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Publication Performance and Number of Authors – Evidence for World Top Economists

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  • Crespo, Nuno
  • Simoes, Nadia

Abstract

In social sciences the measurement of performance is usually done giving the full credit of each paper to all its authors. Aiming to analyze the impact of the number of authors on the performance results, we propose an adjustment to the h-index that is flexible enough to allow the consideration of distinct co-authorship weighting schemes. We then evaluate the publication performance of the members of the departments of economics of the top 10 world universities (472 authors; 15,243 papers). Our results show that the number of authors per paper is rapidly increasing and that this dimension measurably affects the final ranking of authors even in a scientific area in which the average number of authors is lower than in physical and life sciences.

Suggested Citation

  • Crespo, Nuno & Simoes, Nadia, 2019. "Publication Performance and Number of Authors – Evidence for World Top Economists," MPRA Paper 92581, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:92581
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Simoes, Nadia & Crespo, Nuno, 2020. "Self-Citations and scientific evaluation: Leadership, influence, and performance," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    publication performance; h-index; authors; credit.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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