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A New Family of Cumulative Indexes for Measuring Scientific Performance

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  • Marcin Kozak
  • Lutz Bornmann

Abstract

In this paper we propose a new family of cumulative indexes for measuring scientific performance which can be applied to many metrics, including h index and its variants (here we apply it to the h index, h(2) index and Google Scholar's i10 index). These indexes follow the general principle of repeating the index calculation for the same publication set. Using bibliometric data and reviewer scores for accepted and rejected fellowship applicants we examine how valid the cumulative variant is compared to the original variant. These analyses showed that the cumulative indexes result in higher correlations with the reviewer scores than their original variants. Thus, the cumulative indexes better reflect the assessments by peers than the original variants and are useful extensions of the original indexes. In contrast to many other measures of scientific performance proposed up to now, the cumulative indexes seem not only to be effective, but they are also easy to understand and calculate.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcin Kozak & Lutz Bornmann, 2012. "A New Family of Cumulative Indexes for Measuring Scientific Performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(10), pages 1-4, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0047679
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047679
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lutz Bornmann & Gerlind Wallon & Anna Ledin, 2008. "Does the Committee Peer Review Select the Best Applicants for Funding? An Investigation of the Selection Process for Two European Molecular Biology Organization Programmes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(10), pages 1-11, October.
    2. Zhang, Lin & Thijs, Bart & Glänzel, Wolfgang, 2011. "The diffusion of H-related literature," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 583-593.
    3. van Eck, Nees Jan & Waltman, Ludo, 2008. "Generalizing the h- and g-indices," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 263-271.
    4. Stevan Harnad, 2009. "Open access scientometrics and the UK Research Assessment Exercise," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 79(1), pages 147-156, April.
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    6. Ludo Waltman & Nees Jan van Eck, 2012. "The inconsistency of the h‐index," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(2), pages 406-415, February.
    7. Lutz Bornmann & Rüdiger Mutz & Hans-Dieter Daniel & Gerlind Wallon & Anna Ledin, 2009. "Are there really two types of h index variants? A validation study by using molecular life sciences data," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 185-190, September.
    8. Anthony F. J. Raan, 2006. "Comparison of the Hirsch-index with standard bibliometric indicators and with peer judgment for 147 chemistry research groups," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 67(3), pages 491-502, June.
    9. Bornmann, Lutz & Mutz, Rüdiger & Hug, Sven E. & Daniel, Hans-Dieter, 2011. "A multilevel meta-analysis of studies reporting correlations between the h index and 37 different h index variants," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 346-359.
    10. Leo Egghe, 2006. "Theory and practise of the g-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 69(1), pages 131-152, October.
    11. Bornmann, Lutz & Marx, Werner, 2012. "HistCite analysis of papers constituting the h index research front," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 285-288.
    12. Lutz Bornmann & Hans‐Dieter Daniel, 2007. "What do we know about the h index?," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 58(9), pages 1381-1385, July.
    13. Ludo Waltman & Nees Jan van Eck, 2012. "The inconsistency of the h-index," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(2), pages 406-415, February.
    14. van Eck, N.J.P. & Waltman, L., 2008. "Generalizing the h- and g-indices," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-049-LIS, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    15. 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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    Cited by:

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    2. Jingda Ding & Chao Liu & Goodluck Asobenie Kandonga, 2020. "Exploring the limitations of the h-index and h-type indexes in measuring the research performance of authors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(3), pages 1303-1322, March.
    3. Upul Senanayake & Mahendra Piraveenan & Albert Zomaya, 2015. "The Pagerank-Index: Going beyond Citation Counts in Quantifying Scientific Impact of Researchers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-34, August.

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