Characterization of researchers in condensed matter physics using simple quantity based on h-index

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple metric based on the ratio of h-index to the mean age of top-cited publications, enabling fair comparison of condensed matter physicists across different career stages.

Contribution

It proposes a new, straightforward quantity derived from citation data that improves comparison of scientists regardless of age.

Findings

The ratio correlates well with scientific impact across ages.

It provides a reliable measure for comparing physicists at different career stages.

The metric is easy to compute from existing citation records.

Abstract

Analysis of citation records of 52 active and productive condensed matter physicists shows that the ratio of h-index to the mean age of h most highly cited publications is a reliable quantity that allows meaningful comparison of scientists of different age.