Inside University of KwaZulu-Natal's largest research partnership: University of the Witwatersrand

Behind University of KwaZulu-Natal's research output sits a defining relationship: 1,380 co-authored works with University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) in the five years to 2025, the university's single largest collaboration.

It anchors an unusually connected research base: 1,035 collaborating institutions across 77 countries, producing 26,032 joint works over the window, with international co-authors on 37% of output.

The collaborative work travels: its field-weighted citation impact stands at 2.54, 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.