{"id":1999,"date":"2013-11-04T08:36:58","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T08:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/how-citation-metrics-can-help-you-benchmark-your-research-impact\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T07:38:37","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T07:38:37","slug":"how-citation-metrics-can-help-you-benchmark-your-research-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/how-citation-metrics-can-help-you-benchmark-your-research-impact","title":{"rendered":"How citation metrics can help you benchmark your research impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years, many research groups have been working independently to develop metrics that measure the impact of published research<\/a>.\u00a0The journal impact factor<\/a>\u00a0is a well-known metric used to measure the reputation of journals. However, it does not answer a question that is important to scientists worldwide: How can a researcher\u2019s influence and research impact be measured? One of the most important breakthroughs in this regard was achieved with the introduction of the h-index, named after its inventor Jorge Hirsch.1<\/sup><\/span><\/span>
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The h-index of a researcher is the number n of the researcher\u2019s published papers that have each been cited at least n times by other papers. For example, if a researcher has published 23 papers of which 16 have been cited at least 16 times each, then his\/her h-index is 16.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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How is the h-index calculated?<\/span><\/strong>

The flowchart below shows a simple method to calculate your h-index.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

For example, this is how the h-index calculation for researcher A, who has 10 published papers, would look.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\"How\u00a0<\/span>
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Here, 8 is the highest point at which the serial number remains less than or equal to the number of citations. Beyond this point, the serial number exceeds the number of citations, which means that the papers listed subsequently have received few citations or had lower impact. These papers are disregarded as they do not significantly contribute to the overall impact of researcher A. Thus, researcher A\u2019s h-index is 8.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

More on the h-index<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The h-index tries to capture an optimal balance of researcher output (papers published) and impact (citations received), with the underlying principle being that a good researcher should have both high output and high impact.

Like any citation metric, the h-index is not perfect. The following table lists some of its pros and cons.2<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0Advantages<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n