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Research facility · Pretoria · South Africa

South African National Biodiversity Institute

In research, South African National Biodiversity Institute stands highest in Agricultural and Biological Sciences (#2,051 of 3,409 worldwide), Environmental Science (#2,183 of 3,551 worldwide) and Life Sciences (#6,014 of 7,800 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Ecology and Agricultural and Biological Sciences — Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics is 35.0× its share of world research.

sanbi.orgROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#14,911
of 28,054 · #11,434 all time
Rank in South Africa
#52
of 87
Research works
1.4k
▲ 9% vs 2013–17
Citations
37k
26.2 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
19.8%
record average 16.5%
Open access
60%
world 28%

What is South African National Biodiversity Institute known for in research?

The fields where it stands highest, 2022–2025, ranked among every institution above the floor in each field.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Agricultural and Biological SciencesField #2,051 of 3,409 13.9%81 #1299
Environmental ScienceField #2,183 of 3,551 25.9%78 #1147
Life SciencesDomain #6,014 of 7,800 13.9%108 #6798
Physical SciencesDomain #11,669 of 12,888 26.6%86 #10950

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where South African National Biodiversity Institute sits in it, in the colour of the band that rank falls in. The track under the rate is the rate itself: it carries no world mark, because the world rate differs by field (from about 6% to 21% in this record).

Which of those standings moved

The same fields on both windows: where it stood over the whole record, and where it stands in 2022–2025. The distance is the story, and it is the one thing the two rank columns above cannot show.

  1. Agricultural and Biological Sciences#1,299 #2,051
  2. Environmental Science#1,147 #2,183
  3. Life Sciences#6,798 #6,014
  4. Physical Sciences#10,950 #11,669
all time2022–2025, better2022–2025, worse

A dot further right is a better standing. Fields it was not ranked in over the whole record are left out.

What does South African National Biodiversity Institute specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics takes 35.0× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and SystematicsSubfield · 34.7 works35×
  2. EcologySubfield · 32.7 works20×
  3. Agricultural and Biological SciencesField · 80.9 works8.1×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient, a volume reading rather than an impact one. It surfaces small, lopsided specialities.

Field profile

Location quotient across every field it publishes in: outside the ring is more than an institution of this size would be expected to publish, inside it is less.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 8.06× its world share, 81 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 2.00× its world share, 22 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Immunology and Microbiology: 1.52× its world share, 3 worksImmunology and Micro…Neuroscience: 0.28× its world share, 1 worksNeurosciencePharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics: 0.52× its world share, 0 worksPharmacology, Toxico…Chemistry: 0.23× its world share, 1 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.11× its world share, 2 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 0.87× its world share, 3 worksEarth and Planetary …Engineering: 0.02× its world share, 1 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 7.47× its world share, 78 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.09× its world share, 1 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.16× its world share, 0 worksMathematicsHealth Professions: 0.23× its world share, 1 worksHealth ProfessionsMedicine: 0.19× its world share, 8 worksMedicineNursing: 0.21× its world share, 0 worksNursingVeterinary: 5.06× its world share, 2 worksVeterinaryArts and Humanities: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksArts and HumanitiesBusiness, Management and Accounting: 0.03× its world share, 0 worksBusiness, Management…Decision Sciences: 0.40× its world share, 1 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.17× its world share, 1 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.49× its world share, 3 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.06× its world share, 2 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Agricultural and Biological Sciences, 8.1×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at South African National Biodiversity Institute?

Ranked on the composite score, Guy F. Midgley, Neil R. Crouch and Kerry Sink lead among researchers whose main affiliation is South African National Biodiversity Institute.

  1. 1 Guy F. Midgley South Africa · #5,582 worldwide 1.8k citations · 60 works
  2. 2 Neil R. Crouch South Africa · #585,096 worldwide 120 citations · 63 works
  3. 3 Kerry Sink South Africa · #847,694 worldwide 69 citations · 21 works
  4. 4 Amanda Driver South Africa · #910,579 worldwide 89 citations · 20 works
  5. 5 John C. Manning South Africa · #1,000,025 worldwide 78 citations · 86 works
  6. 6 Krystal A. Tolley South Africa · #1,011,825 worldwide 85 citations · 44 works
  7. 7 Stefan Prost South Africa · #1,159,027 worldwide 67 citations · 21 works
  8. 8 Graham Duncan South Africa · #1,322,163 worldwide 3 citations · 17 works
  9. 9 J.P. Rourke South Africa · #1,422,121 worldwide 25 citations · 15 works
  10. 10 G. L. Prinsloo South Africa · #1,429,893 worldwide 22 citations · 21 works
All ranked researchers at South African National Biodiversity Institute

Which keywords describe research at South African National Biodiversity Institute?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Climate Change, Biodiversity, Invasive Species, Biogeography, Conservation, Habitat Fragmentation, Population Dynamics and Global Change.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this institution'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
  1. Climate Change54▲ 9.6×43 topics
  2. Biodiversity39▲ 25×18 topics
  3. Invasive Species38▲ 43×18 topics
  4. Biogeography29▲ 53×16 topics
  5. Conservation28▲ 30×14 topics
  6. Habitat Fragmentation24▲ 50×5 topics
  7. Population Dynamics20▲ 38×10 topics
  8. Global Change20▲ 36×6 topics
  9. Taxonomy18▲ 68×8 topics
  10. Molecular Phylogeny18▲ 56×9 topics
  11. Phylogeny16▲ 49×11 topics
  12. Habitat Selection15▲ 96×2 topics
  13. Conservation Biology14▲ 63×4 topics
  14. Medicinal Plants13▲ 16×9 topics
  15. Angiosperm Phylogeny13▲ 232×1 topic
  16. Flowering Plants13▲ 232×1 topic
  17. Phylogenetics13▲ 136×2 topics
  18. Biological Invasions13▲ 67×3 topics
  19. Ecosystem13▲ 56×3 topics
  20. Antioxidant12▲ 8.6×16 topics
  21. Ecosystem Services12▲ 14×9 topics
  22. Biodiversity Conservation12▲ 15×10 topics
  23. Community Ecology12▲ 64×2 topics
  24. Species Richness11▲ 80×2 topics
  25. Functional Diversity11▲ 91×1 topic
  26. Trophic Cascades11▲ 53×2 topics
  27. Model Evaluation9▲ 36×2 topics
  28. Ecological Niche9▲ 72×1 topic
  29. Species Distribution Modeling9▲ 72×1 topic
  30. Animal Movement9▲ 78×1 topic
  31. Occupancy Rates9▲ 78×1 topic
  32. Phylogenetic Analysis8▲ 13×11 topics
  33. Plant-Animal Interactions8▲ 45×1 topic
  34. Pollinator Decline8▲ 45×1 topic
  35. Genetic Diversity7▲ 7.8×14 topics
  36. Ecology7▲ 22×6 topics
  37. Evolution7▲ 13×11 topics
  38. Agricultural Intensification6▲ 91×2 topics
  39. Anti-inflammatory6▲ 11×12 topics
  40. Herbal Medicine6▲ 10×3 topics

Which research topics does South African National Biodiversity Institute publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Plant Diversity and Evolution, Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies, Species Distribution and Climate Change and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation.

Plant Diversity and Evolution: 13 fractional worksEcology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies: 11 fractional worksSpecies Distribution and…9Species Distribution and Climate Change: 9 fractional worksWildlife Ecology and Con…9Wildlife Ecology and Conservation: 9 fractional worksPlant and animal studies: 8 fractional worksAvian ecology and behavior: 6 fractional worksEthnobotanical and Medic…5Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies: 5 fractional worksAfrican Botany and Ecology Studies: 4 fractional worksBotany and Plant Ecology Studies: 4 fractional worksBotany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies: 4 fractional works
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and SystematicsNature and Landscape ConservationEcological ModelingEcology2 others

Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.

  1. 1 Plant Diversity and Evolution Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics 13 works
  2. 2 Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies Nature and Landscape Conservation 11 works
  3. 3 Species Distribution and Climate Change Ecological Modeling 9 works
  4. 4 Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Ecology 9 works
  5. 5 Plant and animal studies Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics 8 works
  6. 6 Avian ecology and behavior Ecology 6 works
  7. 7 Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies Plant Science 5 works
  8. 8 African Botany and Ecology Studies Forestry 4 works
  9. 9 Botany and Plant Ecology Studies Plant Science 4 works
  10. 10 Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies Plant Science 4 works

How open and international is its research?

Against the world’s own shares — the tick on each track. Both are shares of its output, so they sit on one scale and can be read against each other as well as against the world.

openly available60.4%not open39.6%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors38.3%domestic only61.7%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has South African National Biodiversity Institute's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 9% higher than in 2013–2017.

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Other research institutions in Pretoria

All research institutions in Pretoria

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners are in the interactive view on the map.