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The stability of the h-index

Author

Listed:
  • Monika Henzinger

    (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Jacob Suñol

    (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

  • Ingmar Weber

    (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)

Abstract

Over the last years the h-index has gained popularity as a measure for comparing the impact of scientists. We investigate if ranking according to the h-index is stable with respect to (i) different choices of citation databases, (ii) normalizing citation counts by the number of authors or by removing self-citations, (iii) small amounts of noise created by randomly removing citations or publications and (iv) small changes in the definition of the index. In experiments for 5,283 computer scientists and 1,354 physicists we show that although the ranking of the h-index is stable under most of these changes, it is unstable when different databases are used. Therefore, comparisons based on the h-index should only be trusted when the rankings of multiple citation databases agree.

Suggested Citation

  • Monika Henzinger & Jacob Suñol & Ingmar Weber, 2010. "The stability of the h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 465-479, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:84:y:2010:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-009-0098-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-009-0098-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anthony F. J. Raan, 2006. "Comparison of the Hirsch-index with standard bibliometric indicators and with peer judgment for 147 chemistry research groups," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 67(3), pages 491-502, June.
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    4. Lutz Bornmann & Hans-Dieter Daniel, 2005. "Does the h-index for ranking of scientists really work?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 65(3), pages 391-392, December.
    5. Clint D. Kelly & Michael D. Jennions, 2007. "H-index: age and sex make it unreliable," Nature, Nature, vol. 449(7161), pages 403-403, September.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Miguel A. García-Pérez, 2015. "Online supplemental information: a sizeable black hole for citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 102(2), pages 1655-1659, February.
    2. L. Egghe, 2011. "The influence of random removal of sources and items on the h-index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(2), pages 363-370, August.
    3. Johannes Hönekopp & Julie Khan, 2012. "Future publication success in science is better predicted by traditional measures than by the h index," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 90(3), pages 843-853, March.
    4. Fiorenzo Franceschini & Domenico Maisano, 2011. "On the analogy between the evolution of thermodynamic and bibliometric systems: a breakthrough or just a bubble?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(1), pages 315-327, October.
    5. Fiorenzo Franceschini & Domenico Maisano & Luca Mastrogiacomo, 2013. "The effect of database dirty data on h-index calculation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(3), pages 1179-1188, June.
    6. Claus-Christian Carbon, 2011. "The Carbon_h-Factor: Predicting Individuals' Research Impact at Early Stages of Their Career," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(12), pages 1-7, December.

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