The List

This is a list of the top 100 scholars of visual communication by Google Scholar citations as of July 22, 2026.

Nb: This is a point-in-time snapshot of an evolving field. Not every scholar has a Google Scholar profile and not every researcher who focuses on visual communication uses this label in their profile so this list reflects these dynamics. Please also note that some of the scholars on this list have retired or are otherwise inactive in the field.

Rank	Name	Affiliation	Citations (as of July 2026)
1	Theodoor van Leeuwen	University of Technology Sydney	90,592
2	Shiqi Wang 王诗淇	City University of Hong Kong	24,437
3	Barbie Zelizer	University of Pennsylvania	23,002
4	Lilie Chouliaraki	LSE	21,339
5	Mohd Nor Shahizan Ali	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia	20,297
6	Jakob D. Jensen	University of Utah	9,935
7	Wayne Wanta	University of Florida	9,828
8	Erik Bucy	Texas Tech University	7,790
9	Baldwin Van Gorp	KU Leuven	7,224
10	Maria Elizabeth (Betsi) Grabe	Boston University	6,969
11	Shahira S. Fahmy	American University in Cairo	5,240
12	Renita Coleman	University of Texas at Austin	4,838
13	Allison Lazard	UNC Chapel Hill	4,721
14	Richard M. Chalfen	Temple University	4,664
15	Michael E. Holmes	University of Oregon	4,636
16	Nick Hopwood	University of Cambridge	3,925
17	Zhengfang (Alex) Duanmu	Netflix	3,833
18	Elisabeth (Lisa) El Refaie	Cardiff University	3,703
19	Margaret Duffy	University of Missouri	3,454
20	Peter Lambert	Ghent University	3,445
21	John Pracejus	University of Alberta	3,271
22	Sabine Tan	Independent Researcher	2,912
23	Marion G. Müller	University of Trier	2,822
24	Alfons Maes	Tilburg University	2,818
25	Dona Schwartz	University of Calgary	2,394
26	Katharina Lobinger	Università della Svizzera italiana	2,360
27	Charles Kostelnick	Iowa State University	2,134
28	Eva Brumberger	Arizona State University	2,070
29	Michael Biggs	University of Hertfordshire	2,000
30	Stephanie Geise	Universität Bremen	1,994
31	Cornelia Brantner	Karlstad University	1,908
32	Margaret Suganthi	Bishop Heber College	1,864
33	Lulu Rodriguez	Iowa State University	1,805
34	Pierre-Paul Bitton	Memorial University of Newfoundland	1,668
35	Nicole Dahmen	University of Oregon	1,638
36	Yilang Peng	University of Georgia	1,492
37	Wandah Wibawanto	Universitas Negeri Semarang	1,442
38	Joanna Boehnert	Bath Spa University	1,422
39	Mona Masood	Universiti Sains Malaysia	1,415
40	Adzrool Ismail	Universiti Utara Malaysia	1,412
41	Thomas Knieper	University of Passau	1,394
42	Wibke Weber	Zurich University of Applied Sciences	1,391
43	T.J. Thomson	RMIT University	1,350
44	Agnese Sampietro	Universitat Jaume I	1,299
45	Carol Schwalbe	University of Arizona	1,278
46	Rama Kertamukti	UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta	1,253
47	Kathryn Heley	National Cancer Institute	1,225
48	Arnaud Hubaux	Namur	1,207
49	Normah Mustaffa	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia	1,205
50	Kathryn (Kaatie) E. Cooper	Kent State University	1,039
51	Sandeep Kumar	Karnavati University	1,001
52	Rahina Nugrahani	Universitas Negeri Semarang	986
53	Sheree Josephson	Weber State University	981
54	Idham Tamim Aldary	University of Indonesia	977
55	Ben Wasike	University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	959
56	Shiyu Yang	University of Tennessee, Knoxville	942
57	Kyser Lough	University of Georgia	912
58	Asiah Sarji	Universiti Utara Malaysia	895
59	Carolyn Yaschur	University of Texas	888
60	Edd Schneider	Ithaca College	888
61	Krishn Kumar Verma	Parul University	879
62	Marco Pellitteri	Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University	874
63	Kushin Mukherjee	Stanford University	861
64	Elisa Serafinelli	Manchester Metropolitan University	843
65	Gregory Paschalidis	Aristotle University of Thessaloniki	840
66	Ana Cláudia Gruszynski	Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul	836
67	Kelly Norris Martin	Rochester Institute of Technology	812
68	Nicole H. O’Donnell	Washington State University	803
69	Melissa Janoske McLean	University of Memphis	752
70	Lukas RA Wilde	NTNU	738
71	Suhaiza Hanim Suroya	Universiti Teknologi MARA	723
72	Lawrence J. Mullen	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	715
73	Delia Dumitrescu	University of Heidelberg	683
74	Ran Duan	University of Nevada, Reno	679
75	Kareem El Damanhoury	University of Denver	669
76	Roberto Gamonal Arroyo	Universidad Complutense Madrid	630
77	Murray Dick	Newcastle University	609
78	Nur Iskandar	Universitas KH Abdurrahman Wahid Pekalongan	606
79	Jan D. Bláha	Charles University	594
80	Manusheela Pokharel	Texas State University	564
81	J Robyn Goodman	University of Florida	563
82	Morten Boeriis	University of Southern Denmark	559
83	Chelsea P. Butkowski	American University	543
84	Sonia Stephens	University of Central Florida	529
85	Mohamed Ben Moussa	University of Sharjah	528
86	Amanda L. Molder	USC	523
87	Lucia Vigoroso	CNR – STEMS	520
88	Toto Haryadi	Universitas Dian Nuswantoro	504
89	G. Mauricio Mejía	Arizona State University	493
90	Christina Spiesel	Quinnipiac University	493
91	Larysa Makaruk	Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University	485
92	Jonathan Finn	Wilfrid Laurier University	483
93	Muhizam Mustafa	Universiti Sains Malaysia	481
94	Chien Ching Lee	Singapore Institute of Technology	474
95	Sophia Diamantopoulou	UCL	474
96	Hadi Purnama	Telkom University	453
97	Melissa Clarkson	University of Kentucky	450
98	Kathleen M. Ryan	University of Colorado	448
99	Janis Teruggi Page	University of Illinois at Chicago	448
100	Andrew Selby	Loughborough University	447

This list will be periodically updated as citation counts change over time.