Twenty Hirsch index variants and other indicators giving more or less preference to highly cited papers

TL;DR

This paper analyzes 20+ variants of the Hirsch index and other metrics to evaluate their effectiveness in ranking physicists, comparing their correlations and discussing their advantages and disadvantages.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of numerous Hirsch index variants and other indicators, highlighting their similarities, differences, and suitability for research impact assessment.

Findings

Certain indices show high correlation, indicating similar ranking patterns.

Some variants emphasize highly cited papers more than others.

The paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each metric.

Abstract

The Hirsch index or h-index is widely used to quantify the impact of an individual's scientific research output, determining the highest number h of a scientist's papers that received at least h citations. Several variants of the index have been proposed in order to give more or less preference to highly cited papers. I analyse the citation records of 26 physicists discussing various suggestions, in particular A, e, f, g, h(2), h_w, h_T, \hbar, m, {\pi}, R, s, t, w, and maxprod. The total number of all and of all cited publications as well as the highest and the average number of citations are also compared. Advantages and disadvantages of these indices and indicators are discussed. Correlation coefficients are determined quantifying which indices and indicators yield similar and which yield more deviating rankings of the 26 datasets. For 6 datasets the determination of the indices and indicators is visualized.