IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v113y2017i2d10.1007_s11192-017-2508-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The h-index as an almost-exact function of some basic statistics

Author

Listed:
  • Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti

    (University of Bergamo)

  • Tommaso Lando

    (VŠB -TU Ostrava)

Abstract

As is known, the h-index, h, is an exact function of the citation pattern. At the same time, and more generally, it is recognized that h is “loosely” related to the values of some basic statistics, such as the number of publications and the number of citations. In the present study we introduce a formula that expresses the h-index as an almost-exact function of some (four) basic statistics. On the basis of an empirical study—in which we consider citation data obtained from two different lists of journals from two quite different scientific fields—we provide evidence that our ready-to-use formula is able to predict the h-index very accurately (at least for practical purposes). For comparative reasons, alternative estimators of the h-index have been considered and their performance evaluated by drawing on the same dataset. We conclude that, in addition to its own interest, as an effective proxy representation of the h-index, the formula introduced may provide new insights into “factors” determining the value of the h-index, and how they interact with each other.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti & Tommaso Lando, 2017. "The h-index as an almost-exact function of some basic statistics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 1209-1228, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:113:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-017-2508-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-017-2508-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-017-2508-6
    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/s11192-017-2508-6?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. Bertocchi, Graziella & Gambardella, Alfonso & Jappelli, Tullio & Nappi, Carmela A. & Peracchi, Franco, 2015. "Bibliometric evaluation vs. informed peer review: Evidence from Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 451-466.
    2. John Panaretos & Chrisovaladis Malesios, 2009. "Assessing scientific research performance and impact with single indices," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 81(3), pages 635-670, December.
    3. Juan E. Iglesias & Carlos Pecharromán, 2007. "Scaling the h-index for different scientific ISI fields," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 73(3), pages 303-320, December.
    4. Burrell, Quentin L., 2013. "A stochastic approach to the relation between the impact factor and the uncitedness factor," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 676-682.
    5. Gangan Prathap, 2010. "The 100 most prolific economists using the p-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(1), pages 167-172, July.
    6. Gangan Prathap, 2010. "Is there a place for a mock h-index?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(1), pages 153-165, July.
    7. Peter Vinkler, 2013. "Quantity and impact through a single indicator," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 64(5), pages 1084-1085, May.
    8. Schubert, András & Glänzel, Wolfgang, 2007. "A systematic analysis of Hirsch-type indices for journals," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 179-184.
    9. Peter Vinkler, 2013. "Quantity and impact through a single indicator," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 64(5), pages 1084-1085, May.
    10. Chrisovalantis Malesios, 2015. "Some variations on the standard theoretical models for the h-index: A comparative analysis," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(11), pages 2384-2388, November.
    11. Egghe, L., 2013. "The functional relation between the impact factor and the uncitedness factor revisited," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 183-189.
    12. 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.
    13. Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti & Tommaso Lando, 2017. "A theoretical model of the relationship between the h-index and other simple citation indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(3), pages 1415-1448, June.
    14. Hsu, Jiann-wien & Huang, Ding-wei, 2012. "A scaling between Impact Factor and uncitedness," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(5), pages 2129-2134.
    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. David A. Groneberg & Doris Klingelhöfer & Dörthe Brüggmann & Cristian Scutaru & Axel Fischer & David Quarcoo, 2019. "New quality and quantity indices in science (NewQIS): results of the first decade—project progress review," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 451-478, October.
    2. Marek Gagolewski & Barbara Żogała-Siudem & Grzegorz Siudem & Anna Cena, 2022. "Ockham’s index of citation impact," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(5), pages 2829-2845, May.
    3. Bertoli-Barsotti, Lucio & Lando, Tommaso, 2019. "How mean rank and mean size may determine the generalised Lorenz curve: With application to citation analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 387-396.
    4. Biró, Tamás S. & Telcs, András & Józsa, Máté & Néda, Zoltán, 2023. "Gintropic scaling of scientometric indexes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 618(C).
    5. Mingyang Wang & Shijia Jiao & Kah-Hin Chai & Guangsheng Chen, 2019. "Building journal’s long-term impact: using indicators detected from the sustained active articles," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 261-283, October.

    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. Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti & Tommaso Lando, 2017. "A theoretical model of the relationship between the h-index and other simple citation indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(3), pages 1415-1448, June.
    2. 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).
    3. William Cabos & Juan Miguel Campanario, 2018. "Exploring the Hjif-Index, an Analogue to the H-Like Index for Journal Impact Factors," Publications, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-11, April.
    4. Bertoli-Barsotti, Lucio & Lando, Tommaso, 2015. "On a formula for the h-index," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 762-776.
    5. 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.
    6. Gangan Prathap, 2018. "Letter to the editor: Dimensionless citation indicators," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(3), pages 1433-1435, June.
    7. Péter Vinkler, 2019. "Core journals and elite subsets in scientometrics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 241-259, October.
    8. Maziar Montazerian & Edgar Dutra Zanotto & Hellmut Eckert, 2019. "A new parameter for (normalized) evaluation of H-index: countries as a case study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(3), pages 1065-1078, March.
    9. Bertoli-Barsotti, Lucio & Lando, Tommaso, 2019. "How mean rank and mean size may determine the generalised Lorenz curve: With application to citation analysis," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 387-396.
    10. 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.
    11. Domingo Docampo & Jean-Jacques Bessoule, 2019. "A new approach to the analysis and evaluation of the research output of countries and institutions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 119(2), pages 1207-1225, May.
    12. 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.
    13. Hu, Zewen & Wu, Yishan, 2014. "Regularity in the time-dependent distribution of the percentage of never-cited papers: An empirical pilot study based on the six journals," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 136-146.
    14. Zewen Hu & Yishan Wu & Jianjun Sun, 2018. "A quantitative analysis of determinants of non-citation using a panel data model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(2), pages 843-861, August.
    15. Edgar D. Zanotto & Vinicius Carvalho, 2021. "Article age- and field-normalized tools to evaluate scientific impact and momentum," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 2865-2883, April.
    16. Tokmachev, Andrey M., 2023. "Hidden scales in statistics of citation indicators," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1).
    17. Gangan Prathap, 2022. "Letter to the editor: comments on the paper of Gagolewski et al.: Ockham’s index of citation impact," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(10), pages 6051-6054, October.
    18. Maziar Montazerian & Edgar Dutra Zanotto & Hellmut Eckert, 2020. "Prolificacy and visibility versus reputation in the hard sciences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(1), pages 207-221, April.
    19. Gangan Prathap, 2021. "Letter to the editor: Additive rules for h-index for the part-set method," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(6), pages 5369-5371, June.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    h-Index; Journal ranking; Weibull distribution; Lambert W function;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C46 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Specific Distributions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:113:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-017-2508-6. 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.