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Research facility · Heidelberg · Germany

German Cancer Research Center

In research, German Cancer Research Center stands highest in Life Sciences (#322 of 7,800 worldwide), Medicine (#585 of 10,443 worldwide) and Health Sciences (#804 of 11,982 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Genetics, Radiation and Oncology — Genetics is 13.4× its share of world research.

dkfz.de/en/index.htmlROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#950
of 28,054 · #599 all time
Rank in Germany
#47
of 1,178
Research works
16k
▼ 32% vs 2013–17
Citations
632k
40.2 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
28.2%
record average 16.5%
Open access
35%
world 28%

What is German Cancer Research Center 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 #322 of 7,800 29.7%474 #194
MedicineField #585 of 10,443 27.7%770 #335
Health SciencesDomain #804 of 11,982 27.8%789 #420
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyField #334 of 3,579 29.1%357 #222
OncologySubfield #88 of 772 29.1%172 #66
Molecular BiologySubfield #296 of 2,175 28.6%219 #168
Physical SciencesDomain #2,954 of 12,888 26.2%160 #1938
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and ImagingSubfield #144 of 569 25.8%105 #124
Pulmonary and Respiratory MedicineSubfield #302 of 1,144 28.9%102 #187
Immunology and MicrobiologyField #217 of 682 32.3%79 #102

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where German Cancer Research Center 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#194 #322
  2. Medicine#335 #585
  3. Health Sciences#420 #804
  4. Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology#222 #334
  5. Oncology#66 #88
  6. Molecular Biology#168 #296
  7. Physical Sciences#1,938 #2,954
  8. Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging#124 #144
  9. Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine#187 #302
  10. Immunology and Microbiology#102 #217
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 German Cancer Research Center specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Genetics takes 13.4× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. GeneticsSubfield · 53.3 works13×
  2. RadiationSubfield · 25.6 works13×
  3. OncologySubfield · 171.6 works10×
  4. Cancer ResearchSubfield · 61.2 works9.7×
  5. HematologySubfield · 36.7 works8.3×
  6. Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and ImagingSubfield · 105.4 works8.0×
  7. ImmunologySubfield · 73.2 works7.3×
← 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: 0.15× its world share, 10 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 4.58× its world share, 357 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 5.38× its world share, 79 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 1.05× its world share, 25 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.64× its world share, 3 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemical Engineering: 0.14× its world share, 1 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 0.72× its world share, 17 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.30× its world share, 34 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.04× its world share, 1 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.02× its world share, 0 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.22× its world share, 49 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.10× its world share, 7 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.21× its world share, 10 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.40× its world share, 7 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 1.04× its world share, 34 worksPhysics and AstronomyDentistry: 0.50× its world share, 4 worksDentistryHealth Professions: 0.28× its world share, 11 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 2.74× its world share, 770 worksMedicineNursing: 0.46× its world share, 3 worksNursingVeterinary: 0.67× its world share, 1 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.04× its world share, 2 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.06× its world share, 3 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.42× its world share, 6 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.37× its world share, 12 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.13× its world share, 6 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.05× its world share, 9 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Immunology and Microbiology, 5.4×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at German Cancer Research Center?

Ranked on the composite score, Hermann Brenner, Ben Schöttker and Werner W. Franke lead among researchers whose main affiliation is German Cancer Research Center.

  1. 1 Hermann Brenner Germany · #461 worldwide 5.8k citations · 356 works
  2. 2 Ben Schöttker Germany · #5,907 worldwide 2.9k citations · 56 works
  3. 3 Werner W. Franke Germany · #8,579 worldwide 1.3k citations · 115 works
  4. 4 Dietrich Keppler Germany · #11,720 worldwide 637 citations · 55 works
  5. 5 Mathias Heikenwälder Germany · #18,495 worldwide 750 citations · 74 works
  6. 6 Lena Maier‐Hein Germany · #18,589 worldwide 504 citations · 68 works
  7. 7 Barbara Burwinkel Germany · #20,015 worldwide 613 citations · 56 works
  8. 8 Peter Angel Germany · #21,014 worldwide 681 citations · 44 works
  9. 9 Volker Arndt Germany · #21,468 worldwide 579 citations · 63 works
  10. 10 Peter Lichter Germany · #22,971 worldwide 889 citations · 117 works
All ranked researchers at German Cancer Research Center

Which keywords describe research at German Cancer Research Center?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Immunotherapy, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, Tumor Microenvironment, Prognostic Factors, Cancer Therapy and Targeted 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. Immunotherapy138▲ 13×19 topics
  2. Cancer118▲ 6.0×51 topics
  3. Chemotherapy79▲ 7.7×24 topics
  4. Inflammation77▲ 2.5×81 topics
  5. Radiotherapy74▲ 13×13 topics
  6. Tumor Microenvironment70▲ 11×8 topics
  7. Prognostic Factors63▲ 9.9×14 topics
  8. Cancer Therapy56▲ 6.8×18 topics
  9. Gene Expression50▲ 5.7×17 topics
  10. Precision Medicine47▲ 7.0×7 topics
  11. Targeted Therapy47▲ 14×5 topics
  12. Cancer Immunotherapy47▲ 21×3 topics
  13. Molecular Classification44▲ 20×4 topics
  14. Medical Imaging43▲ 5.7×8 topics
  15. Immunity41▲ 7.0×11 topics
  16. Glioblastoma40▲ 40×1 topic
  17. Temozolomide40▲ 40×1 topic
  18. Biomarkers39▲ 4.0×18 topics
  19. Lymphoma37▲ 16×4 topics
  20. Genetic Mutations35▲ 5.6×23 topics
  21. Tumor Regression35▲ 22×2 topics
  22. Genomic Instability34▲ 21×3 topics
  23. Innate Immunity34▲ 7.4×11 topics
  24. Metastasis32▲ 6.5×12 topics
  25. Magnetic Resonance Imaging30▲ 8.2×8 topics
  26. Quantitative Analysis30▲ 10×4 topics
  27. Leukemia29▲ 24×2 topics
  28. PET Imaging29▲ 12×5 topics
  29. CAR T Cells28▲ 26×1 topic
  30. Chimeric Antigen Receptor28▲ 26×1 topic
  31. Dosimetry28▲ 27×2 topics
  32. Neoadjuvant Therapy28▲ 8.1×5 topics
  33. Texture Analysis28▲ 8.2×3 topics
  34. Predictive Modeling27▲ 6.8×3 topics
  35. Cell-Free DNA25▲ 18×2 topics
  36. Somatic Mutations25▲ 21×2 topics
  37. Cancer Genomics25▲ 24×1 topic
  38. Mutational Signatures25▲ 24×1 topic
  39. Radiomics25▲ 15×1 topic
  40. Tumor Heterogeneity25▲ 15×1 topic

Which research topics does German Cancer Research Center publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment, CAR-T cell therapy research, Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical Imaging and Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics.

Glioma Diagnosis and Tre…40Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment: 40 fractional worksCAR-T cell therapy resea…28CAR-T cell therapy research: 28 fractional worksRadiomics and Machine Le…25Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical Imaging: 25 fractional worksCancer Genomics and Diag…25Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics: 25 fractional worksCancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers: 23 fractional worksAdvanced Radiotherapy Techniques: 18 fractional worksImmunotherapy and Immune…17Immunotherapy and Immune Responses: 17 fractional worksEpigenetics and DNA Methylation: 17 fractional worksRadiation Therapy and Dosimetry: 16 fractional worksMedical Imaging Techniqu…16Medical Imaging Techniques and Applications: 16 fractional works
GeneticsOncologyRadiology, Nuclear Medicine and ImagingCancer Research4 others

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

  1. 1 Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment Genetics 40 works
  2. 2 CAR-T cell therapy research Oncology 28 works
  3. 3 Radiomics and Machine Learning in Medical Imaging Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging 25 works
  4. 4 Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Cancer Research 25 works
  5. 5 Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers Oncology 23 works
  6. 6 Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques Radiation 18 works
  7. 7 Immunotherapy and Immune Responses Immunology 17 works
  8. 8 Epigenetics and DNA Methylation Molecular Biology 17 works
  9. 9 Radiation Therapy and Dosimetry Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine 16 works
  10. 10 Medical Imaging Techniques and Applications Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging 16 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 available35.2%not open64.8%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors27.1%domestic only72.9%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has German Cancer Research Center's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 32% 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 Heidelberg

All research institutions in Heidelberg

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.