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Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa
H-index 6

Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Earth Science 636 6 7 3
Ecology and Evolution 657 12 11 4

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 35
Documents by Best Scientists*: 35
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 2
SCIMAGO H-index: 31
SCIMAGO SJR: 0.263
Impact Factor: N/A

Overview

Top Research Topics at Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa?

Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa mostly deals with topics like Ecology, Oceanography, Cape, Zoology and Fishery. Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa facilitated presentations on Ecology research, particularly Fauna and Habitat. As a part of Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa, discussions in Oceanography involve topics like Estuary and Bay.

  • Ecology (15.86%)
  • Oceanography (9.21%)
  • Cape (6.65%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • THE ECOLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICAN ESTUARIES (128 citations)
  • ON THE SENONIAN AMMONITE FAUNA OF PONDOLAND (125 citations)
  • Report of the General Secretary for 2005 : annual report for 2005 (114 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa:

The most cited publications primarily focus on research topics in Ecology, Oceanography, Fauna, Estuary and Fishery. The studies tackled in the published articles, which mainly focus on Ecology, apply to Cape as well. Issues in Estuary were discussed in the journal publications, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Hydrology, Abundance (ecology) and Salinity.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

  • Ecology
  • World War II
  • Genus

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The discussions in Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa mainly cover the fields of Economic growth, Malaria, Obituary, Environmental health and Ecology. Some problems in Economic growth that were presented in it overlapped with concepts under Empirical evidence, Behavioral economics, Livelihood and Tourism. The tackled Environmental health research is interrelated with Component (UML) which concerns subjects like Public health.

The work on Ecology addressed in Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa expands to the thematically related Cape. It focuses on Cape but the discussions also offer insight into other areas such as Assemblage (archaeology), Insect and Ecosystem. The work on Malaria elimination tackled in the journal brings together disciplines like Interconnectedness and Transmission (mechanics).

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • Towards sustainability in municipal solid waste management in South Africa: a survey of challenges and prospects (3 citations)
  • Bats of Central and Southern Africa: a biogeographic and taxonomic synthesis: by Ara Monadjem, Peter John Taylor, F. B. D (Woody) Cotterill, and M. Corrie Schoeman, Johannesburg, South Africa, Wits University Press, 2020, 640 pp., R600 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-77614-582-9 (2 citations)
  • Effect of lactic acid bacteria administered as feed supplement on the weight gain and ruminal pH in two South African goat breeds (2 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

The top authors publishing in Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Thomas Muir (36 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • James Moir (29 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • John D. Skinner (16 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Jane Carruthers (16 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition,
  • Sir Thomas Muir F.R.S. (13 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Transactions of The Royal Society of South Africa (based on the number of publications) are:

  • University of Cape Town (194 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 2 more than at the previous edition,
  • University of the Witwatersrand (74 papers) published 5 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition,
  • Stellenbosch University (37 papers) published 5 papers at the last edition, 2 less than at the previous edition,
  • University of KwaZulu-Natal (32 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 3 less than at the previous edition,
  • Rhodes University (31 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 6.67% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 78.57% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 14.29% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 3.57% of all publications and 3.57% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

  • Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
  • Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
  • Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
  • Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
  • Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Top Publications

  • Eucalyptus camaldulensis in South Africa – past, present, future

    Heidi Hirsch;Michael H. Allsopp;Susan Canavan;Michael Cheek

    (2020)
    40 Citations
  • Ecological restoration of ecosystems degraded by invasive alien plants in South African Fynbos: Is spontaneous succession a viable strategy?

    Patricia M. Holmes;Karen J. Esler;Brian W. van Wilgen;David M. Richardson

    (2020)
    35 Citations
  • Bedrock hardness values and morphological zonation of a shore platform in South Africa

    Jasper Knight;Helene Burningham

    (2020)
    8 Citations
  • Active restoration in South African fynbos – A long-term perspective from the Agulhas Plain

    (2022)
    8 Citations
  • Bipedal leaping Jurassic vertebrates in Southern Africa: proposed new ichnotaxon and inferred palaeoenvironment

    (2021)
    7 Citations
  • Anthropocene environmental change in an overlooked South African lake: Mountain Lake, Matatiele, Eastern Cape

    (2023)
    6 Citations
  • Assessing habitat suitability for selected woody range-expanding plant species in African mountains under climate change

    (2023)
    4 Citations
  • Evaluation of river mouth dynamics along the Eastern Cape coastline, South Africa

    (2023)
    3 Citations
  • The value of researching the past for crafting sustainable African mountain futures

    (2023)
    3 Citations
  • Southern African sandy coasts in the context of near-future sea-level rise

    (2023)
    2 Citations

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