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Want to know the true influence of a scholar? The h-index can tell you the answer!
In academia, a researcher's influence is often determined by his academic achievements and published articles. One widely recognized metric is the h-index, which helps us measure a scholar's productivity and citation impact. Originally, the h-index was proposed by Jorge E. Hirsch, a physicist at the University of California, San Diego, in 2005 to assess the relative quality of theoretical physicists. Over time, this index began to be widely used in different kinds of academic evaluations, not only for individual scholars, but also for comparisons of journals, academic institutions, and even countries.
Definition and purpose of h-index
The h-index is defined as the maximum value h for an author or journal that has published at least h articles that have been cited at least h times. This index is designed to improve the accuracy of simple measures that compare widely used citation counts or publication counts, and is particularly useful for comparing scholars within the same field, since citation practices vary significantly between fields.
Calculate h-index
The h-index refers to how many articles have received at least as many citations as the number of articles. For example, if a scholar has five articles with citation counts of 9, 7, 6, 2, and 1, then the scholar’s h-index is 3 because she has three articles with citation counts greater than or equal to 3. And if the articles she shares have 23, 8, 5, 3 and 3 citations, her h-index will be 3.
The growth of the h-index increases with the accumulation of citations and therefore also depends on the "academic age" of the researcher.
Data input and automatic calculation
Now, the h-index can be calculated manually by referencing a database or obtained using automated tools. Subscriptions to databases such as Scopus and Web of Science provide automatic calculation of the h-index. Even starting in 2011, Google provided automatically calculated h-index and i10-index in its Scholar interface. However, different databases may give different h values because they cover different scopes and information.
Differences between disciplines and their impact
There are significant differences in h-index performance between different disciplines. For example, Hirsch has pointed out that for physicists, the value of h for a tenure-track position (associate professor) at a major research university in the United States is about 12, while the value of h for a full professor can reach about 18. This means that the h-index is not a fixed standard, but will change with different disciplines and research directions.
Hirsch estimates that in 20 years, a "successful scientist" will have an h-index of 20, while an "outstanding scientist" will have an h-index of 40.
Advantages and criticisms of h-index
The advantage of the h-index is that it can measure both the quantity and quality of scholars, overcoming the shortcomings of traditional indicators such as total citations that do not take into account the quality of publications. However, some scholars still point out that the h-index has flaws, such as not taking into account the author's contribution to the article. Interpretation of the h-index may become complicated in the presence of a large number of co-authors.
Like other reference counting metrics, the h-index can be manipulated, for example by manipulating citations or self-references.
Future Development
Although the h-index is widely used in academia, debates remain over its accuracy and effectiveness, with many scholars calling for a more diversified evaluation system. Various variations based on the h-index, such as the g-index, have emerged, and some research is exploring how this index can be improved in the future.
When we discuss the influence of a scholar, the h-index is undoubtedly an important reference indicator. However, besides the h-index, is there any other more comprehensive way to evaluate a scholar’s contribution?
