Universities by Research Publications in South Africa

Universities and colleges ranked by the number of scholarly works indexed by OpenAlex. This measures research volume, not teaching quality. OpenAlex is an open scholarly index; larger and older institutions tend to have more indexed research.

📅 2026📏 works50 entries🇿🇦 See all of this country’s rankings →

All entries · 50

100 works1,000 works10k works100k works

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

University of Cape Town8,324,236 citations

227,838

University of the Witwatersrand5,936,201 citations

103,532

University of Pretoria3,267,908 citations

92,782

Stellenbosch University4,311,046 citations

85,297

University of Johannesburg1,992,478 citations

82,351

University of KwaZulu-Natal4,121,359 citations

80,905

University of South Africa950,169 citations

50,641

North-West University1,589,765 citations

46,950

University of the Free State968,805 citations

40,308

University of the Western Cape971,365 citations

27,384

Rhodes University806,126 citations

22,596

Nelson Mandela University429,243 citations

18,074

Tshwane University of Technology487,869 citations

15,270

Durban University of Technology322,881 citations

13,030

University of Limpopo244,622 citations

11,285

University of Fort Hare349,878 citations

9,669

Cape Peninsula University of Technology217,520 citations

9,584

University of Venda168,729 citations

8,081

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University168,806 citations

7,563

Walter Sisulu University97,194 citations

7,227

University of Zululand139,170 citations

6,600

Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine977,393 citations

6,454

Central University of Technology78,138 citations

4,004

Vaal University of Technology87,727 citations

3,885

African Institute for Mathematical Sciences148,698 citations

2,166

Mangosuthu University of Technology29,432 citations

2,091

University of Mpumalanga19,271 citations

1,676

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology121,573 citations

1,522

Sol Plaatje University11,349 citations

1,292

Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health63,413 citations

580

The Independent Institute of Education2,400 citations

573

Management College of Southern Africa1,863 citations

503

IIE MSA8,914 citations

317

Institute for Communities and Wildlife in Africa10,814 citations

290

Institute for Security Studies2,418 citations

240

Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies11,321 citations

188

South African Theological Seminary223 citations

181

Regenesys Business School1,253 citations

159

Regent Business School693 citations

115

Da Vinci Institute555 citations

111

Akademia295 citations

103

St Augustine College of South Africa536 citations

Lyceum College20 citations

Milpark Education231 citations

South African College of Applied Psychology638 citations

African Leadership Institute190 citations

Colleges of Medicine of South Africa338 citations

Eduvos93 citations

Midrand Graduate Institute249 citations

Akademie Reformatoriese Opleiding en Studies44 citations

Highlights

Within South Africa, University of Cape Town ranks first in 2026 with 227,838, followed by University of the Witwatersrand (103,532) and University of Pretoria (92,782).

University of Cape Town is 2.2 times higher than University of the Witwatersrand, the runner-up.

Across 50 entries, values run from 227,838 (University of Cape Town) to 41 (Akademie Reformatoriese Opleiding en Studies), with a median of 2,129.

Source: OpenAlex, institutional Publications, 2026. Unit: works.

Source: OpenAlex, institutional Publications · 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 227,838, followed by University of the Witwatersrand (103,532) and University of Pretoria (92,782).

University of Cape Town is 2.2 times higher than University of the Witwatersrand, the runner-up.

Across 50 entries, values run from 227,838 (University of Cape Town) to 41 (Akademie Reformatoriese Opleiding en Studies), with a median of 2,129.

Source: OpenAlex, institutional Publications, 2026. Unit: works.