IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v126y2021i3d10.1007_s11192-020-03848-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dispersion measures for h-index: a study of the Brazilian researchers in the field of mathematics

Author

Listed:
  • Deise Deolindo Silva

    (Faculdade de Tecnologia de Garça, Centro Estadual de Educação Tecnológica Paula Souza)

  • Maria Cláudia Cabrini Grácio

    (São Paulo State University)

Abstract

Although the h-index is considered a significant indicator to evaluate the researchers' performance, as it simultaneously measures aspects related to their scientific productivity and citation impact, several studies have pointed out its deficiencies and limitations. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the contribution of dci and dco indicators, two Hirsch-type indices, to measure the reasonableness of the h-index as a representation of the researcher’s scientific performance. The universe of analysis consisted of 116 Brazilian mathematicians holding CNPq grants. For each researcher, the number of articles, the number of citations per article and the year of publication were collected in the Scopus database. Then, for each researcher, the h-index and dci and dco indices were calculated. The dci and dco indicators allowed selective and productive researchers to be to distinguished more accurately. In addition, they contributed to estimate the possibility of the researcher to increase his/her h-index. The study concludes that the dci and dco indices were able to reliably measure the distribution dispersion of the researchers' citation impact together with their h-index. Consequently, they managed to estimate the representativeness of h-index as an indicator of the researchers' scientific performance in the field of mathematics in Brazil.

Suggested Citation

  • Deise Deolindo Silva & Maria Cláudia Cabrini Grácio, 2021. "Dispersion measures for h-index: a study of the Brazilian researchers in the field of mathematics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(3), pages 1983-2011, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:126:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-020-03848-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-020-03848-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-020-03848-0
    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/s11192-020-03848-0?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. Philip M. Davis & Michael J. Fromerth, 2007. "Does the arXiv lead to higher citations and reduced publisher downloads for mathematics articles?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 71(2), pages 203-215, May.
    2. Rizwan Ghani & Faiza Qayyum & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal & Hermann Maurer, 2019. "Comprehensive evaluation of h-index and its extensions in the domain of mathematics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(3), pages 809-822, March.
    3. Samreen Ayaz & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2016. "Identification of conversion factor for completing-h index for the field of mathematics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 1511-1524, December.
    4. J. E. Hirsch, 2010. "An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output that takes into account the effect of multiple coauthorship," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 85(3), pages 741-754, December.
    5. Tibor Braun & Zsuzsa Szabadi-Peresztegi & Éva Kovács-Németh, 2003. "About Abels and similar international awards for ranked lists of awardees as science indicators of national merit in mathematics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 56(2), pages 161-168, February.
    6. Lutz Bornmann & Rüdiger Mutz & Hans‐Dieter Daniel, 2008. "Are there better indices for evaluation purposes than the h index? A comparison of nine different variants of the h index using data from biomedicine," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 59(5), pages 830-837, March.
    7. Wolfgang Glänzel & Jacqueline Leta & Bart Thijs, 2006. "Science in Brazil. Part 1: A macro-level comparative study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 67(1), pages 67-86, April.
    8. Lucas Oliveira Rodrigues & Marcos Martins Gouvêa & Flávia Ferreira Marques & Samanta Cardozo Mourão, 2017. "Overview of the scientific production in the Pharmacy area in Brazil: profile and productivity of researchers granted with fellowships by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Developm," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1157-1171, March.
    9. Subbiah Arunachalam, 2001. "Mathematics Research in India Today: What Does the Literature Reveal?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 52(2), pages 235-259, October.
    10. Ping Zhou & Loet Leydesdorff, 2007. "The citation impacts and citation environments of Chinese journals in mathematics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 72(2), pages 185-200, August.
    11. 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.
    12. H. Eto, 1999. "Relationship of mathematical programming with mathematics, economic/regional planning and other specialties," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 45(2), pages 311-324, June.
    13. Claudia Tania Picinin & Luiz Alberto Pilatti & João Luiz Kovaleski & Alexandre Reis Graeml & Bruno Pedroso, 2016. "Comparison of performance of researchers recipients of CNPq productivity grants in the field of Brazilian production engineering," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 855-870, November.
    14. Eduardo Araujo Oliveira & Roberto Peicots-Filho & Daniella Reis Martelli & Isabel Gomes Quirino & Maria Christina Lopes Oliveira & Mariana Guerra Duarte & Sergio Veloso Pinheiro & Enrico Antonio Colos, 2013. "Is there a correlation between journal impact factor and researchers’ performance? A study comprising the fields of clinical nephrology and neurosciences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(2), pages 149-160, November.
    15. Wolfgang Glänzel & Jacqueline Leta & Bart Thijs, 2006. "Science in Brazil. Part 1: A macro-level comparative study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 67(1), pages 67-86, April.
    16. Ping Zhou & Huibao Tian, 2014. "Funded collaboration research in mathematics in China," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 695-715, June.
    17. Jason Cory Brunson & Steve Fassino & Antonio McInnes & Monisha Narayan & Brianna Richardson & Christopher Franck & Patrick Ion & Reinhard Laubenbacher, 2014. "Evolutionary events in a mathematical sciences research collaboration network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 973-998, June.
    18. Jasna Dravec Braun, 2012. "Effects of war on scientific production: mathematics in Croatia from 1968 to 2008," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(3), pages 931-936, December.
    19. Jonas Lindahl & Rickard Danell, 2016. "The information value of early career productivity in mathematics: a ROC analysis of prediction errors in bibliometricly informed decision making," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 2241-2262, December.
    20. Paula Leite & Rogério Mugnaini & Jacqueline Leta, 2011. "A new indicator for international visibility: exploring Brazilian scientific community," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(1), pages 311-319, July.
    21. Fred Y. Ye & Ronald Rousseau, 2010. "Probing the h-core: an investigation of the tail–core ratio for rank distributions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 431-439, August.
    22. J. E. Hirsch, 2019. "hα: An index to quantify an individual’s scientific leadership," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(2), pages 673-686, February.
    23. Jacqueline Leta & Wolfgang Glänzel & Bart Thijs, 2006. "Science in Brazil. Part 2: Sectoral and institutional research profiles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 67(1), pages 87-105, April.
    24. Noémi Gaskó & Rodica Ioana Lung & Mihai Alexandru Suciu, 2016. "A new network model for the study of scientific collaborations: Romanian computer science and mathematics co-authorship networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(2), pages 613-632, August.
    25. Carla Mara Hilário & Maria Cláudia Cabrini Grácio, 2017. "Scientific collaboration in Brazilian researches: a comparative study in the information science, mathematics and dentistry fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 929-950, November.
    26. Eduardo A. Oliveira & Enrico A. Colosimo & Daniella R. Martelli & Isabel G. Quirino & Maria Christina L. Oliveira & Leonardo S. Lima & Ana Cristina Simões e Silva & Hercílio Martelli-Júnior, 2012. "Comparison of Brazilian researchers in clinical medicine: are criteria for ranking well-adjusted?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 90(2), pages 429-443, February.
    27. Lawrence Smolinsky & Aaron Lercher, 2012. "Citation rates in mathematics: a study of variation by subdiscipline," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(3), pages 911-924, June.
    28. Qurat-ul Ain & Hira Riaz & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2019. "Evaluation of h-index and its citation intensity based variants in the field of mathematics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(1), pages 187-211, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Madiha Ameer & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2019. "Evaluation of h-index and its qualitative and quantitative variants in Neuroscience," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(2), pages 653-673, November.
    2. Lathabai, Hiran H., 2020. "ψ-index: A new overall productivity index for actors of science and technology," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4).
    3. Carla Mara Hilário & Maria Cláudia Cabrini Grácio, 2017. "Scientific collaboration in Brazilian researches: a comparative study in the information science, mathematics and dentistry fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 929-950, November.
    4. Harlley Lima & Thiago H. P. Silva & Mirella M. Moro & Rodrygo L. T. Santos & Wagner Meira & Alberto H. F. Laender, 2015. "Assessing the profile of top Brazilian computer science researchers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(3), pages 879-896, June.
    5. Qurat-ul Ain & Hira Riaz & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2019. "Evaluation of h-index and its citation intensity based variants in the field of mathematics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(1), pages 187-211, April.
    6. 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.
    7. Deming Lin & Tianhui Gong & Wenbin Liu & Martin Meyer, 2020. "An entropy-based measure for the evolution of h index research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2283-2298, December.
    8. Ponomariov, Branco & Toivanen, Hannes, 2014. "Knowledge flows and bases in emerging economy innovation systems: Brazilian research 2005–2009," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 588-596.
    9. Jacques Wainer & Eduardo C. Xavier & Fabio Bezerra, 2009. "Scientific production in Computer Science: A comparative study of Brazil and other countries," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 81(2), pages 535-547, November.
    10. André Frazão Helene & Pedro Leite Ribeiro, 2011. "Brazilian scientific production, financial support, established investigators and doctoral graduates," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(2), pages 677-686, November.
    11. Mauro Vitor Mendlowicz & Evandro Silva Freire Coutinho & Jerson Laks & Leonardo Franklin Fontenelle & Alexandre Martins Valença & William Berger & Ivan Figueira & Gláucia Azambuja Aguiar, 2011. "Is there a ‘gender gap’ in authorship of the main Brazilian psychiatric journals at the beginning of the 21st century?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 86(1), pages 27-37, January.
    12. Natascha Helena Franz Hoppen & Samile Andréa de Souza Vanz, 2023. "The development of Brazilian women’s and gender studies: a bibliometric diagnosis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(1), pages 227-261, January.
    13. Maria Cláudia Cabrini Grácio & Ely Francina Tannuri Oliveira & Zaida Chinchilla-Rodríguez & Henk F. Moed, 2020. "Does corresponding authorship influence scientific impact in collaboration: Brazilian institutions as a case of study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(2), pages 1349-1369, November.
    14. Ping Zhou & Wolfgang Glänzel, 2010. "In-depth analysis on China’s international cooperation in science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 82(3), pages 597-612, March.
    15. Lindahl, Jonas, 2018. "Predicting research excellence at the individual level: The importance of publication rate, top journal publications, and top 10% publications in the case of early career mathematicians," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 518-533.
    16. Renata R. Gonçalves & Christian Kieling & Rodrigo A. Bressan & Jair J. Mari & Luis A. Rohde, 2009. "The evaluation of scientific productivity in Brazil: An assessment of the mental health field," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(2), pages 529-537, August.
    17. Muhammad Usman & Ghulam Mustafa & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2021. "Ranking of author assessment parameters using Logistic Regression," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 335-353, January.
    18. J. E. Hirsch, 2019. "hα: An index to quantify an individual’s scientific leadership," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(2), pages 673-686, February.
    19. Daniel Fink & Youngsun Kwon & Jae Jeung Rho & Minho So, 2014. "S&T knowledge production from 2000 to 2009 in two periphery countries: Brazil and South Korea," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(1), pages 37-54, April.
    20. Siying Li & Huawei Shen & Peng Bao & Xueqi Cheng, 2021. "$$h_u$$ h u -index: a unified index to quantify individuals across disciplines," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3209-3226, April.

    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:126:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-020-03848-0. 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.