Research in Cape Town
Science Explorer records 80 research institutions in Cape Town, South Africa. The highest-ranked on research quality in 2022–2025 are University of the Western Cape, South African Medical Research Council and Cape Town HVTN Immunology Laboratory / Hutchinson Centre Research Institute of South Africa.
- Research institutions
- 80 15 of them ranked worldwide
- Research works
- 43k ▲ 22% vs 2013–17
- Top-10% rate, 2022–2025
- 21.2% record average 16.5%
A city carries no overall standing here. The composite score is built for institutions and countries, the units its floors and field normalisation were designed around. An empty rank on this page is a statement about the measure, not about the place.
Which research institutions are in Cape Town?
By fractional works over the whole record; world rank on research quality in 2022–2025. Bars are scaled to the largest institution in this city, not to anything off the page.
How concentrated the city is
The same institutions as shares of everything the list accounts for. A city that is one university and a city that is twelve read alike as a table and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
What is Cape Town strongest at in research?
Relative to its size, research in Cape Town is most concentrated in Virology, Infectious Diseases and Emergency Medicine (6.5× the world share in Virology).
- VirologySubfield · 32.5 works6.5×
- Infectious DiseasesSubfield · 304.5 works5.2×
- Emergency MedicineSubfield · 62.5 works3.0×
Location quotient against the world baseline. Inside a single field a city is a meaningful unit, which is why this is where a city is measured at all.
Which keywords describe research in Cape Town?
By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Antiretroviral Therapy, Vaccine, Human Rights, Immune Response, Mental Health, Drug Resistance and Public Health.
- HIV
- Adolescent Health
- Developmental Local Government
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- Legal Research
- Constitutionalism
- Judicial Review
- HIV Infection
- Stigma and Discrimination
- Preexposure Prophylaxis
- HIV Transmission
- Mortality Rates
- Drug Resistance
- Risk Factors
- Immune Response
- COVID-19
- Antiretroviral Therapy
- Human Rights
- Sustainability
- Climate Change
- Epidemiology
- Mental Health
- Globalization
- Public Health
- Treatment
- Vaccine
- Diagnosis
- Higher Education
- Colonialism
- Viral Load
- Maternal Mortality
- South Africa
- Environmental Governance
- Equality
- Public Participation
- Host-Pathogen Interaction
- Consumer Protection
- Tuberculosis
- Socio-Economic Rights
- Community Health Workers
Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this city's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.
All 40 words, with their numbers
- Epidemiology596▲ 1.76×131 topics
- Climate Change268▲ 1.17×99 topics
- Mental Health240▲ 1.92×39 topics
- Sustainability233◆ 1.12×91 topics
- Globalization233▲ 1.39×102 topics
- Human Rights229▲ 2.6×61 topics
- Public Health221▲ 1.78×61 topics
- Antiretroviral Therapy203▲ 15×6 topics
- Treatment190▲ 1.84×48 topics
- COVID-19190▲ 1.63×29 topics
- Vaccine182▲ 5.3×11 topics
- Immune Response174▲ 3.6×22 topics
- Diagnosis174▲ 2.2×40 topics
- Risk Factors172▲ 1.83×37 topics
- Higher Education138▲ 3.0×25 topics
- Drug Resistance126▲ 5.2×9 topics
- Colonialism115▲ 2.8×35 topics
- Mortality Rates100▲ 12×2 topics
- Viral Load98▲ 15×2 topics
- HIV Transmission97▲ 15×2 topics
- Maternal Mortality90▲ 4.8×5 topics
- Preexposure Prophylaxis89▲ 21×1 topic
- South Africa89▲ 39×4 topics
- Stigma and Discrimination89▲ 21×1 topic
- Environmental Governance88▲ 16×4 topics
- HIV Infection85▲ 9.7×4 topics
- Equality84▲ 16×7 topics
- Judicial Review79▲ 10×4 topics
- Public Participation79▲ 41×2 topics
- Constitutionalism77▲ 9.4×2 topics
- Host-Pathogen Interaction76▲ 12×2 topics
- Legal Research76▲ 6.8×2 topics
- Consumer Protection75▲ 20×2 topics
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis75▲ 16×1 topic
- Tuberculosis75▲ 17×1 topic
- Developmental Local Government75▲ 80×1 topic
- Socio-Economic Rights75▲ 80×1 topic
- Adolescent Health74▲ 10×3 topics
- Community Health Workers70▲ 9.8×2 topics
- HIV70▲ 9.9×4 topics
What research is done in Cape Town?
Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.
- 1 HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions Infectious Diseases 89 works
- 2 Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology Infectious Diseases 75 works
- 3 Legal Issues in South Africa Law 75 works
- 4 Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health General Health Professions 60 works
- 5 Global Maternal and Child Health Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health 60 works
- 6 South African History and Culture Sociology and Political Science 45 works
- 7 Diverse Scientific and Economic Studies Economics and Econometrics 43 works
- 8 Child Nutrition and Water Access Nutrition and Dietetics 38 works
- 9 COVID-19 and Mental Health Clinical Psychology 35 works
- 10 SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research Infectious Diseases 33 works
Research output over time
The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more.