The h-index in Australian Astronomy

TL;DR

This study evaluates the h-index among Australian astronomers, providing percentile distributions, top researcher rankings, and insights into how career stage influences h-index, highlighting differences with other countries and potential factors affecting metrics.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive analysis of the h-index distribution within Australian astronomy, including percentile data and comparisons with international metrics.

Findings

Top Australian researchers have h-indices between 53 and 77.

h-index increases steadily with years since Ph.D.

Australian astronomers' h-indices are lower than those of American counterparts.

Abstract

The Hirsch (2005) h-index is now widely used as a metric to compare individual researchers. To evaluate it in the context of Australian Astronomy, the h-index for every member of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) is found using NASA's Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services (ADS). Percentiles of the h-index distribution are detailed for a variety of categories of ASA members, including students. This enables a list of the top ten Australian researchers by h-index to be produced. These top researchers have h-index values in the range 53<h<77, which is less than that recently reported for the American Astronomical Society Membership. We suggest that membership of extremely large consortia such as SDSS may partially explain the difference. We further suggest that many student ASA members with large h-index values have probably already received their Ph.D.'s and need to upgrade their ASA membership status. To attempt to specify the h-index distribution relative to opportunity, we also detail the percentiles of its distribution by years since Ph.D. award date. This shows a steady increase in h-index with seniority, as can be expected.