A novel bibliometric index with a simple geometric interpretation

作者：Fenner Trevor; Harris Martyn; Levene Mark; Bar Ilan Judit^*

来源：PLos One, 2018, 13(7): e0200098.

DOI：10.1371/journal.pone.0200098

We propose the chi-index as a bibliometric indicator that generalises the h-index. While the hindex is determined by the maximum square that fits under the citation curve of an author when plotting the number of citations in decreasing order, the chi-index is determined by the maximum area rectangle that fits under the curve. The height of the maximum rectangle is the number of citations c(k) to the kth most-cited publication, where k is the width of the rectangle. The chi-index is then defined as root kc(k), for convenience of comparison with the h-index and other similar indices. We present a comprehensive empirical comparison between the chi-index and other bibliometric indices, focusing on a comparison with the h-index, by analysing two datasets-a large set of Google Scholar profiles and a small set of Nobel prize winners. Our results show that, although the chi and h indices are strongly correlated, they do exhibit significant differences. In particular, we show that, for these data sets, there are a substantial number of profiles for which chi is significantly larger than h. Furthermore, restricting these profiles to the cases when c(k) > kor c(k) < k corresponds to, respectively, classifying researchers as either tending to influential, i.e. having many more than h citations, or tending to prolific, i.e. having many more than h publications.

• 出版日期2018-7-10