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2 - The h-Index

from Part I - The Science of Career

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2021

Dashun Wang  and
Albert-László Barabási
Dashun Wang
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Albert-László Barabási
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston
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Summary

We begin by discussing the challenges of quantifying scientific impact. We introduce the h-index and explore its implications for scientists. We also detail the h-index’s strengths when compared with other metrics, and show that it bypasses all the disadvantages posed by alternative ranking systems. We then explore the h-index’s predictive power, finding that it provides an easy but relatively accurate estimate of a person’s acheivements. Despite its relative accuracy, we are aware of the h-index’s limitations, which we detail here with suggestions for possible remedies.

Keywords

quantifying scientific impactthe h indexEddington numberpredictive power of the h indexlimitations of the h index
Type
Chapter
Information
The Science of Science , pp. 17 - 27
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • The h-Index
  • Dashun Wang, Northwestern University, Illinois, Albert-László Barabási, Northeastern University, Boston
  • Book: The Science of Science
  • Online publication: 07 February 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108610834.004
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  • The h-Index
  • Dashun Wang, Northwestern University, Illinois, Albert-László Barabási, Northeastern University, Boston
  • Book: The Science of Science
  • Online publication: 07 February 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108610834.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The h-Index
  • Dashun Wang, Northwestern University, Illinois, Albert-László Barabási, Northeastern University, Boston
  • Book: The Science of Science
  • Online publication: 07 February 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108610834.004
Available formats
×