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The h-index and its alternatives: An application to the 100 most prolific economists

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  • Richard S. J. Tol

    (Economic and Social Research Institute
    Vrije Universiteit
    Vrije Universiteit
    Carnegie Mellon University)

Abstract

The h-index is a recent but already quite popular way of measuring research quality and quantity. However, it discounts highly-cited papers. The g-index corrects for this, but it is sensitivity to the number of never-cited papers. Besides, h- or g-index-based rankings have a large number of ties. Therefore, this paper introduces two new indices, and tests their performance for the 100 most prolific economists. A researcher has a t-number (f-number) of t (f) if t (f) is the largest number for which it holds that she has t (f) publications for which the geometric (harmonic) average number of citations is at least t (f). The new indices overcome the shortcomings of the old indices.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard S. J. Tol, 2009. "The h-index and its alternatives: An application to the 100 most prolific economists," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 80(2), pages 317-324, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:80:y:2009:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-008-2079-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-2079-7
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    1. Frances Ruane & Richard S.J. Tol, 2007. "Refined (Successive) H-Indices: An Application To Economics In The Republic Of Ireland," Working Papers FNU-130, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Mar 2007.
    2. Leo Egghe, 2006. "Theory and practise of the g-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 69(1), pages 131-152, October.
    3. Antonis Sidiropoulos & Dimitrios Katsaros & Yannis Manolopoulos, 2007. "Generalized Hirsch h-index for disclosing latent facts in citation networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 72(2), pages 253-280, August.
    4. Liming Liang, 2006. "h-index sequence and h-index matrix: Constructions and applications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 69(1), pages 153-159, October.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General
    • Z00 - Other Special Topics - - General - - - General

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