The Hirsch index is one of the most popular and well-known scientometric indicators of a scientist's activity. A researcher with a high h-index is more likely to become a reviewer or a member of the editorial board, and receive funding or grant support. Let's take a closer look at why the Hirsch index is such a significant indicator for a scientist, its effectiveness and modification options.
H-index: how to calculate and where to look?
The Hirsch index was proposed in 2005 by Jorge Hirsch as an alternative to the "classical" citation index, which is calculated as a simple sum of mentions of a researcher's work by other scientists. The h-index considers both the number of publications and their citations. For example, the Hirsch index = 2 means that the researcher has published at least 2 papers and each of them has been cited at least 2 times.
Let's consider three situations:
- Scientist A has published only 1 article and it has been cited 100 times. In this case, h-index=1.
- Scientist B has published 100 articles, but they have been cited only once. H-index also=1.
- Scientist C has published 2 articles, each of them has been cited 2 times. Then h-index=2.
Information about the Hirsch index is posted in the author's profile in international scientometric databases.
To find out the h-index in Scopus, you need to go to the author's profile. The "Overview of Indicators" tab will contain information about the number of published documents by the author, the number of citations and the Hirsch index.
In addition, the tab "Document and citation trends" contains a graphical display of the number of documents and their citation.
To find out the H-index in the Web of Science, you need to search by author and use the "Create Citation Report" function. After that, data on the main citation indicators, including the Hirsch index, will be displayed.
You can also check the h-index using the Publons service Publons.
Which indicator of the Hirsch index is considered good?
Today there is no clear answer to the question of which Hirsch index is the "norm". Sigmund Freud's h-index is considered to be the highest – 275. Nobel Prize laureates often have a Hirsch index above 30, but there are exceptions to each rule. For example, in 2019, the Nobel Laureate becameAkira Yoshino with h-index=12.
Therefore, the required indicator of the Hirsch index is often situational and may depend on the specific requirements of journals or grant-givers.
Modifications of the Hirsch index
Regardless of the fact that the h-index has become one of the most used in the framework of international scientometric databases, scientists note some of its shortcomings. For example, the metric does not consider the significance of the most highly cited works, the personal contribution of the authors, etc. There is also a widespread tendency that the h-index is higher in more experienced researchers than in young scientists. This phenomenon is also called the "Matthew effect" or the "accumulated advantage effect".
With this in mind, the international scientific community is working towards improving the methodology for calculating the Hirsch index. We offer you to get acquainted with some options for modifying this indicator:
- m-index is an indicator that considers the "academic age" of the author. The metric was introduced by Jorge Hirsch himself. To calculate it, the author's h-index is divided by the number of years from the date of his first publication.
- g – index – proposed in 2006 by Leo Egge. The indicator considers individual highly cited works by comparing a ranked list of publications.
- i – index is a modification of the Hirsch index for scientific organizations, where instead of citation, the sum of h-index of scientists acts, and instead of the number of publications, the number of researchers.
- individual h-index – considers the problem of the authors' personal contribution to the study. When calculating this metric, the Hirsch index is divided by the total number of co-authors in the articles.
- a-index – the average number of links to publications.
Despite the fact that these indicators minimise the disadvantages of the Hirsch index to some extent, they are practically not used within scientometric databases. G–index and m-index are available for display in the Scival analytical platform.
For todaythe Hirsch index is one of the most popular metrics for determining the authority and influence of a scientist. Often scientific journals or grant-givers put forward requirements for the presence of a certain h-index for the implementation of certain research goals. If you need to improve the performance of the Hirsch index, contact the specialists of the Scientific Publications company . Due to close cooperation with scientists around the world, we will ensure an organic increase in the h-index. For more information, leave a request on the website, and our specialists will contact you during the working day!
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