Universities by Research h-index in South Africa

Universities and colleges ranked by OpenAlex's institutional h-index, which combines publication volume and citation impact. This is a research metric, not a measure of teaching quality. OpenAlex is an open scholarly index; larger and older institutions tend to have more indexed research.

📅 2026📏 h-index50 entries🇿🇦 See all of this country’s rankings →

All entries · 50

10 h-index20 h-index50 h-index100 h-index200 h-index500 h-index

Every dot is one entry, placed by its value (h-index, logarithmic scale); the vertical bar marks each row’s median.

University of Cape Town227,838 works

780

University of the Witwatersrand103,532 works

680

Stellenbosch University85,297 works

579

University of KwaZulu-Natal80,905 works

578

University of Pretoria92,782 works

435

Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine6,454 works

380

North-West University46,950 works

360

University of Johannesburg82,351 works

357

University of the Western Cape27,384 works

294

Rhodes University22,596 works

251

University of South Africa50,641 works

248

University of the Free State40,308 works

246

Tshwane University of Technology15,270 works

211

University of Fort Hare9,669 works

195

Durban University of Technology13,030 works

193

Nelson Mandela University18,074 works

193

African Institute for Mathematical Sciences2,166 works

151

Cape Peninsula University of Technology9,584 works

149

University of Limpopo11,285 works

146

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology1,522 works

141

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University7,563 works

137

University of Venda8,081 works

130

University of Zululand6,600 works

121

Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health580 works

113

Walter Sisulu University7,227 works

108

Central University of Technology4,004 works

103

Vaal University of Technology3,885 works

103

Mangosuthu University of Technology2,091 works

Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies188 works

Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa290 works

University of Mpumalanga1,676 works

Sol Plaatje University1,292 works

IIE MSA317 works

Institute for Security Studies240 works

The Independent Institute of Education573 works

Management College of Southern Africa503 works

Regenesys Business School159 works

St Augustine College of South Africa84 works

Regent Business School115 works

International Centre for Education, Marine and Atmospheric Sciences over Africa16 works

South African National Energy Development Institute41 works

South African College of Applied Psychology56 works

Colleges of Medicine of South Africa50 works

Da Vinci Institute111 works

Global Centre for Academic Research37 works

Midrand Graduate Institute48 works

Milpark Education58 works

African Leadership Institute50 works

Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice30 works

South African Theological Seminary181 works

Highlights

Within South Africa, University of Cape Town ranks first in 2026 with 780, followed by University of the Witwatersrand (680) and Stellenbosch University (579).

Across 50 entries, values run from 780 (University of Cape Town) to 7 (South African Theological Seminary), with a median of 106.

Source: OpenAlex, institutional Research h-index, 2026. Unit: h-index.

Source: OpenAlex, institutional Research h-index · CC0 1.0 (OpenAlex) · fetched Oct 17, 2026 — OpenAlex indexes scholarly works and citations. Coverage and citation practices vary by institution and field; this is a research measure, not a ranking of teaching quality.

Ranking

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Highlights

Within South Africa, University of Cape Town ranks first in 2026 with 780, followed by University of the Witwatersrand (680) and Stellenbosch University (579).

Across 50 entries, values run from 780 (University of Cape Town) to 7 (South African Theological Seminary), with a median of 106.

Source: OpenAlex, institutional Research h-index, 2026. Unit: h-index.