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Central indexes to the citation distribution: a complement to the h-index

Author

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  • Pablo Dorta-González

    (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)

  • María-Isabel Dorta-González

    (Universidad de La Laguna)

Abstract

The citation distribution of a researcher shows the impact of their production and determines the success of their scientific career. However, its application in scientific evaluation is difficult due to the bi-dimensional character of the distribution. Some bibliometric indexes that try to synthesize in a numerical value the principal characteristics of this distribution have been proposed recently. In contrast with other bibliometric measures, the biases that the distribution tails provoke, are reduced by the h-index. However, some limitations in the discrimination among researchers with different publication habits are presented in this index. This index penalizes selective researchers, distinguished by the large number of citations received, as compared to large producers. In this work, two original sets of indexes, the central area indexes and the central interval indexes, that complement the h-index to include the central shape of the citation distribution, are proposed and compared.

Suggested Citation

  • Pablo Dorta-González & María-Isabel Dorta-González, 2011. "Central indexes to the citation distribution: a complement to the h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(3), pages 729-745, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:88:y:2011:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-011-0453-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0453-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dorta-González, P. & Dorta-González, M.I., 2013. "Impact maturity times and citation time windows: The 2-year maximum journal impact factor," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 593-602.
    2. Christoph Steinbrüchel, 2019. "A citation index for principal investigators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(1), pages 305-320, January.
    3. Dorta-González, Pablo & Dorta-González, María Isabel & Santos-Peñate, Dolores Rosa & Suárez-Vega, Rafael, 2014. "Journal topic citation potential and between-field comparisons: The topic normalized impact factor," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 406-418.
    4. 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.
    5. Simoes, Nadia & Crespo, Nuno, 2020. "Self-Citations and scientific evaluation: Leadership, influence, and performance," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).
    6. Anand Bihari & Sudhakar Tripathi, 2017. "EM-index: a new measure to evaluate the scientific impact of scientists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(1), pages 659-677, July.
    7. Cerovšek, Tomo & Mikoš, Matjaž, 2014. "A comparative study of cross-domain research output and citations: Research impact cubes and binary citation frequencies," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 147-161.
    8. García-Pérez, Miguel A., 2012. "An extension of the h index that covers the tail and the top of the citation curve and allows ranking researchers with similar h," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 689-699.
    9. Antonis Sidiropoulos & Dimitrios Katsaros & Yannis Manolopoulos, 2015. "Ranking and identifying influential scientists versus mass producers by the Perfectionism Index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 103(1), pages 1-31, April.
    10. Pablo Dorta-González & María Isabel Dorta-González & Rafael Suárez-Vega, 2015. "An approach to the author citation potential: measures of scientific performance which are invariant across scientific fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(2), pages 1467-1496, February.
    11. Anand Bihari & Sudhakar Tripathi & Akshay Deepak, 2021. "Iterative weighted EM and iterative weighted EM′-index for scientific assessment of scholars," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 5551-5568, July.
    12. L. Egghe, 2013. "Theoretical justification of the central area indices and the central interval indices," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(1), pages 25-34, April.

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