Inside North-West University's largest research partnership: University of KwaZulu-Natal

Behind North-West University's research output sits a defining relationship: 498 co-authored works with University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) in the five years to 2025, the university's single largest collaboration.

It anchors an unusually connected research base: 984 collaborating institutions across 79 countries, producing 17,504 joint works over the window, with international co-authors on 37% of output.

The collaborative work travels: its field-weighted citation impact stands at 3.12, where the world average is 1.0.

The Research Collaboration Index, the first global account of how universities actually collaborate, publishes its first full edition on Tuesday 15 September at 09:00 UK.

Every figure derives from the open global research record and is checkable at source.