Research Solutions has expanded operations into Africa through a new partnership with the University of Pretoria, which has adopted the Scite AI research platform under a three-year agreement signed in December 2025.
The agreement establishes the University of Pretoria as the first South African institution to deploy Scite, an AI-powered research platform developed by Research Solutions that uses Smart Citations technology to analyze how scientific papers are cited in subsequent research.
The University of Pretoria’s Department of Library Services introduced Scite to the academic community in February 2026 through four launch sessions held in the Library Auditorium, accompanied by live streaming via Zoom. Researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and professional staff across the institution participated in the sessions.
The adoption takes place as South Africa’s higher education sector undergoes rapid digital transformation, with universities increasingly exploring modern research tools that provide greater transparency and reliability than traditional citation tools. The University of Pretoria selected Scite following an evaluation of several AI research platforms.
University leadership indicated that the adoption reflects a focus on improving research quality, strengthening evidence-based scholarship, and supporting responsible AI literacy within academic workflows. The deployment also positions the university among the first institutions in the region to integrate AI-assisted research tools within higher education environments.
Scite offers several capabilities designed to address limitations associated with traditional citation tools and general-purpose AI platforms. The platform analyzes billions of citation statements to indicate whether research findings have been supported, mentioned, or contradicted its findings, enabling researchers to evaluate evidence more effectively.
The platform also addresses concerns around AI-generated misinformation by grounding responses in verified peer-reviewed sources, reducing the risk of fabricated references. Additional features allow researchers to monitor how scientific claims evolve, identify retractions, and assess the reliability of research findings over time. Scite indexes content across a wide range of publishers and databases, supporting use across multiple academic disciplines.
Research Solutions leadership stated that the University of Pretoria partnership represents an important step in the company’s regional expansion strategy. Engagement with additional South African institutions is already underway as part of broader efforts to expand adoption of AI-assisted research workflows across the African higher education sector.
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