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Completing h

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  • Dienes, Keith R.

Abstract

Nearly a decade ago, the science community was introduced to the h-index, a proposed statistical measure of the collective impact of the publications of any individual researcher. Of course, any method of reducing a complex data set to a single number will necessarily have certain limitations and introduce certain biases. However, in this paper we point out that the definition of the h-index actually suffers from something far deeper: a hidden mathematical incompleteness intrinsic to its definition. In particular, we point out that one critical step within the definition of h has been missed until now, resulting in an index which only achieves its stated objectives under certain rather limited circumstances. For example, this incompleteness explains why the h-index ultimately has more utility in certain scientific subfields than others. In this paper, we expose the origin of this incompleteness and then also propose a method of completing the definition of h in a way which remains close to its original guiding principle. As a result, our “completed” h not only reduces to the usual h in cases where the h-index already achieves its objectives, but also extends the validity of the h-index into situations where it currently does not.

Suggested Citation

  • Dienes, Keith R., 2015. "Completing h," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 385-397.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:9:y:2015:i:2:p:385-397
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2015.01.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Juan E. Iglesias & Carlos Pecharromán, 2007. "Scaling the h-index for different scientific ISI fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 73(3), pages 303-320, December.
    2. Sune Lehmann & Andrew D. Jackson & Benny E. Lautrup, 2008. "A quantitative analysis of indicators of scientific performance," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 76(2), pages 369-390, August.
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    Keywords

    Citations; h-Index; Publications;
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