Research Solutions Expands Into Africa With University Of Pretoria As First Partner
The Continent's Leading Research-Intensive University Signs A Three-Year Agreement with Research Solutions' AI Platform, Scite
HENDERSON, Nev., March 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Research Solutions (NASDAQ: RSSS), a leading provider of AI-powered scientific research tools, announced that the University of Pretoria has become the first South African institution to adopt Scite, the company's AI-driven research platform powered by Smart Citations technology. The University signed a three-year agreement in December 2025, establishing Research Solutions as a key player within the South African higher education sector.
The University of Pretoria's Department of Library Services (DLS) officially launched Scite to its academic community in February 2026, hosting four sessions in the Library Auditorium with simultaneous live streaming via Zoom. The sessions drew strong attendance from researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students, and professional staff across the institution.
A Strategic Entry Into A High-Growth Market
South Africa's higher education sector is undergoing rapid digital transformation, with institutions increasingly seeking modern, evidence-based alternatives to legacy research tools. The University of Pretoria's adoption of Scite, following a rigorous evaluation of competing AI research platforms, reflects a deliberate shift toward greater accuracy, transparency, and academic integrity in AI-assisted research workflows.
As the first university library in South Africa to adopt Scite, the University demonstrates institutional leadership in the responsible integration of AI within higher education. Research Solutions views the partnership as the cornerstone of a broader regional expansion strategy, with active engagement underway at additional South African institutions.
Why The University Of Pretoria Chose Scite
Before selecting Scite, the DLS conducted a thorough review of available AI research tools. The decision to partner with Research Solutions was guided by Scite's differentiated capabilities, which directly address the limitations of both legacy citation tools and general-purpose AI platforms:
- Smart Citations: Scite analyzes billions of citation statements to reveal not only where a paper is cited, but whether subsequent research supported, mentioned, or contradicted its findings, enabling rapid, nuanced evaluation of evidence.
- Reduced AI Hallucinations: By grounding AI responses in verified, peer-reviewed sources, Scite substantially reduces the risk of fabricated references: a critical concern for institutions with high standards of academic integrity.
- Broad Coverage: Scite indexes content from a wide range of publishers and databases, ensuring relevance across disciplines.
- Research Integrity Support: The platform enables researchers to track how scientific claims evolve, identify retractions, and assess the reliability of findings over time.
"The introduction of Scite marks a significant advancement in our commitment to innovation, digital scholarship, and the enhancement of research impact," said Marguerite Nel, Assistant Director: Library Technical Services at the University of Pretoria. "By providing our academic community with advanced, evidence-based AI tools, we are improving research quality and rigor, promoting responsible AI literacy, and strengthening evidence-informed supervision and publishing. As the first university library in South Africa to adopt Scite, the University of Pretoria is demonstrating its leadership in the responsible integration of AI within higher education."
Chief Strategy Officer at Research Solutions and co-founder of Scite, Josh Nicholson, said, "The University of Pretoria is setting the standard for responsible AI adoption in South African higher education. We're honored they chose Scite, and we're committed to building on this partnership as we grow our presence across the region."
AI Literacy Across South African Higher Education
Research Solutions sees the University of Pretoria partnership as the beginning of a larger mission in the region. The University's early leadership sets a powerful precedent, and Research Solutions looks forward to building on that foundation across the South African higher education sector.
About The University Of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria is a multi-faculty, research-intensive university and one of South Africa's leading institutions for research output and impact. With nine faculties, a business school, and more than 50,000 students across campuses in Pretoria and Johannesburg, the University produces the highest number of graduates in South Africa annually. In over a century of operation, it has delivered close to 250,000 alumni. For more information, visit www.up.ac.za.
About Scite
Scite is an AI-powered research platform that helps researchers discover and evaluate scientific literature using Smart Citations - a technology that analyzes the full text of citing articles to show whether findings have been supported, mentioned, or contrasted by subsequent research. Scite is used by millions of researchers and is available as a web platform, browser extension, and Zotero plugin. For more information, visit https://www.scite.ai. Scite is a product of Research Solutions (NASDAQ: RSSS).
About Research Solutions
Research Solutions (NASDAQ: RSSS) is a vertical SaaS and AI company that simplifies research workflow for academic institutions, life science companies, and research organizations worldwide. As one of the only publisher-independent marketplaces for scientific, technical, and medical (STM) content, the company uniquely combines AI-powered tools - including an intelligent research assistant and full-text search capabilities - with seamless access to both open access and paywalled research. The platform enables organizations to discover, access, manage, and analyze scientific literature more efficiently, accelerating the pace of scientific discovery.
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SOURCE Research Solutions, Inc.
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