What do we know about the <I>h</I> index?

@article{citeulike:2399073, abstract = {Jorge Hirsch (2005a, 2005b) recently proposed the h index to quantify the research output of individual scientists. The new index has attracted a lot of attention in the scientific community. The claim that the h index in a single number provides a good representation of the scientific lifetime achievement of a scientist as well as the (supposed) simple calculation of the h index using common literature databases lead to the danger of improper use of the index. We describe the advantages and disadvantages of the h index and summarize the studies on the convergent validity of this index. We also introduce corrections and complements as well as single-number alternatives to the h index.}, address = {ETH Zurich, Professorship of Social Psychology and Research in Higher Education, Zaehringerstr. 24, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland; ETH Zurich, Professorship of Social Psychology and Research in Higher Education, Zaehringerstr. 24, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland, and Evaluation Office, University of Zurich, Muehlegasse 21, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland}, author = {Bornmann, Lutz and Daniel, Hans-Dieter }, citeulike-article-id = {2399073}, doi = {10.1002/asi.20609}, journal = {Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology}, keywords = {h-index}, number = {9}, pages = {1381--1385}, posted-at = {2008-03-18 04:11:45}, priority = {2}, title = {What do we know about the <I>h</I> index?}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.20609}, volume = {58}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2399073 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2399073 TI - What do we know about the <I>h</I> index? JF - Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology VL - 58 IS - 9 SP - 1381 EP - 1385 AD - ETH Zurich, Professorship of Social Psychology and Research in Higher Education, Zaehringerstr. 24, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland; ETH Zurich, Professorship of Social Psychology and Research in Higher Education, Zaehringerstr. 24, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland, and Evaluation Office, University of Zurich, Muehlegasse 21, CH-8001 Zurich, Switzerland N2 - Jorge Hirsch (2005a, 2005b) recently proposed the h index to quantify the research output of individual scientists. The new index has attracted a lot of attention in the scientific community. The claim that the h index in a single number provides a good representation of the scientific lifetime achievement of a scientist as well as the (supposed) simple calculation of the h index using common literature databases lead to the danger of improper use of the index. We describe the advantages and disadvantages of the h index and summarize the studies on the convergent validity of this index. We also introduce corrections and complements as well as single-number alternatives to the h index. KW - h-index AU - Bornmann, Lutz AU - Daniel, Hans-Dieter PY - 2007/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.20609 ER -