The Institute of Cancer Research, London has ranked among the top higher education institutions in the world for the impact of its research academically and commercially.
U-Multirank, an annual independent evaluation funded by the European Commission, assesses universities worldwide on a number of parameters, including the quality and impact of their research and the success with which they collaborate with other academic institutions and industry.
The ICR was ranked third in the world for the citation rate of scientific research published across all fields – following only Rockefeller University and MIT. And we also ranked third worldwide for top-cited research publications – those that appear in a field’s most frequently cited 10 per cent of papers in that year. This is clear confirmation of the impact that the ICR's discoveries have on cancer research and treatment.
Read case studies of how the ICR's Enterprise Unit has collaborated with a range of industrial partners to transform ideas into new products for the benefit of cancer patients.
Find out more
Top for patent citations
Our impact is further confirmed by our top position worldwide, for the second year running, for the proportion of our research publications that are cited in patents – highlighting the impact the ICR has on turning our scientific discoveries into innovative new medicines and technologies.
Also for the second year running, the ICR came fifth worldwide and first in the UK for the proportion of its publications to feature an industry co-author, in an illustration of the way we effectively work with industry to achieve benefits for patients.
Overall, the ICR placed 27th globally out of 1,225 higher education institutions when measured across seven research criteria – and sixth overall out of 144 UK universities.
Of the seven categories, the ICR scored a top A grade in six – only performing less strongly in the category for absolute number of publications published, in which we were handicapped by our smaller size compared with some of our high-profile peers.
Rankings show 'ICR's global reach'
Dr Barbara Pittam, Director of Academic Services at the ICR, said: “These rankings show once again the ICR’s global reach, our influence with our peers and the impact our scientific research is having in the commercial sector. We see these measures as powerful proxies of our success in influencing cancer research and treatment worldwide and ensuring our findings benefit patients through partnership with industry.”
Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of the ICR, said: "I'm delighted that we have once again ranked in the top five higher education institutions in the world overall on key measures of our impact among our academic peers and with industry – and that we rank even higher on the frequency with which our publications on our discoveries are cited and how effectively we work with industry.
"We punch well above our weight in these rankings, with top scores in all measures other than on absolute numbers of publications, where much larger institutions obviously have an advantage. Our high rankings provide independent validation of the world-class quality of our research, and provide clear indicators for our success in ensuring our findings benefit cancer patients through effective translation and commercialisation."