South-South Nigeria university rankings

Research Participation Size (RPS)

Research Participation Size refers to the total number of authors affiliated with each university who have published in mainstream journals. It indicates the size of the research-active staff base within an institution. In simple terms, RPS shows how many lecturers or researchers are actively involved in publishing. Universities with higher values have a larger pool of staff contributing to research, while lower values point to a smaller active group. This helps explain whether strong output is linked to broad staff participation or to the work of a smaller number of researchers.

Data note

Verified Scopus records, accurate as of 12 pm, 9 February 2026.

Formula

RPS = Number of Authors

Usefulness

Shows the size of the research-active workforce.
Helps explain differences in institutional output.
Supports interpretation of productivity and efficiency metrics.

Strengths

Easy to compute and interpret.
Useful for understanding staff participation in research.
Adds explanatory value to output-based rankings.

Limitations

Does not measure publication quality or efficiency.
A large staff base does not always mean high productivity.
Should be read alongside other metrics.

Ranking table

Overall Rank	Block Rank	Institution	Block	Number of Authors	Number of Documents	Age
1	1	University of Benin	Federal	4,321	9,534	56
2	2	University of Calabar	Federal	3,790	6,836	51
3	3	University of Port-Harcourt	Federal	2,962	6,497	51
4	4	University of Uyo	Federal	1,880	3,673	35
5	1	Delta State University Abraka	State	1,838	3,437	34
6	2	Rivers State University	State	1,060	2,279	47
7	3	Ambrose Alli University	State	726	1,319	45
8	4	Niger Delta University Wilberforce Island	State	528	1,257	26
9	5	Akwa Ibom State University	State	302	828	16
10	5	Fed. University of Petroleum Res.	Federal	294	909	19
11	6	University of Cross River State	State	282	726	22
12	1	Igbinedion University Okada	Private	264	453	27
13	7	Delta University of Science and Tech.	State	245	429	5
14	6	Federal University, Otuoke	Federal	182	489	15
15	2	Benson Idahosa University, Benin City	Private	151	340	24
16	8	Dennis Osadebay University, Asaba	State	151	233	5
17	9	University of Delta, Agbor	State	141	247	5
18	10	Ignatius Ajuru University of Education	State	136	206	16
19	11	Edo University Iyamho	State	63	484	10
20	12	Bayelsa Medical University, Yenagoa	State	48	285	7
21	3	Western Delta University, Oghara	Private	34	117	19
22	4	Wellspring University, Evbuobanosa	Private	32	76	17
23	7	Admiralty University Ibusa	Federal	25	32	3
24	5	Topfaith University, Mkpatak	Private	24	60	5

Note: Ranking is based on the total number of authors affiliated with each university who have published in Scopus indexed journals. Data were extracted from the Scopus database and were accurate as of 12 pm, 9 February 2026.

Derived from the doctoral research of Valentine Joseph Owan on university research performance in South-South Nigeria, University of Calabar, 2026.

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