Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researcher Awards recognise scientists and social scientists whose work has shaped their fields. This year, 11 South Africans have made the cut, representing four different universities.
South Africa (26 November 2025) – To make the list, a researcher’s papers need to be among the most cited in the world over the past decade, placing them in the top 1% for their field and publication year.
The selection includes the use of citation data reviewed by analysts to qualitatively make sure the influence is real, fair and not inflated in any way.
Only about one in every thousand researchers in the world meets this standard. Their work appears in the Web of Science Core Collection, which is seen as one of the most trusted and independent citation databases.
“This small fraction of the global researcher population contributes disproportionately to extending the frontiers of knowledge and contributing to innovations that make the world healthier, more sustainable and which drive societal impact.” shares Clarivate.
In 2025, Clarivate awarded 7131 Highly Cited Researcher designations to 6868 individuals around the world.
The team reviewed Highly Cited Papers published from 2014 to 2024 across 21 research fields. Only article and review papers are counted, and multidisciplinary journals like Nature and Science are carefully analysed paper by paper to place them in the right field.
South African researchers claimed 11 spots on the 2025 list, representing four local universities – the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Pretoria.
Here’s the full list of South Africa’s 2025 Highly Cited Researchers:
University of Cape Town
- William J. Bond
- Estelle V. Lambert
- Crick Lund
- Darren P. Martin
- Sebastien Ourselin
Stellenbosch University
- Tulio de Oliveira
University of the Witwatersrand
- Andrew Forbes
- Shabir A. Madhi
- Frederick Raal
University of Pretoria
- C. M. Visagie
- M. J. Wingfield
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