South Africa's Top 2% Scientists 2023

South Africa has 855 scientists on the 2023 single-year Top 2% list, up 6.5% from 803 in 2022. That places South Africa 33rd in the world by number of listed scientists. University of Cape Town has the most listed scientists (110), followed by Stellenbosch University (78).

Single Year

855

+52 (+6.5%) vs 2022

Career Data

775

+62 (+8.7%) vs 2022

World rank by count

#33

No change vs 2022

Institutes

+5 (+6.0%) vs 2022

Scientists in South Africa on the list, by year

The single-year count has grown 45% 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 list2023

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All 855 scientists

Single-year list2023

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	83	HM Hamblin, Michael R.	University of Johannesburg	Oncology & Carcinogenesis	Rank 4
2	139	SR Sheldon, Roger A.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Organic Chemistry	Rank 1
3	185	EM Egger, Matthias	University of Cape Town	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 8
4	260	AA Atangana, Abdon	University of the Free State	Applied Mathematics	Rank 1
5	550	SD Stein, Daniel	University of Cape Town	Psychiatry	Rank 12
6	843	SM Sillanpää, Mika	University of Johannesburg	Environmental Sciences	Rank 10
7	1,462	HP Hallinger, Phillip	University of Johannesburg	Education	Rank 12
8	1,602	BW Bond, William J.	University of Cape Town	Ecology	Rank 43
9	1,844	CT Clutton-Brock, Tim H.	University of Pretoria	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 16
10	2,005	GD Gursoy, Dogan	University of Johannesburg	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 8
11	2,061	RP Ryan, Peter G.	University of Cape Town	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 6
12	2,075	Makinde, O. D.	Stellenbosch University	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 24
13	2,099	RD Richardson, David M.	Stellenbosch University	Ecology	Rank 61
14	2,486	SM Sirgy, M. Joseph	North-West University	Social Psychology	Rank 84
15	3,012	JR Jewkes, R.	South African Medical Research Council	Public Health	Rank 40
16	3,144	AS Asongu, Simplice A.	University of Johannesburg	Economics	Rank 65
17	3,196	OA Onwuegbuzie, Anthony John	University of Johannesburg	Education	Rank 30
18	3,225	BO Babalola, Olubukola Oluranti	North-West University	Microbiology	Rank 63
19	4,837	Carranza, Emmanuel John M.	University of the Free State	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 67
20	5,616	RS Ray, Suprakas Sinha	The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research	Polymers	Rank 30
21	6,404	FA Forbes, Andrew	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Optoelectronics & Photonics	Rank 10
22	6,955	DP Du Plessis, Anton	Stellenbosch University	Materials	Rank 107
23	7,146	CT Celik, Turgay	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 277
24	7,195	EJ Eloff, Jacobus N.	University of Pretoria	Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry	Rank 24
25	7,291	MA Mbembé, Achille	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Anthropology	Rank 4
26	7,441	EE Ebenso, Eno E.	University of South Africa	Energy	Rank 156
27	8,057	KA Kengne, Andre P.	South African Medical Research Council	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 155
28	8,568	MS Madhi, Shabir A.	University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Health Sciences	Microbiology	Rank 180
29	8,894	SS Seedat, Soraya	Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences	Psychiatry	Rank 208
30	9,018	SK Sliwa, Karen	Groote Schuur Hospital	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 314
31	9,086	EA Engelbrecht, Andries P.	Stellenbosch University	Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing	Rank 354
32	10,143	ON Odhiambo, Nicholas M.	University of South Africa	Economics	Rank 168
33	10,995	BT Baum, Tom	University of Johannesburg	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 50
34	11,202	WV Watson, Vanessa	University of Cape Town	Urban & Regional Planning	Rank 29
35	11,336	NT Noakes, Timothy D.	Cape Peninsula University of Technology	Sport Sciences	Rank 42
36	11,748	AB Aderibigbe, Blessing A.	University of Fort Hare	Polymers	Rank 78
37	12,029	GL Gilson, Lucy	University of Cape Town	Health Policy & Services	Rank 28
38	12,248	SR Scholes, Robert J.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Ecology	Rank 276
39	13,034	ZH Zar, Heather	University of Cape Town	Respiratory System	Rank 84
40	13,222	MB Mayosi, Bongani	University of Cape Town	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 450
41	13,226	IR Inglesi-Lotz, Roula	University of Pretoria	Energy	Rank 286
42	13,296	GR Gupta, Rangan	University of Pretoria	Economics	Rank 219
43	13,643	EG Ellis, George F.R.	University of Cape Town	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 126
44	14,093	HR Henkel, Ralf	University of the Western Cape	Obstetrics & Reproductive Medicine	Rank 67
45	14,919	JH Jafari, Hossein	University of South Africa	Applied Mathematics	Rank 45
46	15,430	WA Whitfield, Alan K.	South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	Rank 77
47	15,681	CJ Clemens, J. D.	Stellenbosch University	Geochemistry & Geophysics	Rank 245
48	15,708	CC Chi, Christina G.	University of Johannesburg	Sport, Leisure & Tourism	Rank 69
49	16,238	WC Wiysonge, Charles S.	South African Medical Research Council	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 266
50	16,243	RC Rogerson, Christian M.	College of Business and Economics	Geography	Rank 80
51	16,358	GB Guo, Bao Zhu	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Industrial Engineering & Automation	Rank 161
52	16,517	SC Shackleton, Charlie M.	Rhodes University	Ecology	Rank 347
53	16,527	MA Maroyi, Alfred	University of Fort Hare	Pharmacology & Pharmacy	Rank 85
54	16,528	LO Linus Opara, Umezuruike	Stellenbosch University	Food Science	Rank 120
55	16,740	MD Martin, Darren	University of Cape Town	Virology	Rank 68
56	17,178	SM Scholz, Miklas	University of Johannesburg	Environmental Engineering	Rank 82
57	18,273	AH Abrahamse, Heidi	University of Johannesburg	Dermatology & Venereal Diseases	Rank 57
58	18,332	MM Maaza, Malik	University of South Africa	Applied Physics	Rank 372
59	18,445	KK Kaviyarasu, K.	University of South Africa	Applied Physics	Rank 376
60	18,518	RF Raal, Frederick J.	University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Health Sciences	Cardiovascular System & Hematology	Rank 608
61	18,671	WM Wingfield, Michael J.	University of Pretoria	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 259
62	18,831	TD Thomas, David S.G.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Geography	Rank 94
63	18,908	AS Archibald, Sally	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Ecology	Rank 403
64	19,044	BD Baldwin, David S.	University of Cape Town	Psychiatry	Rank 400
65	19,080	MM Mazzola, Mark	Stellenbosch University	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 262
66	19,639	Ghosh, Sushant G.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 208
67	19,930	JM John, Maya J.	Nelson Mandela University	Polymers	Rank 148
68	19,971	DD Dorrell, David	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Electrical & Electronic Engineering	Rank 69
69	20,891	OA Ofomaja, Augustine E.	Vaal University of Technology	Chemical Engineering	Rank 124
70	20,993	Sony, Michael	Wits Business School	Business & Management	Rank 522
71	21,710	VS van Staden, J.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 304
72	21,848	JS Johnson, Steven D.	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Evolutionary Biology	Rank 172
73	22,226	VW Van Wyk, B. E.	University of Johannesburg	Plant Biology & Botany	Rank 312
74	22,486	BA Bayat, Ardeshir	University of Cape Town	Dermatology & Venereal Diseases	Rank 74
75	22,545	MJ Michael, Joseph P.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Organic Chemistry	Rank 290
76	22,590	RL Richter, Linda	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Public Health	Rank 233
77	22,790	MR Maartens, Roy	University of the Western Cape	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 253
78	22,811	NT Nyokong, Tebello	Rhodes University	Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry	Rank 71
79	22,935	MC Marean, Curtis W.	Nelson Mandela University	Paleontology	Rank 39
80	23,016	DK Dheda, Keertan	University of Cape Town Lung Institute	Microbiology	Rank 539
81	23,354	HW Heiss, W. D.	Stellenbosch University	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 261
82	23,843	CD Cowan, Don A.	University of Pretoria	Microbiology	Rank 557
83	24,630	TH Touchette, Hugo	Stellenbosch University	Fluids & Plasmas	Rank 169
84	24,923	HG Hofmeyr, G. J.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	General & Internal Medicine	Rank 373
85	25,138	CF Crundwell, F. K.	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Mining & Metallurgy	Rank 10
86	25,182	TI Turok, Ivan	Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa	Urban & Regional Planning	Rank 73
87	25,241	VW van Wilgen, Brian W.	Stellenbosch University	Ecology	Rank 520
88	25,461	WL Wadley, Lyn	University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg	Archaeology	Rank 15
89	25,482	SM Samways, Michael J.	Stellenbosch University	Ecology	Rank 527
90	25,994	CA Cooper, Andrew	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Oceanography	Rank 21
91	26,366	Khan, Muhammad Altaf	University of the Free State	Mechanical Engineering & Transports	Rank 263
92	26,540	CV Chaplot, Vincent	University of KwaZulu-Natal	Agronomy & Agriculture	Rank 185
93	26,601	PM Pepper, Michael S.	Faculty of Health Sciences	Biochemistry & Molecular Biology	Rank 527
94	26,975	PC Parry, Charles D.H.	South African Medical Research Council	Substance Abuse	Rank 66
95	27,185	BL Barbour, Leonard J.	Stellenbosch University	Organic Chemistry	Rank 359
96	27,344	CJ Cleymans, J.	University of Cape Town	Nuclear & Particle Physics	Rank 310
97	27,857	PS Parnell, Susan	University of Bristol	Urban & Regional Planning	Rank 82
98	27,874	LV Luyckx, Valerie	University of Cape Town	Urology & Nephrology	Rank 180
99	28,221	DI Dinaharan, Isaac	University of Johannesburg	Materials	Rank 478
100	28,574	KM Kew, Michael	Groote Schuur Hospital	Gastroenterology & Hepatology	Rank 332
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Every year since 2020Single Year and Career Data.

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Countries with a similar count

Single-year list2023

New Zealand932 scientistsin 2023

Greece926 scientistsin 2023

Russia909 scientistsin 2023

Egypt814 scientistsin 2023

Portugal791 scientistsin 2023

Ireland777 scientistsin 2023

Explore other countries

Single-year list2023

Nigeria186 scientistsin 2023

Ethiopia134 scientistsin 2023

Morocco83 scientistsin 2023

Tunisia62 scientistsin 2023

Algeria56 scientistsin 2023

Kenya52 scientistsin 2023

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Frequently asked questions

How many scientists from South Africa are in the 2023 Stanford Top 2% list?

855 scientists affiliated with South Africa are on the 2023 single-year list, and 775 are on the career-long list.

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

On the 2023 single-year list, University of Cape Town has the most listed scientists from South Africa, with 110. It is followed by Stellenbosch University with 78.

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 855 in 2023, a change of +45.2%.

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.