Citation Index

What is Citation Index?

Citation index. Most researchers are guided by the works published in journals with a high impact factor, which are indexed by world-renowned information agencies, often having interviews with Russian scientists. The indicator is also important for the representative of the scientific community. The fact that many authors refer to the work of a particular scientist indicates the timeliness, popularity of scientific research, and high activity in the field of science. But this method has its drawbacks: it mainly emphasizes the significance of the first achievements of a researcher. If the work done can be called unique, then quite often they begin to cite it a long time after the release, when the initial conclusions are confirmed by evidence.

What is the h-index

Hirsch index, or h-index. It was proposed to be used in 2005 by Dr. Hirsch. The resulting number is the number n of scientific materials printed by the researcher that other authors cited h times. The calculation of the h-index is performed using databases. Here are some of them: Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar. What your personal Hirsch index will be depends on a large number of nuances: the type of institution in which you do science; countries; chosen specialty; experience of scientific activity in its active form.

Many scientists agree that the h-index is imperfect due to the consideration of mainly quantitative indicators of publication activity, and not qualitative ones. For example, a researcher may be the author of fewer published works, but have 100 times more citations, and still his Hirsch index will be less than that of a person whose works were less frequently quoted. It turns out that when analyzing the HR index, the qualitative component of the publication is partially not taken into account..