Inside South China Normal University's largest research partnership: Sun Yat-sen University

Behind South China Normal University's research output sits a defining relationship: 1,198 co-authored works with Sun Yat-sen University (China) in the five years to 2025, the university's single largest collaboration.

It anchors an unusually connected research base: 857 collaborating institutions across 73 countries, producing 21,691 joint works over the window, with international co-authors on 26% of output.

The collaborative work travels: its field-weighted citation impact stands at 2.76, 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.