Analyzing research performance: proposition of a new complementary index

Shaon Sahoo ()
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Shaon Sahoo: CEA, INAC/SPSMS

Scientometrics, 2016, vol. 108, issue 2, No 2, 489-504

Abstract: Abstract A researcher collaborating with many groups will normally have more papers (and thus higher citations and h-index) than a researcher spending all his/her time working alone or in a small group. While analyzing an author’s research merit, it is therefore not enough to consider only the collective impact of the published papers, it is also necessary to quantify his/her share in the impact. For this quantification, here I propose the I-index which is defined as an author’s percentage share in the total citations that his/her papers have attracted. It is argued that this I-index does not directly depend on the most of the subjective issues like an author’s influence, affiliation, seniority or career break. A simple application of the Central Limit Theorem shows that, the scheme of equidistribution of credit among the coauthors of a paper will give us the most probable value of the I-index (with an associated small standard deviation which decreases with increasing h-index). I show that the total citations ( $$N_{\text {c}}$$ N c ), the h-index and the I-index are three independent parameters (within their bounds), and together they give a comprehensive idea of an author’s overall research performance.

Keywords: Coauthors’ contributions; Independent parameters; Central Limit Theorem (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11192-016-1988-0

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