Measuring Scientific Group Performance: Integrating h-Group and Homogeneity into the $\alpha$-Index

TL;DR

This paper introduces the alpha-index, a new metric combining homogeneity and the h-group to evaluate research groups' performance, demonstrated through experiments on computer science conference committees.

Contribution

The paper presents the alpha-index, integrating homogeneity and the h-group into a unified measure for assessing research group performance, a novel approach in scientometrics.

Findings

Alpha-index correlates well with manual classifications.

The method effectively differentiates group performance.

Experiments on conference committees validate the approach.

Abstract

Ranking groups of researchers is important in several contexts and can serve many purposes such as the fair distribution of grants based on the scientist's publication output, concession of research projects, classification of journal editorial boards and many other applications in a social context. In this paper, we propose a method for measuring the performance of groups of researchers. The proposed method is called alpha-index and it is based on two parameters: (i) the homogeneity of the h-indexes of the researchers in the group; and (ii) the h-group, which is an extension of the h-index for groups. Our method integrates the concepts of homogeneity and absolute value of the h-index into a single measure which is appropriate for the evaluation of groups. We report on experiments that assess computer science conferences based on the h-indexes of their program committee members. Our results are similar to a manual classification scheme adopted by a research agency.