South Africa's Top 2% Scientists 2022

South Africa has 803 scientists on the 2022 single-year Top 2% list, up 6.8% from 752 in 2021. That places South Africa 33rd in the world by number of listed scientists. University of Cape Town has the most listed scientists (116), followed by Stellenbosch University (93).

Single Year

803

+51 (+6.8%) vs 2021

Career Data

713

+44 (+6.6%) vs 2021

World rank by count

#33

No change vs 2021

Institutes

+5 (+6.3%) vs 2021

Scientists in South Africa on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 36% since 2020.

Single-year list, change on the previous year

2021+27.7%

2022+6.8%

2023+6.5%

2024+5.4%

2025+8.2%

Show the numbers

Year	Single Year	Change	Career Data	Change
2020	589		536
2021	752	+27.7%	669	+24.8%
2022	803	+6.8%	713	+6.6%
2023	855	+6.5%	775	+8.7%
2024	901	+5.4%	826	+6.6%
2025	975	+8.2%	896	+8.5%

Top 10 institutes in South Africa

By number of listed scientists

Single-year list2022

Show the list

1University of Cape Town116
2Stellenbosch University93
3University of KwaZulu-Natal70
4University of Pretoria67
5University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg65
6University of Johannesburg55
7University of South Africa27
8University of the Free State24
9University of the Western Cape24
10Faculty of Health Sciences21

All 803 scientists

Single-year list2022

The first 100 are free to browse.

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Rank in South Africa	World rank	Scientist	Institute	Sub-field	Rank in sub-field
1	109	HM Hamblin, Michael R.	University of Johannesburg	Dermatology & Venereal Diseases	Rank 1
2	128	SR Sheldon, Roger A.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Organic Chemistry	Rank 1
3	188	AA Atangana, Abdon	University of the Free State	Applied Mathematics	Rank 1
4	752	SD Stein, Dan J.	University of Cape Town	Psychiatry	Rank 18
5	824	SM Sillanpää, Mika	University of Johannesburg	Environmental Sciences	Rank 7
6	1,399	BW Bond, William J.	University of Cape Town	Ecology	Rank 41
7	1,820	RD Richardson, David M.	Stellenbosch University	Ecology	Rank 58
8	2,037	HP Hallinger, Philip	University of Johannesburg	Education	Rank 13
9	2,369	Makinde, O. D.	Stellenbosch University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 26
10	2,728	RP Ryan, Peter G.	University of Cape Town	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 9
11	3,216	JR Jewkes, Rachel	South African Medical Research Council	Public Health	Rank 35
12	5,672	RS Ray, Suprakas Sinha	The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research	Polymers	Rank 34
13	5,877	PK Peltzer, Karl	University of Limpopo	Public Health	Rank 66
14	6,002	PJ Pitout, Johann	University of Pretoria	Microbiology	Rank 125
15	6,884	Carranza, Emmanuel John M.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 101
16	6,911	TD Timothy, Dallen J.	University of Johannesburg	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 29
17	7,495	KA Kengne, Andre P.	South African Medical Research Council	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 137
18	8,108	NT Noakes, Timothy D.	Cape Peninsula University of Technology	Sport Sciences	Rank 30
19	8,118	MA Mbembé, Achille	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Anthropology	Rank 7
20	8,284	EG Ellis, G. F.R.	University of Cape Town	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 89
21	8,310	EJ Eloff, J. N.	University of Pretoria	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	Rank 23
22	8,325	BO Babalola, Olubukola Oluranti	North-West University	Microbiology	Rank 179
23	9,143	EE Ebenso, Eno E.	University of South Africa	Energy	Rank 167
24	9,229	SS Seedat, Soraya	Stellenbosch University	Psychiatry	Rank 214
25	9,432	EA Engelbrecht, Andries Petrus	Stellenbosch University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 315
26	10,099	BT Baum, Tom	University of Johannesburg	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 41
27	10,111	FA Forbes, Andrew	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Optoelectronics & Photonics	Rank 14
28	10,722	JS Johnson, Steven D.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 100
29	10,814	MJ Michael, Joseph P.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Organic Chemistry	Rank 150
30	11,211	SR Scholes, Robert J.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Ecology	Rank 285
31	11,223	CJ Clemens, J. D.	Stellenbosch University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 164
32	12,035	WV Watson, Vanessa	University of Cape Town	Urban & Regional Planning	Rank 26
33	12,305	MB Mayosi, Bongani M.	Groote Schuur Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 416
34	12,425	GR Gupta, Rangan	University of Pretoria	Economics	Rank 202
35	13,015	SK Sliwa, Karen	University of Cape Town	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 438
36	13,150	CT Celik, Turgay	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 428
37	13,450	MS Madhi, Shabir A.	University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Health Sciences	Microbiology	Rank 306
38	13,619	GL Gilson, Lucy	University of Cape Town	Health Policy & Services	Rank 31
39	14,018	CC Chapman, Colin A.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Ecology	Rank 338
40	14,195	LC Lund, Crick	University of Cape Town	Psychiatry	Rank 315
41	14,293	WM Wingfield, Michael J	University of Pretoria	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 178
42	14,334	SC Shackleton, Charlie M.	Rhodes University	Ecology	Rank 348
43	14,487	PN Park, Nansook	University of Johannesburg	Social Psychology	Rank 265
44	14,692	WA Wagner, Andreas	Stellenbosch University	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 138
45	14,963	MM Mazzola, M.	Stellenbosch University	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 192
46	15,772	ON Odhiambo, Nicholas M.	University of South Africa	Economics	Rank 244
47	15,859	DP du Plessis, Anton	Stellenbosch University	Materials	Rank 247
48	15,898	ZH Zar, Heather J.	University of Cape Town	Respiratory System	Rank 115
49	17,482	VS Van Staden, Johannes	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 221
50	18,492	NT Nyokong, Tebello	Rhodes University	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 60
51	18,559	AS Archibald, Sally	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Ecology	Rank 429
52	19,249	RC Rogerson, Christian M.	College of Business and Economics	Geography	Rank 88
53	19,406	CC Chi, Christina G.	University of Johannesburg	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 78
54	20,369	KM Kew, Michael	Groote Schuur Hospital	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 243
55	20,982	VW Van Wyk, B. E.	University of Johannesburg	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 270
56	21,125	WA Whitfield, Alan K.	South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 126
57	21,153	OU Opara, Umezuruike Linus	Stellenbosch University	Food Science	Rank 127
58	21,230	DD Dorrell, David G.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Electrical & Electronic Engineering	Rank 66
59	21,372	HN Haddaway, Neal Robert	University of Johannesburg	Ecology	Rank 493
60	21,409	GR Gupta, Ravindra K.	Africa Health Research Institute	Microbiology	Rank 512
61	21,679	TI Turok, Ivan	University of the Free State	Urban & Regional Planning	Rank 53
62	21,800	SM Samways, M. J.	Stellenbosch University	Ecology	Rank 500
63	21,808	DK Dheda, Keertan	University of Cape Town Lung Institute	Microbiology	Rank 525
64	21,991	AB Aderibigbe, Blessing Atim	University of Fort Hare	Polymers	Rank 171
65	22,031	AH Abrahamse, Heidi	University of Johannesburg	Dermatology & Venereal Diseases	Rank 64
66	22,717	NS Nicolson, Susan W.	University of Pretoria	Entomology	Rank 32
67	22,738	PM Pepper, Michael S.	Faculty of Health Sciences	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 552
68	22,796	SM Scholz, Miklas	University of Johannesburg	Environmental Engineering	Rank 110
69	22,868	OA Ofomaja, Augustine E.	Vaal University of Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 120
70	22,984	BD Baldwin, David S.	University of Cape Town	Psychiatry	Rank 486
71	23,055	TH Touchette, Hugo	Stellenbosch University	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 157
72	23,153	BT Baker, Ted	University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business	Business & Management	Rank 500
73	23,205	IR Inglesi-Lotz, R.	University of Pretoria	Energy	Rank 463
74	23,222	HW Heiss, W. D.	Stellenbosch University	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 277
75	23,229	NA Naldrett, Anthony J.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 402
76	23,230	GW Getz, Wayne M.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Ecology	Rank 529
77	23,294	PE Pretorius, Etheresia	Stellenbosch University	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 741
78	24,027	BL Barbour, Leonard J.	Stellenbosch University	Organic Chemistry	Rank 341
79	24,032	RE Rybicki, Edward P.	University of Cape Town	Virology	Rank 131
80	24,216	KK Kusakana, K.	Central University of Technology, Free State	Energy	Rank 483
81	24,280	DM deWit, Maarten J.	Nelson Mandela University	Geology	Rank 28
82	24,294	BL Bekker, Linda Gail	University of Cape Town	Virology	Rank 133
83	25,018	NM New, Mark G.	University of Cape Town	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 460
84	25,043	SG Sileshi, Gudeta W.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 149
85	25,138	DL Denny, Lynette	University of Cape Town	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 919
86	25,445	SA Stein, Alan	Wits School of Public Health	Developmental & Child Psychology	Rank 214
87	25,657	NJ Nachega, J.	Stellenbosch University	Virology	Rank 141
88	25,739	MD Martin, Darren P.	University of Cape Town	Virology	Rank 142
89	25,857	RJ Raelin, Joseph A.	University of Cape Town	Business & Management	Rank 546
90	25,930	JH Jafari, H.	University of South Africa	Applied Mathematics	Rank 78
91	26,547	NS Naicker, Saraladevi	University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Health Sciences	Urology & Nephrology	Rank 186
92	26,581	BS Bag, Surajit	University of Johannesburg	Business & Management	Rank 560
93	26,989	JM John, Maya Jacob	Nelson Mandela University	Polymers	Rank 217
94	27,000	Ghosh, Sushant G.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 335
95	27,037	DB De Blok, W. J.G.	University of Cape Town	Astronomy & Astrophysics	Rank 243
96	27,309	RC Reason, C. J.C.	University of Cape Town	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	Rank 506
97	27,320	CV Chaplot, V.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 171
98	27,351	HG Harrison, Glenn W.	University of Cape Town	Economics	Rank 384
99	27,485	MC Marean, Curtis W.	Nelson Mandela University	Paleontology	Rank 55
100	27,579	RL Richter, Linda M.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Public Health	Rank 262
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Ranks 101 to 803The whole list, not only the top 100.

Every year since 2020Single Year and Career Data.

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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2022

Russia960 scientistsin 2022

New Zealand905 scientistsin 2022

Greece885 scientistsin 2022

Portugal770 scientistsin 2022

Ireland758 scientistsin 2022

Egypt678 scientistsin 2022

Explore other countries

Single-year list2022

Nigeria150 scientistsin 2022

Ethiopia105 scientistsin 2022

Morocco61 scientistsin 2022

Algeria53 scientistsin 2022

Tunisia53 scientistsin 2022

Kenya40 scientistsin 2022

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from South Africa are in the 2022 Stanford Top 2% list?

803 scientists affiliated with South Africa are on the 2022 single-year list, and 713 are on the career-long list.

Which institute in South Africa has the most Top 2% scientists?

On the 2022 single-year list, University of Cape Town has the most listed scientists from South Africa, with 116. It is followed by Stellenbosch University with 93.

How has the number of Top 2% scientists in South Africa changed since 2020?

On the single-year list, South Africa went from 589 scientists in 2020 to 803 in 2022, a change of +36.3%.

What is the difference between the single-year and career-long lists?

The single-year list ranks scientists on the citations their work received in one year. The career-long list ranks them on citations across their whole career. Both lists are published every year, and a scientist can be on one, both or neither.

What is the official source of this data?

The rankings come from the science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators published by Ioannidis et al. in the Elsevier Data Repository, updated every year. TOPSCINET, an independent platform, organises that data by country, year, institute and field, so you can compare and explore it.