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Reflections around ‘the cautionary use’ of the h-index: response to Teixeira da Silva and Dobránszki

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  • Rodrigo Costas

    (Leiden University)

  • Thomas Franssen

    (Leiden University)

Abstract

In a recent Letter to the Editor Teixeira da Silva and Dobránszki (2018) present a discussion of the issues regarding the h-index as an indicator for the evaluation of individual scholars, particularly in the current landscape of the proliferation of online sources that provide individual level bibliometric indicators. From our point of view, the issues surrounding the h-index go far beyond the problems mentioned by TSD. In this letter we provide some overview of this, mostly by expanding TSD’s original argument and discussing more conceptual and global issues related to the indicator, particularly in the outlook of a strong proliferation of online sources providing individual researcher indicators. Our discussion focuses on the h-index and the profusion of sources providing it, but we emphasize that many of our points are of a more general nature, and would be equally relevant for other indicators that reach the same level of popularity as the h-index.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodrigo Costas & Thomas Franssen, 2018. "Reflections around ‘the cautionary use’ of the h-index: response to Teixeira da Silva and Dobránszki," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(2), pages 1125-1130, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:115:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-018-2683-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-018-2683-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Emilio Delgado López-Cózar & Nicolás Robinson-García & Daniel Torres-Salinas, 2014. "The Google scholar experiment: How to index false papers and manipulate bibliometric indicators," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 65(3), pages 446-454, March.
    2. Rodrigo Costas & Thed N. van Leeuwen & María Bordons, 2010. "A bibliometric classificatory approach for the study and assessment of research performance at the individual level: The effects of age on productivity and impact," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(8), pages 1564-1581, August.
    3. Leo Egghe, 2006. "Theory and practise of the g-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 69(1), pages 131-152, October.
    4. Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva & Judit Dobránszki, 2018. "Multiple versions of the h-index: cautionary use for formal academic purposes," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(2), pages 1107-1113, May.
    5. Rodrigo Costas & Thed N. van Leeuwen & María Bordons, 2010. "A bibliometric classificatory approach for the study and assessment of research performance at the individual level: The effects of age on productivity and impact," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(8), pages 1564-1581, August.
    6. 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.
    7. Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva & Judit Dobránszki, 2018. "Rejoinder to “Multiple versions of the h-index: cautionary use for formal academic purposes”," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(2), pages 1131-1137, May.
    8. Rinze Benedictus & Frank Miedema & Mark W. J. Ferguson, 2016. "Fewer numbers, better science," Nature, Nature, vol. 538(7626), pages 453-455, October.
    9. Costas, Rodrigo & Bordons, María, 2007. "The h-index: Advantages, limitations and its relation with other bibliometric indicators at the micro level," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 193-203.
    10. Lorna Wildgaard & Jesper W. Schneider & Birger Larsen, 2014. "A review of the characteristics of 108 author-level bibliometric indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 101(1), pages 125-158, October.
    11. Rodrigo Costas & María Bordons, 2008. "Is g-index better than h-index? An exploratory study at the individual level," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 77(2), pages 267-288, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Guangyuan Hu & Lei Wang & Rong Ni & Weishu Liu, 2020. "Which h-index? An exploration within the Web of Science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(3), pages 1225-1233, June.
    2. Margaret K. Merga & Sayidi Mat Roni & Shannon Mason, 2020. "Should Google Scholar be used for benchmarking against the professoriate in education?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2505-2522, December.
    3. Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva & Judit Dobránszki, 2018. "Rejoinder to “Multiple versions of the h-index: cautionary use for formal academic purposes”," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(2), pages 1131-1137, May.
    4. Balázs Győrffy & Andrea Magda Nagy & Péter Herman & Ádám Török, 2018. "Factors influencing the scientific performance of Momentum grant holders: an evaluation of the first 117 research groups," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(1), pages 409-426, October.
    5. James Hartley, 2019. "Some reflections on being cited 10,000 times," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(1), pages 375-381, January.

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