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Nonprofit · London · United Kingdom

Cancer Research UK

In research, Cancer Research UK stands highest in Life Sciences (#1,162 of 7,800 worldwide), Medicine (#1,739 of 10,443 worldwide) and Health Sciences (#2,496 of 11,982 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Cancer Research, Oncology and Molecular Biology — Cancer Research is 13.2× its share of world research.

cancerresearchuk.orgROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#2,451
of 28,054 · #868 all time
Rank in United Kingdom
#99
of 1,094
Research works
5.6k
▼ 39% vs 2013–17
Citations
541k
96.5 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
31.2%
record average 16.5%
Open access
52%
world 28%

What is Cancer Research UK known for in research?

The fields where it stands highest, 2022–2025, ranked among every institution above the floor in each field.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Life SciencesDomain #1,162 of 7,800 34.0%139 #287
MedicineField #1,739 of 10,443 28.8%185 #434
Health SciencesDomain #2,496 of 11,982 28.9%192 #541
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #1,159 of 3,579 34.3%115 #260
Molecular BiologySubfield #795 of 2,175 33.9%73 #159

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where Cancer Research UK sits in it, in the colour of the band that rank falls in. The track under the rate is the rate itself: it carries no world mark, because the world rate differs by field (from about 6% to 21% in this record).

Which of those standings moved

The same fields on both windows: where it stood over the whole record, and where it stands in 2022–2025. The distance is the story, and it is the one thing the two rank columns above cannot show.

  1. Life Sciences#287 #1,162
  2. Medicine#434 #1,739
  3. Health Sciences#541 #2,496
  4. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#260 #1,159
  5. Molecular Biology#159 #795
all time2022–2025, better2022–2025, worse

A dot further right is a better standing. Fields it was not ranked in over the whole record are left out.

What does Cancer Research UK specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Cancer Research takes 13.2× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Cancer ResearchSubfield · 21.4 works13×
  2. OncologySubfield · 50.5 works12×
  3. Molecular BiologySubfield · 73.4 works6.5×
  4. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField · 115.0 works5.8×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient, a volume reading rather than an impact one. It surfaces small, lopsided specialities.

Field profile

Location quotient across every field it publishes in: outside the ring is more than an institution of this size would be expected to publish, inside it is less.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.13× its world share, 2 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 5.75× its world share, 115 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 4.71× its world share, 18 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.56× its world share, 3 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.45× its world share, 1 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.50× its world share, 1 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.16× its world share, 7 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.17× its world share, 5 worksComputer ScienceEnergy: 0.06× its world share, 0 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.18× its world share, 10 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.08× its world share, 2 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.16× its world share, 2 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.57× its world share, 2 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 0.47× its world share, 4 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.31× its world share, 1 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.57× its world share, 6 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 2.56× its world share, 185 worksMedicineNursing: 0.15× its world share, 0 worksNursingVeterinary: 1.03× its world share, 0 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.04× its world share, 0 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.28× its world share, 1 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.43× its world share, 4 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.25× its world share, 3 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.06× its world share, 3 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, 5.8×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at Cancer Research UK?

Ranked on the composite score, Richard Poulsom, Sharon A. Tooze and Jason S. Carroll lead among researchers whose main affiliation is Cancer Research UK.

  1. 1 Richard Poulsom · #23,377 worldwide 588 citations · 60 works
  2. 2 Sharon A. Tooze · #34,764 worldwide 799 citations · 35 works
  3. 3 Jason S. Carroll · #63,037 worldwide 381 citations · 49 works
  4. 4 Horder · #117,596 worldwide 180 citations · 23 works
  5. 5 M Baum · #146,439 worldwide 490 citations · 19 works
  6. 6 Sarah L. Vowler · #213,451 worldwide 113 citations · 30 works
  7. 7 Peter Johnson · #226,783 worldwide 514 citations · 177 works
  8. 8 Bradley Spencer‐Dene · #336,555 worldwide 179 citations · 15 works
  9. 9 Richard Mitter · #341,049 worldwide 190 citations · 33 works
  10. 10 Sean Preston · #377,872 worldwide 114 citations · 17 works
All ranked researchers at Cancer Research UK

Which keywords describe research at Cancer Research UK?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Chemotherapy, Cancer, Immunotherapy, Tumor Microenvironment, Targeted Therapy, Genomic Instability, Clinical Trials and Cancer Therapy.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this institution's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Cancer30▲ 6.1×43 topics
  2. Chemotherapy27▲ 10×24 topics
  3. Immunotherapy27▲ 10×17 topics
  4. Tumor Microenvironment20▲ 12×8 topics
  5. Targeted Therapy19▲ 23×5 topics
  6. Inflammation17▲ 2.2×58 topics
  7. Clinical Trials16▲ 6.5×12 topics
  8. Genomic Instability16▲ 37×3 topics
  9. Cancer Therapy15▲ 6.9×16 topics
  10. Radiotherapy14▲ 9.5×12 topics
  11. Gene Expression14▲ 5.9×15 topics
  12. Prognostic Factors13▲ 8.0×14 topics
  13. Cell-Free DNA13▲ 35×2 topics
  14. Biomarkers13▲ 4.9×13 topics
  15. Cancer Genomics12▲ 46×1 topic
  16. Mutational Signatures12▲ 46×1 topic
  17. Neoadjuvant Therapy11▲ 13×5 topics
  18. Precision Medicine10▲ 6.0×7 topics
  19. Cancer Immunotherapy10▲ 18×3 topics
  20. Immunity10▲ 6.8×10 topics
  21. Metastasis9▲ 7.3×12 topics
  22. Cell Death9▲ 10×6 topics
  23. Genetic Mutations9▲ 5.4×16 topics
  24. Molecular Characterization9▲ 13×5 topics
  25. Apoptosis8▲ 7.2×15 topics
  26. Clinical Practice Guidelines8▲ 4.0×12 topics
  27. Breast Cancer8▲ 9.1×11 topics
  28. Lymphoma8▲ 13×3 topics
  29. Cancer Progression8▲ 11×8 topics
  30. Cancer Risk7▲ 8.8×7 topics
  31. Immune Checkpoint Blockade7▲ 18×1 topic
  32. PD-1 and PD-L17▲ 18×1 topic
  33. Innate Immunity7▲ 5.9×10 topics
  34. Cancer Incidence7▲ 14×4 topics
  35. Survival Analysis7▲ 6.7×7 topics
  36. PET Imaging7▲ 11×4 topics
  37. Genomic Profiling6▲ 17×2 topics
  38. DNA Methylation6▲ 14×3 topics
  39. Epigenetic Reprogramming6▲ 17×2 topics
  40. Rituximab6▲ 10×2 topics

Which research topics does Cancer Research UK publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics, Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers, Epigenetics and DNA Methylation and Cancer Cells and Metastasis.

Cancer Genomics and Diag…12Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics: 12 fractional worksCancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers: 7 fractional worksEpigenetics and DNA Methylation: 6 fractional worksCancer Cells and Metastasis: 5 fractional worksPancreatic and Hepatic Oncology Research: 5 fractional worksRNA modifications and cancer: 5 fractional worksSingle-cell and spatial …5Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics: 5 fractional worksCAR-T cell therapy research: 5 fractional worksGlobal Cancer Incidence and Screening: 4 fractional worksImmunotherapy and Immune…4Immunotherapy and Immune Responses: 4 fractional works
Cancer ResearchOncologyMolecular BiologyImmunology

Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.

  1. 1 Cancer Genomics and DiagnosticsCancer Research 12 works
  2. 2 Cancer Immunotherapy and BiomarkersOncology 7 works
  3. 3 Epigenetics and DNA MethylationMolecular Biology 6 works
  4. 4 Cancer Cells and MetastasisOncology 5 works
  5. 5 Pancreatic and Hepatic Oncology ResearchOncology 5 works
  6. 6 RNA modifications and cancerMolecular Biology 5 works
  7. 7 Single-cell and spatial transcriptomicsMolecular Biology 5 works
  8. 8 CAR-T cell therapy researchOncology 5 works
  9. 9 Global Cancer Incidence and ScreeningOncology 4 works
  10. 10 Immunotherapy and Immune ResponsesImmunology 4 works

How open and international is its research?

Against the world’s own shares — the tick on each track. Both are shares of its output, so they sit on one scale and can be read against each other as well as against the world.

openly available51.9%not open48.1%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors30.6%domestic only69.4%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has Cancer Research UK's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 39% lower than in 2013–2017.

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Other research institutions in London

All research institutions in London

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners are in the interactive view on the map.