The h-index is a new metric for assessing the impact of research by an individual author. The h-index, developed by J.E. Hirsch, is based on the number of publications produced by an author and the distribution of citations in other publications. Hirsch defines the h-index as:

“A scientist has index h if h of his/her Np papers have at least h citations each, and the other (Np – h) papers have no more than h citations each.”
In other words, a scholar with an index of h has published h papers with at least h citations each. The h-index is the result of the balance between the number of publications and the number of citations per publication. It is designed to improve upon simpler measures such as the total number of citations or publications.

Hirsch, J.E. An Index to Quantify an Individual’s Scientific Research Output, 2005.

Becker Library provides access to SCOPUS, a database that includes a tool to compute the h-index for articles published after 1996.  For WU Authors: Contact Cathy Sarli to request your h-index.

 Related articles on the h-index:

Ball, Philip. Index Aims for Fair Ranking of Scientists. Nature, 436, 900, August 18, 2005.

Harzing, Anne-Wil. Reflections on the h-index. 2007.

Roediger, Henry. The h index in Science: A New Measure of Scholarly Contribution.  The Academic Observer, 19(4), April 2006.