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🎓 Top Research Universities in Germany

Universities and colleges in Germany ranked by the total citations their research has received (OpenAlex).

📅 2026📏 citations50 entries🇩🇪 See all of this country’s rankings →
Every dot is one entry, placed by its value (citations); the vertical bar marks each row’s median.
1
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München329,016 papers
33,747,548
2
Heidelberg University252,665 papers
31,516,450
3
Technical University of Munich272,104 papers
23,073,512
4
University of Freiburg173,240 papers
20,435,627
5
RWTH Aachen University222,091 papers
20,139,806
6
University of Bonn192,951 papers
19,843,043
7
University of Göttingen200,664 papers
15,914,561
8
University of Tübingen175,144 papers
15,819,783
9
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology187,466 papers
15,222,215
10
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz127,301 papers
15,033,876
11
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg164,368 papers
14,185,126
12
Goethe University Frankfurt158,608 papers
13,862,249
13
Universität Hamburg140,808 papers
12,806,096
14
University of Münster148,173 papers
12,644,571
15
University of Würzburg133,165 papers
12,631,778
16
Technische Universität Dresden143,955 papers
11,760,484
17
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin135,075 papers
11,536,936
18
University of Cologne142,136 papers
11,049,631
19
Freie Universität Berlin147,324 papers
9,063,784
20
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf107,408 papers
9,027,821
21
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover92,279 papers
8,889,163
22
Ruhr University Bochum131,724 papers
8,634,536
23
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel102,569 papers
8,259,304
24
Leipzig University127,888 papers
8,258,603
25
Universität Ulm94,348 papers
8,141,015
26
Philipps University of Marburg95,510 papers
7,367,682
27
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen100,629 papers
7,062,211
28
University of Duisburg-Essen95,751 papers
6,594,544
29
Leibniz University Hannover79,794 papers
6,544,051
30
Friedrich Schiller University Jena129,758 papers
6,264,337
31
University of Regensburg71,721 papers
6,198,259
32
Technische Universität Berlin114,987 papers
5,930,362
33
University of Stuttgart161,669 papers
5,609,227
34
Saarland University73,695 papers
4,895,192
35
TU Dortmund University63,396 papers
4,863,696
36
Technische Universität Darmstadt95,382 papers
4,855,348
37
University of Wuppertal32,077 papers
4,621,417
38
Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg84,021 papers
3,948,762
39
University of Lübeck44,961 papers
3,854,317
40
Universität Greifswald46,997 papers
3,813,085
41
University of Rostock59,793 papers
3,733,371
42
University of Bremen73,872 papers
3,559,997
43
University of Konstanz48,076 papers
3,409,021
44
Bielefeld University63,451 papers
3,353,985
45
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg55,050 papers
3,250,647
46
University of Bayreuth49,788 papers
3,185,714
47
University of Potsdam59,209 papers
3,022,323
48
Technische Universität Braunschweig63,554 papers
2,958,761
49
University of Hohenheim31,720 papers
2,341,908
50
University of Siegen30,107 papers
2,228,117

Highlights

Within Germany, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München ranks first in 2026 with 33,747,548, followed by Heidelberg University (31,516,450) and Technical University of Munich (23,073,512).

Across 50 entries, values run from 33,747,548 (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) to 2,228,117 (University of Siegen), with a median of 7,754,349.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers, 2026. Unit: citations.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers · CC0 1.0 (OpenAlex) · fetched Oct 13, 2026 — Counts every citation to papers by authors affiliated with the institution, so large and old universities score high. It measures research impact, not teaching quality.