A Decade of Gender-based Violence (GBV) Research Productivity in South Africa 2009-2018

South Africa has not only been identified with high records of gender-based violence (GBV), but that, it takes a complex toll on young people than does transport accidents. Therefore, two methods: Pao’s Least Squared (LS) and Sen’s methods were used to determine the validity of GBV research output vis-a-vis Lotka’s law of scientific productivity over a ten-year window 2009-2018. Data on GBV scientific publications in South Africa was harvested from the EBSCO Discovery Service Database. The study revealed an acute dearth of research on GBV, given the fact that 300 publications were produced by 617 researchers which translated to less than 1 publication per a researcher and an average of 30 journal publications per annum. Moreover, this study discovered that, although, GBV scientific productivity did not accurately conform to the statistical proportions stated by Lotka’s law, however, Sen’s method validated with t-test statistical analysis produced an outcome that concurred with the general patterns of the law. Least squared method and K-S goodness-of-fit test however out rightly opposed Lotka’s law. The implication is that Gender-based violence (GBV), is not yet a subject specialty in its own right but rather a topic embedded within medical education. This is evidenced by the seemingly large number of transitory authors with few publications and a clear indication of the commitment of few researchers and institutions to the course of GBV.