The Hirsch index is one of the most well-known indicators for evaluating a scientist's research activity. It is used to quantitatively assess a scientist's productivity and the impact of their publications. However, this indicator has its strengths and weaknesses, which we will discuss in today's article.
Advantages of the Hirsch index
Ease of calculation
The Hirsch index is fairly easy to calculate and interpret. This indicator is understandable to editors, reviewers, university administrations, etc. Please also note that in databases such as Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), this indicator is available for viewing as it is calculated automatically.
This makes the Hirsch index a convenient and effective tool for comparing the productivity of scientists in the same subject area. In our article, we explained in detail how to calculate your Hirsch index.
Combination of quantity and quality
Another advantage of the index is that it organically combines the number of published works and their quality, expressed in the number of citations. This means that a scientist with a significant number of publications that are little known and have a low citation rate will not receive a high h-index. However, a scientist with high-quality publications that are in demand in the scientific community will receive an objective assessment accordingly. Thus, the Hirsch index helps to determine the productivity of a researcher not only by the number of publications, but also by their quality.
Resistance to changes in citation rates
The h-index is a stable indicator and does not depend on changes in the citation rates of a researcher's work. For example, if one or more works begin to receive more citations, while others remain unnoticed, this will not affect the index value. This makes the h-index resistant to manipulation and random changes in citation rates, making it a reliable tool for long-term evaluation of a scientist's research activity.
Widespread use in scientific practice
Due to its versatility, the Hirsch index is actively used in the scientific community to evaluate the productivity of researchers. This indicator is also used to evaluate the scientific activities of institutions (universities, hospitals, etc.). The H-index is also taken into account when considering applications for research funding and grants, forming ratings, etc.
At the same time, despite the above-mentioned advantages of the Hirsch index, this indicator is not a universal and perfect assessment tool. Its application requires a critical approach, especially when comparing the productivity of scientists from different scientific fields. Next, we will look at the weaknesses of the Hirsch index.
Disadvantages of the Hirsch index
- Individual contribution of the author. The H-index does not take into account the personal contribution of a scientist to co-authored publications. Even if a scientist has made the greatest contribution to the research compared to other co-authors, the Hirsch index will still grow equally for all authors of this publication. This can lead to an unfair assessment of scientific activity and may not reflect the researcher's actual contribution.
- Limitations in reflecting current scientific activity. The Hirsch index covers the scientist's entire publication activity, without taking into account the intensity and quality of publications in specific periods of time. This partially complicates the current assessment of scientific activity and the assessment of the dynamics of its scientific development.
- Disciplinary inequality in index formation. The value of the h-index varies significantly depending on the scientific field, given the different publication activity, the size of the interested audience, and the citation rate. That is why it is incorrect to compare scientists from different fields based on their h-index.
- Lack of a unified approach to calculation. Each database uses its own algorithms to count publications and citations. For this reason, the indicators for one scientist may differ on different platforms. For example, Scopus calculates the Hirsch index only on the basis of publications indexed in this database, so the h-index is lower here, especially for humanities and social sciences. Web of Science takes into account documents indexed in the WoS Core Collection, while Google Scholar covers the widest range of publications. Since Google Scholar includes even questionable or non-peer-reviewed publications in its citation count, the resulting h-index usually exceeds the indicators in Scopus and WoS, which creates a false impression of the researcher's scientific influence.
Despite its shortcomings, the Hirsch index is one of the most effective tools for assessing a researcher's scientific impact. It provides an objective assessment of both the productivity and influence of a scientist in the scientific community. However, the Hirsch index should be calculated comprehensively, rather than based on data from a single database. In addition, an increase in the h-index will have a positive impact on a researcher's career, opening up opportunities for individual contributions to the development of science.
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