IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v122y2020i3d10.1007_s11192-020-03356-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the influence of uncited publications on a researcher’s h-index

Author

Listed:
  • Shaibu Mohammed

    (University of Energy and Natural Resources)

  • Anthony Morgan

    (University of Energy and Natural Resources)

  • Emmanuel Nyantakyi

    (University of Energy and Natural Resources)

Abstract

A researcher’s output comprises cited and uncited papers. Nevertheless, the conventional h-index considers only the cited papers; and, in particular, awards a score to the so-called high-impact papers. Consequently, the h-index fails to assess the overall performance of a researcher. The purpose of this paper is to propose an author-level metric, called an apparent h-index, that augments the h-index with the number of cited/uncited papers of a researcher. The apparent h-index (hA-index) is defined as the product of the h-index and the fraction of cited papers of a researcher. Thus, the more the uncited papers of a researcher, the less the fraction of the cited papers; and, hence, the low the hA-index. In consequence, as opposed to the h-index, the hA-index can increase or decrease depending on the future performance output of a researcher. If a researcher has all his/her publications cited, the hA-index equals the h-index; and the researcher “saves” his/her h-index. However, if at least one of the publications of a researcher is uncited, the hA-index becomes lower than the h-index. This means that the hA-index takes uncited papers into consideration by way of penalization. Case studies for Physicists and Petroleum Engineers have been presented; and the results show that a researcher with a higher h-index, but with a lot of uncited papers may have a lower apparent h-index than a researcher with a lower h-index but very few uncited papers. The proposed hA-index will ensure that researchers are wary of what they “throw” in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Shaibu Mohammed & Anthony Morgan & Emmanuel Nyantakyi, 2020. "On the influence of uncited publications on a researcher’s h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(3), pages 1791-1799, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:122:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-020-03356-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-020-03356-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-020-03356-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-020-03356-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeppe Nicolaisen & Tove Faber Frandsen, 2019. "Zero impact: a large-scale study of uncitedness," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(2), pages 1227-1254, May.
    2. Leo Egghe & Raf Guns & Ronald Rousseau, 2011. "Thoughts on uncitedness: Nobel laureates and Fields medalists as case studies," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(8), pages 1637-1644, August.
    3. Cao, Xuanyu & Chen, Yan & Ray Liu, K.J., 2016. "A data analytic approach to quantifying scientific impact," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 471-484.
    4. Filippo Radicchi & Claudio Castellano, 2012. "A Reverse Engineering Approach to the Suppression of Citation Biases Reveals Universal Properties of Citation Distributions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(3), pages 1-9, March.
    5. Loet Leydesdorff, 2008. "Caveats for the use of citation indicators in research and journal evaluations," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 59(2), pages 278-287, January.
    6. Leo Egghe & Raf Guns & Ronald Rousseau, 2011. "Thoughts on uncitedness: Nobel laureates and Fields medalists as case studies," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(8), pages 1637-1644, August.
    7. Schreiber, Michael, 2013. "A case study of the arbitrariness of the h-index and the highly-cited-publications indicator," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 379-387.
    8. Chun-Ting Zhang, 2009. "The e-Index, Complementing the h-Index for Excess Citations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(5), pages 1-4, May.
    9. Bai, Xiaomei & Zhang, Fuli & Lee, Ivan, 2019. "Predicting the citations of scholarly paper," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 407-418.
    10. Miguel A. García-Pérez, 2013. "Limited validity of equations to predict the future h index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(3), pages 901-909, September.
    11. Thomas R. Anderson & Robin K. S. Hankin & Peter D. Killworth, 2008. "Beyond the Durfee square: Enhancing the h-index to score total publication output," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 76(3), pages 577-588, September.
    12. Chun-Ting Zhang, 2013. "The h’-Index, Effectively Improving the h-Index Based on the Citation Distribution," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(4), pages 1-8, April.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. S. Alonso & F. J. Cabrerizo & E. Herrera-Viedma & F. Herrera, 2010. "hg-index: a new index to characterize the scientific output of researchers based on the h- and g-indices," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(2), pages 391-400, February.
    16. Bornmann, Lutz & Schier, Hermann & Marx, Werner & Daniel, Hans-Dieter, 2012. "What factors determine citation counts of publications in chemistry besides their quality?," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 11-18.
    17. Schreiber, Michael, 2013. "How relevant is the predictive power of the h-index? A case study of the time-dependent Hirsch index," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 325-329.
    18. Alex De Visscher, 2011. "What does the g-index really measure?," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 62(11), pages 2290-2293, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Isabel Basson & Jaco P. Blanckenberg & Heidi Prozesky, 2021. "Do open access journal articles experience a citation advantage? Results and methodological reflections of an application of multiple measures to an analysis by WoS subject areas," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 459-484, January.
    2. Yang, Alex Jie & Wu, Linwei & Zhang, Qi & Wang, Hao & Deng, Sanhong, 2023. "The k-step h-index in citation networks at the paper, author, and institution levels," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4).
    3. Shaibu Mohammed & Emmanuel K. Nyantakyi & Anthony Morgan & Prosper Anumah & Justice Sarkodie-kyeremeh, 2021. "Use of relative extra citation counts and uncited publications to enhance the discriminatory power of the h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 181-199, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shaibu Mohammed & Emmanuel K. Nyantakyi & Anthony Morgan & Prosper Anumah & Justice Sarkodie-kyeremeh, 2021. "Use of relative extra citation counts and uncited publications to enhance the discriminatory power of the h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 181-199, January.
    2. Vîiu, Gabriel-Alexandru, 2016. "A theoretical evaluation of Hirsch-type bibliometric indicators confronted with extreme self-citation," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 552-566.
    3. Parul Khurana & Kiran Sharma, 2022. "Impact of h-index on author’s rankings: an improvement to the h-index for lower-ranked authors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(8), pages 4483-4498, August.
    4. Yu Liu & Wei Zuo & Ying Gao & Yanhong Qiao, 2013. "Comprehensive geometrical interpretation of h-type indices," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(2), pages 605-615, August.
    5. Franceschini, Fiorenzo & Maisano, Domenico, 2010. "The citation triad: An overview of a scientist's publication output based on Ferrers diagrams," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 503-511.
    6. Schreiber, M. & Malesios, C.C. & Psarakis, S., 2012. "Exploratory factor analysis for the Hirsch index, 17 h-type variants, and some traditional bibliometric indicators," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 347-358.
    7. 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.
    8. Lorna Wildgaard, 2015. "A comparison of 17 author-level bibliometric indicators for researchers in Astronomy, Environmental Science, Philosophy and Public Health in Web of Science and Google Scholar," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(3), pages 873-906, September.
    9. Alonso, S. & Cabrerizo, F.J. & Herrera-Viedma, E. & Herrera, F., 2009. "h-Index: A review focused in its variants, computation and standardization for different scientific fields," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 273-289.
    10. Waltman, L. & van Eck, N.J.P., 2009. "A Taxonomy of Bibliometric Performance Indicators Based on the Property of Consistency," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2009-014-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.
    11. Zhenbin Yan & Qiang Wu & Xingchen Li, 2016. "Do Hirsch-type indices behave the same in assessing single publications? An empirical study of 29 bibliometric indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 1815-1833, December.
    12. Corey J A Bradshaw & Justin M Chalker & Stefani A Crabtree & Bart A Eijkelkamp & John A Long & Justine R Smith & Kate Trinajstic & Vera Weisbecker, 2021. "A fairer way to compare researchers at any career stage and in any discipline using open-access citation data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-15, September.
    13. Anqi Ma & Yu Liu & Xiujuan Xu & Tao Dong, 2021. "A deep-learning based citation count prediction model with paper metadata semantic features," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(8), pages 6803-6823, August.
    14. Roberto Todeschini, 2011. "The j-index: a new bibliometric index and multivariate comparisons between other common indices," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(3), pages 621-639, June.
    15. Kuan, Chung-Huei & Huang, Mu-Hsuan & Chen, Dar-Zen, 2011. "Ranking patent assignee performance by h-index and shape descriptors," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 303-312.
    16. 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.
    17. Lucy Amez, 2012. "Citation measures at the micro level: Influence of publication age, field, and uncitedness," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(7), pages 1459-1465, July.
    18. Giovanni Anania & Annarosa Caruso, 2013. "Two simple new bibliometric indexes to better evaluate research in disciplines where publications typically receive less citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(2), pages 617-631, August.
    19. Wanjun Xia & Tianrui Li & Chongshou Li, 2023. "A review of scientific impact prediction: tasks, features and methods," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(1), pages 543-585, January.
    20. Wei, Shelia X. & Tong, Tong & Rousseau, Ronald & Wang, Wanru & Ye, Fred Y., 2022. "Relations among the h-, g-, ψ-, and p-index and offset-ability," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:122:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-020-03356-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.