IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jpubli/v12y2024i4p50-d1547459.html

Research Metrics in Architecture: An Analysis of the Current Challenges Compared to Engineering Disciplines

Author

Listed:
  • Omar S. Asfour

    (Architecture and City Design Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
    Interdisciplinary Research Center for Construction and Building Materials, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia)

  • Jamal Al-Qawasmi

    (Architecture and City Design Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
    Interdisciplinary Research Center for Construction and Building Materials, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

The Hirsch index (‘ h -index’) is a widely recognized metric for assessing researchers’ impact, considering both the quantity and quality of their research work. Despite its global acceptance, the h -index has created some uncertainty about appropriate benchmark values across different disciplines. One such area of concern is architecture, which is often at a disadvantage compared to the fields of science and engineering. To examine this disparity, this study compared the citation count and h -index in architecture with those of other engineering disciplines. Data were collected extensively from Scopus database, focusing on the top 50 universities. The analysis revealed that architecture consistently recorded lower citation counts and h -index values than the selected engineering fields. Specifically, the average h-index for faculty members at the associate and full professor ranks was found to be 7.0 in architecture, compared to 22.8 in civil engineering and 25.6 in mechanical engineering. The findings highlight that a universal h -index benchmark is impractical, as research areas significantly vary in terms of research opportunities, challenges, and performance expectations. Thus, this study proposes the adoption of an additional relative h -index metric, ‘ h r -index’, which accounts for the deviation of individual researchers from the average h -index value within their fields of knowledge. This metric can serve as a complement to the standard h -index, providing a more equitable and accurate assessment of researchers’ performance and impact within their areas of expertise.

Suggested Citation

  • Omar S. Asfour & Jamal Al-Qawasmi, 2024. "Research Metrics in Architecture: An Analysis of the Current Challenges Compared to Engineering Disciplines," Publications, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jpubli:v:12:y:2024:i:4:p:50-:d:1547459
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/12/4/50/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6775/12/4/50/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tehmina Amjad & Yusra Rehmat & Ali Daud & Rabeeh Ayaz Abbasi, 2020. "Scientific impact of an author and role of self-citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(2), pages 915-932, February.
    2. Pantea Kamrani & Isabelle Dorsch & Wolfgang G. Stock, 2021. "Do researchers know what the h-index is? And how do they estimate its importance?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 5489-5508, July.
    3. Muhammad Raheel & Samreen Ayaz & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2018. "Evaluation of h-index, its variants and extensions based on publication age & citation intensity in civil engineering," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(3), pages 1107-1127, March.
    4. Anne-Wil Harzing & Satu Alakangas & David Adams, 2014. "hIa: an individual annual h-index to accommodate disciplinary and career length differences," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 811-821, June.
    5. Madiha Ameer & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2019. "Evaluation of h-index and its qualitative and quantitative variants in Neuroscience," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(2), pages 653-673, November.
    6. Fabio Zagonari, 2019. "Scientific Production and Productivity for Characterizing an Author’s Publication History: Simple and Nested Gini’s and Hirsch’s Indexes Combined," Publications, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-30, May.
    7. Fabio Zagonari & Paolo Foschi, 2024. "Coping with the Inequity and Inefficiency of the H-Index: A Cross-Disciplinary Empirical Analysis," Publications, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, April.
    8. Justin W. Flatt & Alessandro Blasimme & Effy Vayena, 2017. "Improving the Measurement of Scientific Success by Reporting a Self-Citation Index," Publications, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-6, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Abdulrahman A. Alshdadi & Muhammad Usman & Madini O. Alassafi & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal & Rayed AlGhamdi, 2023. "Formulation of rules for the scientific community using deep learning," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(3), pages 1825-1852, March.
    2. 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.
    3. Muhammad Usman & Ghulam Mustafa & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2021. "Ranking of author assessment parameters using Logistic Regression," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 335-353, January.
    4. Fabio Zagonari, 2019. "Scientific Production and Productivity for Characterizing an Author’s Publication History: Simple and Nested Gini’s and Hirsch’s Indexes Combined," Publications, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-30, May.
    5. Ghulam Mustafa & Abid Rauf & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2024. "MRET: Modified Recursive Elimination Technique for ranking author assessment parameters," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(6), pages 1-30, June.
    6. Muhammad Salman & Mohammad Masroor Ahmed & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal, 2021. "Assessment of author ranking indices based on multi-authorship," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(5), pages 4153-4172, May.
    7. Khayet, Mohamed & Aytaç, Ersin & Essalhi, Mohamed & Cipollina, Andrea & García-Fernández, Loreto & Contreras-Martínez, Jorge & García-Payo, Carmen & Ruiz-García, Alejandro & Figoli, Alberto, 2025. "Elucidating the dynamics of salinity gradient energy research," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    8. Claudiu Herteliu & Marcel Ausloos & Bogdan Vasile Ileanu & Giulia Rotundo & Tudorel Andrei, 2017. "Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Editor Behavior through Potentially Coercive Citations," Publications, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Anne-Wil Harzing & Satu Alakangas, 2017. "Microsoft Academic is one year old: the Phoenix is ready to leave the nest," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1887-1894, September.
    10. Mingyang Wang & Jiaqi Zhang & Shijia Jiao & Xiangrong Zhang & Na Zhu & Guangsheng Chen, 2020. "Important citation identification by exploiting the syntactic and contextual information of citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 2109-2129, December.
    11. James C. Ryan, 2016. "A validation of the individual annual h-index (hIa): application of the hIa to a qualitatively and quantitatively different sample," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(1), pages 577-590, October.
    12. Anne-Wil Harzing & Wilfred Mijnhardt, 2015. "Proof over promise: towards a more inclusive ranking of Dutch academics in Economics & Business," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(1), pages 727-749, January.
    13. Abramo, Giovanni & D'Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea & Grilli, Leonardo, 2021. "The effects of citation-based research evaluation schemes on self-citation behavior," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4).
    14. Frode Eika Sandnes, 2026. "Understanding the h-index with self-citation visualizations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 131(3), pages 1979-1989, March.
    15. Chihli Hung & Wei-Chao Lin, 2022. "VisualRPI: Visualizing Research Productivity and Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-11, June.
    16. Rizwan Ghani & Faiza Qayyum & Muhammad Tanvir Afzal & Hermann Maurer, 2019. "Comprehensive evaluation of h-index and its extensions in the domain of mathematics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 118(3), pages 809-822, March.
    17. Xianru Shang & Zijian Liu & Chen Gong & Zhigang Hu & Yuexuan Wu & Chengliang Wang, 2024. "Knowledge mapping and evolution of research on older adults’ technology acceptance: a bibliometric study from 2013 to 2023," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, December.
    18. T. Liskiewicz & G. Liskiewicz & J. Paczesny, 2021. "Factors affecting the citations of papers in tribology journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3321-3336, April.
    19. Yuetong Chen & Hao Wang & Baolong Zhang & Wei Zhang, 2022. "A method of measuring the article discriminative capacity and its distribution," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(6), pages 3317-3341, June.
    20. Nick Haslam & Naomi Baes, 2023. "Scientific eminence and scientific hierarchy: bibliometric prediction of fellowship in the Australian Academy of Science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(12), pages 6659-6674, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:gam:jpubli:v:12:y:2024:i:4:p:50-:d:1547459. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.