Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is one of the German universities with a strong focus on research. Around 2,900 scientists, among them some 480 professors, research and teach in ten faculties with more than 150 institutes and clinics, in the Mainz School of Music, or the Mainz Academy of Arts. Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz is the center of scientific research in Rhineland-Palatinate and is closely connected to regional, super-regional, and international partners from science, culture, business, and industry.

The amount of third-party funds raised is a key indicator of JGU's research achievement. In 2011, these funds amounted to EUR 90 million with funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) – especially with eight Collaborative Research Centers, seven Research Training Groups, and ten Research Units – being a major mainstay.

Renowned national and international rankings prove that Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz can measure up to the best universities in various research areas. JGU occupies top positions in the following rankings:

In the 2009 DFG Funding Ranking, JGU came in 5th place for DFG grants in the natural sciences and 1st place in these grants per professor. The natural sciences also have a high number of participations in coordinated programs; JGU placed 4th here. JGU was 9th place overall for grants for DFG Collaborative Research Centers. By placing 6th in the medical research area and 9th in the microbiology, virology, and immunology research area, JGU earned further high marks in important areas of life sciences.

In the 2011 Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), JGU's various institutes of physics count among the top 75 research institutions of their kind worldwide. Among German universities, JGU comes in eleventh to fourteenth and is even among the top eight in the area of natural sciences and mathematics.

In the current Leiden Ranking, JGU occupies 1st place among German universities and 4th place among the 250 largest European institutions of higher education in the number of citations per publication.

Being a center for research in Germany, in Europe as well as in the whole word, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz is an academic global player par excellence. As it moves into the future, JGU will make every effort to consolidate and expand this position. Mainz University will always remain rooted in the region from which it draws a large part of its potential.