An index to quantify an individual's scientific research valid across disciplines

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new research impact index, hI, which normalizes the h-index to enable fair comparison of individual scientific output across different disciplines.

Contribution

The paper proposes the hI index as a complementary metric to the h-index, accounting for co-authorship and enabling cross-disciplinary comparisons.

Findings

hI index allows comparison across disciplines

hI index data collapses into a universal curve

hI index accounts for co-authorship effects

Abstract

The number h of papers with at least h citations has been proposed to evaluate individual's scientific research production. This index is robust in several ways but yet strongly dependent on the research field. We propose a complementary index hI = h^2/N_t, with N_t being the total number of authors in the considered h papers. A researcher with index hI has hI papers with at least hI citation if he/she had published alone. We have obtained the rank plots of h and hI for four Brazilian scientific communities. Contrasting to the h-index curve, the hI index present a perfect data collapse into a unique allowing comparison among different research areas.