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On the relationship between citations of publication output and Hirsch index h of authors: conceptualization of tapered Hirsch index h T, circular citation area radius R and citation acceleration a

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  • Keshra Sangwal

    (Lublin University of Technology)

Abstract

The nature of the empirical proportionality constant A in the relation L = Ah 2 between total number of citations L of the publication output of an author and his/her Hirsch index h is analyzed using data of the publication output and citations for six scientists elected to the membership of the Royal Society in 2006 and 199 professors working in different institutions in Poland. The main problem with the h index of different authors calculated by using the above relation is that it underestimates the ranking of scientists publishing papers receiving very high citations and results in high values of A. It was found that the value of the Hirsch constant A for different scientists is associated with the discreteness of h and is related to the tapered Hirsch index h T by A 1/2 ≈ 1.21h T. To overcome the drawback of a wide range of A associated with the discreteness of h for different authors, a simple index, the radius R of circular citation area, defined as R = (L/π)1/2 ≈ h, is suggested. This circular citation area radius R is easy to calculate and improves the ranking of scientists publishing high-impact papers. Finally, after introducing the concept of citation acceleration a = L/t 2 = π(R/t)2 (t is publication duration of a scientist), some general features of citations of publication output of Polish professors are described in terms of their citability. Analysis of the data of Polish professors in terms of citation acceleration a shows that: (1) the citability of the papers of a majority of physics and chemistry professors is much higher than that of technical sciences professors, and (2) increasing fraction of conference papers as well as non-English papers and engagement in administrative functions of professors result in decreasing citability of their overall publication output.

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  • Keshra Sangwal, 2012. "On the relationship between citations of publication output and Hirsch index h of authors: conceptualization of tapered Hirsch index h T, circular citation area radius R and citation acceleration a," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(3), pages 987-1004, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:93:y:2012:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-012-0805-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-012-0805-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Glänzel, Wolfgang & Schubert, András, 2010. "Hirsch-type characteristics of the tail of distributions. The generalised h-index," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 118-123.
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    7. Keshra Sangwal, 2012. "On the age-independent publication index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(3), pages 1053-1058, June.
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    9. 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.
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    2. Iman Tahamtan & Askar Safipour Afshar & Khadijeh Ahamdzadeh, 2016. "Factors affecting number of citations: a comprehensive review of the literature," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 1195-1225, June.
    3. Balatsky, E. & Yurevich, M., 2016. "The Misalignment of Russian Economists' Scientometric Indicators in RISC," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 176-180.
    4. Sangwal, Keshra, 2013. "Citation and impact factor distributions of scientific journals published in individual countries," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 487-504.
    5. Salih Selek & Ayman Saleh, 2014. "Use of h index and g index for American academic psychiatry," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(2), pages 541-548, May.
    6. Keshra Sangwal, 2013. "Some citation-related characteristics of scientific journals published in individual countries," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(3), pages 719-741, December.
    7. Mingyang Wang & Zhenyu Wang & Guangsheng Chen, 2019. "Which can better predict the future success of articles? Bibliometric indices or alternative metrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(3), pages 1575-1595, June.

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