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Analyzing research performance: proposition of a new complementary index

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  • Shaon Sahoo

    (CEA, INAC/SPSMS)

Abstract

A researcher collaborating with many groups will normally have more papers (and thus higher citations and h-index) than a researcher spending all his/her time working alone or in a small group. While analyzing an author’s research merit, it is therefore not enough to consider only the collective impact of the published papers, it is also necessary to quantify his/her share in the impact. For this quantification, here I propose the I-index which is defined as an author’s percentage share in the total citations that his/her papers have attracted. It is argued that this I-index does not directly depend on the most of the subjective issues like an author’s influence, affiliation, seniority or career break. A simple application of the Central Limit Theorem shows that, the scheme of equidistribution of credit among the coauthors of a paper will give us the most probable value of the I-index (with an associated small standard deviation which decreases with increasing h-index). I show that the total citations ( $$N_{\text {c}}$$ N c ), the h-index and the I-index are three independent parameters (within their bounds), and together they give a comprehensive idea of an author’s overall research performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Shaon Sahoo, 2016. "Analyzing research performance: proposition of a new complementary index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(2), pages 489-504, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:108:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-016-1988-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-016-1988-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ausloos, M., 2015. "Assessing the true role of coauthors in the h-index measure of an author scientific impact," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 422(C), pages 136-142.
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    8. Liu, Xuan Zhen & Fang, Hui, 2012. "Modifying h-index by allocating credit of multi-authored papers whose author names rank based on contribution," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 557-565.
    9. Pablo D. Batista & Mônica G. Campiteli & Osame Kinouchi, 2006. "Is it possible to compare researchers with different scientific interests?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 68(1), pages 179-189, July.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Rahman, Mohammad Tariqur & Regenstein, Joe Mac & Kassim, Noor Lide Abu & Haque, Nazmul, 2017. "The need to quantify authors’ relative intellectual contributions in a multi-author paper," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 275-281.
    3. Guijie Zhang & Luning Liu & Fangfang Wei, 2019. "Key nodes mining in the inventor–author knowledge diffusion network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(3), pages 721-735, March.
    4. Yves Fassin, 2020. "The HF-rating as a universal complement to the h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 965-990, November.

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