Published papers record at Rhodes
INTERNATIONALLY renowned Rhodes University medicinal chemistry and nanotechnology expert Professor Tebello Nyokong and her students have been praised for their publication of 63 peer-reviewed papers in one year.
Rhodes vice-chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela called the 63 papers – about five a month – a spectacular accomplishment that cemented Nyokong’s position as a global leader in her field.
He said the reviews had appeared in major journals and far exceeded her 2014 record of 50 papers published.
“These are quite staggering numbers representing the intellectual influence of this scholarly voice at Rhodes University,” he said.
Mabizela praised Lesothoborn Nyokong for placing students at the centre of her work by giving them the space to develop and grow as researchers and scholars.
“You are an undisputed leader in your field of research.”
He called their previous record of 50 papers a super-human achievement which, at the time, he doubted would be beaten.
Mabizela said that if all academics could produce just one or two peerreviewed articles a year, the university would not have to worry about financial sustainability.
Many academics could not achieve a third of her record annual output in their lifetime, he said.
“I hope others take a leaf out of this phenomenal book Professor Nyokong and her students have written.”
Nyokong, 65, who has won several top South African, African and international awards over the years, said it took a whole village to do research.
She praised university staff – from the person who makes tea to management – as well as her students and the institution’s facilities for her success.
The university’s nanotechnology unit was one of the best in the world and attracted the top brains to do research that would help solve challenges facing South Africa and the rest of the world, Nyokong said.
Rhodes students were also working at laboratories all over the world.