The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

University of Johannesburg

South AfricaROR 04z6c2n17
=527
World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 262–1155 of 2,287 · score 43.2
Research Index =581

How it scores

Research
75
Alumni outcomes
50
Admissions & earnings
est.

Research and Alumni outcomes are percentiles among 2,287 universities; alumni outcomes are counted per student. Admissions & earnings is the position among universities in the same country.

No official admissions or earnings data is used for this university yet. Its in-country score is estimated from its standing among its own country’s universities on the global measures.

Admissions, outcomes and alumni

Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
1 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
1 src
Founders, billionaires and $30M+ alumni
not on the published top lists; estimated
Students (undergraduate / total)
– / 49,910 src (low confidence: Wikipedia)

Each figure links to its source. Admissions and earnings figures are comparable only within a country.

Research Index

A · Quality
47.1
B · Strength
70.4

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: 706. On strength alone: 387. The Research Index scores research only; admissions, earnings and alumni outcomes are scored in the overall ranking where data exists.

The numbers behind it (2020–2023)

Papers in the top 10% of their field
9.2% (8.6%–9.9%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
1.1% (0.9%–1.3%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
534
All papers (fractional count)
5,778
International co-authored
63.3%
Open access
61.2%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
59 (3.56 per 1,000)

Core publications, fractional counting, field-normalised citation shares. Brackets show Leiden’s stability interval. Collaboration and open-access shares use full counting and aren’t field-normalised. Retraction counts come from the Retraction Watch database and include publishers’ mass retractions as well as honest-error retractions; a retraction is not by itself evidence of misconduct, and the count is never scored.

By field

Biomedical & health sciences=699range 549–918 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences=430range 300–569 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science=361range 241–549 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=687range 520–887 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=540range 369–697 of 1,262

Position over time

bottom2011–2014: 702 of 7922020–2023: 581 of 1,305

The same method applied to each 4-year publication window. The number of ranked universities grows from period to period, so position is shown as a share of the field.

How other rankings place it

=581Research Index 2026
–QS 2027 (not in top 100)
–THE 2027 (not in top 100)
–ARWU 2026 (not in top 100)

Other rankings are cited for comparison. The Research Index measures research only; QS and THE also use reputation surveys and figures universities submit, and ARWU counts prize winners and total output.

Prize winners

No Nobel, Fields, Turing or Abel laureates linked to this university in Wikidata.