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Topic · Law

Legal Issues in South Africa

Legal Issues in South Africa is a research topic within Law. Science Explorer counts 16k research works in it since 1950. 21.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the governance and legal development in South Africa, covering topics such as constitutionalism, developmental local government, human rights, public participation, equality, legal research, socio-economic rights, environmental governance, consumer protection, and judicial review. The papers explore the challenges and progress in various aspects of governance and legal systems in the context of South Africa's post-apartheid state.

  • Constitutionalism
  • Developmental Local Government
  • Human Rights
  • Public Participation
  • Equality
  • Legal Research
  • Socio-Economic Rights
  • Environmental Governance
  • Consumer Protection
  • Judicial Review
Research works
16k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
21.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
-17%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Legal Issues in South Africa research?

By volume, South Africa and Brazil publish the most (1k and 160 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 South Africa 1k works
  2. 2 Brazil 160 works
  3. 3 United States 139 works
  4. 4 Nigeria 108 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 96 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 85 works
  7. 7 Kenya 72 works
  8. 8 Australia 68 works
  9. 9 India 36 works
  10. 10 Canada 34 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

South Africa: 56.6%Brazil: 8.7%United States: 7.6%Nigeria: 5.9%6 others listed: 21.2%57%largest
South Africa1,042 · 56.6%Brazil160 · 8.7%United States139 · 7.6%Nigeria108 · 5.9%6 others listed391 · 21.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Legal Issues in South Africa research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of South Africa publishes the most Legal Issues in South Africa research, followed by University of Johannesburg and University of Pretoria.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 124 works
  2. 2 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 102 works
  3. 3 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 82 works
  4. 4 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 71 works
  5. 5 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 69 works
  6. 6 University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 68 works
  7. 7 University of the Western CapeSouth Africa 60 works
  8. 8 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 57 works
  9. 9 Stellenbosch UniversitySouth Africa 54 works
  10. 10 Tshwane University of TechnologySouth Africa 52 works

Who are the leading researchers in Legal Issues in South Africa?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Legal Issues in South Africa include Gail M. Gerhart.

  1. 1 Gail M. Gerhart United States 1.7k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Legal Issues in South Africa research done?

The largest centres of Legal Issues in South Africa research in 2022–2025 are Pretoria (South Africa), Johannesburg (South Africa), Durban (South Africa) and Cape Town (South Africa). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Polokwane, Thohoyandou and Port Elizabeth.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Pretoria South Africa 274 works
  2. 2 Johannesburg South Africa 184 works
  3. 3 Durban South Africa 102 works
  4. 4 Cape Town South Africa 75 works
  5. 5 Potchefstroom South Africa 69 works
  6. 6 Bloemfontein South Africa 59 works
  7. 7 Stellenbosch South Africa 55 works
  8. 8 Polokwane South Africa 52 works
  9. 9 Nairobi Kenya 41 works
  10. 10 Rondebosch South Africa 39 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PolokwaneZA · 52.1 works215×
  2. ThohoyandouZA · 22.5 works148×
  3. Port ElizabethZA · 30.7 works125×
  4. PotchefstroomZA · 68.9 works108×
  5. PretoriaZA · 273.6 works99×
  6. MthathaZA · 23.1 works98×
  7. BloemfonteinZA · 59.4 works90×
  8. Cape TownZA · 74.9 works80×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Legal Issues in South Africa than the world average.

See Legal Issues in South Africa on the map

Where is the best place to study Legal Issues in South Africa?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Johannesburg, Durban University of Technology and University of the Western Cape score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 30.29%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Johannesburg: 102, 34.2%Durban University of Technology: 22, 47.5%University of the Western Cape: 60, 28.9%University of the Witwatersrand: 71, 26.2%University of South Africa: 124, 26.7%Tshwane University of Technology: 52, 34.6%North-West University: 69, 26.2%University of Zululand: 18, 35.2%University of KwaZulu-Natal: 68, 22.2%University of Pretoria: 82, 21.2%Durban University of…University of Johann…University of the We…University of the Wi…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 72.934.2%72.2×102 -18.2%
2 Durban University of TechnologySouth Africa 69.647.5%68.7×22 0.0%
3 University of the Western CapeSouth Africa 67.428.9%177.1×60 +43.4%
4 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 66.426.2%75.7×71 +7.4%
5 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 66.026.7%125.8×124 -13.4%
6 Tshwane University of TechnologySouth Africa 64.034.6%172.7×52 -18.2%
7 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 63.726.2%108.0×69 -8.0%
8 University of ZululandSouth Africa 63.035.2%148.9×18 +69.5%
9 University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 61.422.2%82.0×68 -5.6%
10 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 60.621.2%85.7×82 -26.7%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Legal Issues in South Africa research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 17% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2014. The fastest-growing topics are Legal Issues in South Africa.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.