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Topic · Genetics

BRCA gene mutations in cancer

BRCA gene mutations in cancer is a research topic within Genetics. Science Explorer counts 29k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on genetic research related to BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, and their association with breast and ovarian cancer risk. It covers topics such as genetic testing, precision medicine, genomic medicine, and the impact of mutations on cancer susceptibility.

  • BRCA1
  • BRCA2
  • breast cancer
  • ovarian cancer
  • genetic testing
  • cancer risk
  • precision medicine
  • genomic medicine
  • mutation carriers
  • cancer susceptibility
Research works
29k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+9%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
53% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
BRCA gene mutations in cancer

Which countries lead BRCA gene mutations in cancer research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (2.5k and 440 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2.5k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 440 works
  3. 3 China 400 works
  4. 4 Italy 253 works
  5. 5 Canada 239 works
  6. 6 Australia 214 works
  7. 7 India 189 works
  8. 8 Japan 182 works
  9. 9 Germany 172 works
  10. 10 Brazil 139 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 52.8%United Kingdom: 9.3%China: 8.5%Italy: 5.4%6 others listed: 24.0%53%largest
United States2,489 · 52.8%United Kingdom440 · 9.3%China400 · 8.5%Italy253 · 5.4%6 others listed1,134 · 24.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead BRCA gene mutations in cancer research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most BRCA gene mutations in cancer research, followed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and National Institutes of Health.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 131 works
  2. 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 69 works
  3. 3 National Institutes of HealthUnited States 55 works
  4. 4 University of TorontoCanada 52 works
  5. 5 Cornell UniversityUnited States 50 works
  6. 6 Mayo ClinicUnited States 48 works
  7. 7 University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 47 works
  8. 8 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer CenterUnited States 46 works
  9. 9 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterUnited States 41 works
  10. 10 University of MichiganUnited States 38 works

Who are the leading researchers in BRCA gene mutations in cancer?

The most-cited researchers publishing on BRCA gene mutations in cancer include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and Ahmedin Jemal.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  3. 3 Ahmedin Jemal United States 761k citations
  4. 4 Freddie Bray France 550k citations
  5. 5 Eric S. Lander United States 524k citations
  6. 6 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  7. 7 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  8. 8 Mark J. Daly United States 403k citations
  9. 9 Stacey L. Gabriel United States 402k citations
  10. 10 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in BRCA gene mutations in cancer?

The most cited paper in BRCA gene mutations in cancer is "Standards and guidelines for the interpretation of sequence variants: a joint consensus recommendation of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology" (Sue M. Richards, Nazneen Aziz, Sherri J. Bale et al., 2015), with 33,443 citations. Next come "A Gene-Expression Signature as a Predictor of Survival in Breast Cancer" (6,562) and "A Strong Candidate for the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility Gene BRCA1" (6,134).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Standards and guidelines for the interpretation of sequence variants: a joint consensus recommendation of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology Sue M. Richards, Nazneen Aziz, Sherri J. Bale et al. · Genetics in Medicine Open access 5 Mar 2015 33,443
2 A Gene-Expression Signature as a Predictor of Survival in Breast Cancer Marc J. van de Vijver et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 18 Dec 2002 6,562
3 A Strong Candidate for the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility Gene BRCA1 Yoshio Miki et al. · Science 7 Oct 1994 6,134
4 Impact of Informing Overweight Individuals about the Role of Genetics in Obesity: An Online Experimental Study Natalie C. Lippa, Saskia C. Sanderson · Human Heredity 2013 6,093
5 Tamoxifen for Prevention of Breast Cancer: Report of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project P-1 Study Bernard Fisher, Joseph P. Costantino, Donald Lawrence Wickerham et al. · JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute Open access 16 Sep 1998 5,532
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is BRCA gene mutations in cancer research done?

The largest centres of BRCA gene mutations in cancer research in 2022-now are New York (United States), London (United Kingdom), Boston (United States) and Philadelphia (United States).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 New YorkUnited States 173 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 163 works
  3. 3 BostonUnited States 121 works
  4. 4 PhiladelphiaUnited States 98 works
  5. 5 HoustonUnited States 85 works
  6. 6 MelbourneAustralia 82 works
  7. 7 TorontoCanada 82 works
  8. 8 SeoulSouth Korea 71 works
  9. 9 Chapel HillUnited States 66 works
  10. 10 San FranciscoUnited States 60 works
See BRCA gene mutations in cancer on the map

Where is the best place to study BRCA gene mutations in cancer?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University of London score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 16.88%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Cambri…Harvard UniversityQueen Mary Universit…Cornell University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 79.820.3%7.2×131 -8.6%
2University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 71.025.1%3.7×25 +4.7%
3Queen Mary University of LondonUnited Kingdom 65.920.0%6.9×17 +46.0%
4Cornell UniversityUnited States 59.913.0%6.7×50 +34.2%
5University of PennsylvaniaUnited States 59.311.6%7.9×47 +29.0%
6The University of MelbourneAustralia 57.913.0%5.4×34 +17.2%
7University College LondonUnited Kingdom 56.816.2%2.5×23 +26.1%
8Institute of Cancer ResearchUnited Kingdom 55.718.0%45.3×8 -19.8%
9Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 55.513.6%2.9×16 +42.1%
10University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 55.318.0%1.9×15 +42.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in BRCA gene mutations in cancer, country by country

Is BRCA gene mutations in cancer research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 9% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are BRCA gene mutations in cancer.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is BRCA gene mutations in cancer as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.026% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%BRCA gene mutations in cancer0.026% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of BRCA gene mutations in cancer over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%BRCA gene mutations in cancer10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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