Education (private tutoring) and international comparative education policy. Her work has made significant contributions to the theoretical development of shadow education research. She serves as a policy research consultant for UNESCO and is a member of the Ministry of Education’s Expert Committee on Off-campus Training Supervision, actively promoting the global governance of private tutoring.

Key Publications & Awards:

Awards: Recipient of the European Journal of Education Best Paper Award.

Key Monograph:Taming the Wild Horse of Shadow Education: The Global Expansion of Private Tutoring and Regulatory Responses. This work was adopted in full by UNESCO and serves as a key reference for the Global Education Monitoring Report.