A new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution.

In order to improve the h-index in terms of its accuracy and sensitivity to the form of the citation distribution, we propose the new bibliometric index [symbol in text]. The basic idea is to define, for any author with a given number of citations, an "ideal" citation distribution which re...

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Main Authors: Tommaso Lando, Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4277364?pdf=render
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author Tommaso Lando
Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti
author_facet Tommaso Lando
Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti
author_sort Tommaso Lando
collection DOAJ
description In order to improve the h-index in terms of its accuracy and sensitivity to the form of the citation distribution, we propose the new bibliometric index [symbol in text]. The basic idea is to define, for any author with a given number of citations, an "ideal" citation distribution which represents a benchmark in terms of number of papers and number of citations per publication, and to obtain an index which increases its value when the real citation distribution approaches its ideal form. The method is very general because the ideal distribution can be defined differently according to the main objective of the index. In this paper we propose to define it by a "squared-form" distribution: this is consistent with many popular bibliometric indices, which reach their maximum value when the distribution is basically a "square". This approach generally rewards the more regular and reliable researchers, and it seems to be especially suitable for dealing with common situations such as applications for academic positions. To show the advantages of the [symbol in text]-index some mathematical properties are proved and an application to real data is proposed.
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spelling doaj.art-a1896c481a1c471fb99aeb646eb55a1b2022-12-22T01:18:05ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-01912e11596210.1371/journal.pone.0115962A new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution.Tommaso LandoLucio Bertoli-BarsottiIn order to improve the h-index in terms of its accuracy and sensitivity to the form of the citation distribution, we propose the new bibliometric index [symbol in text]. The basic idea is to define, for any author with a given number of citations, an "ideal" citation distribution which represents a benchmark in terms of number of papers and number of citations per publication, and to obtain an index which increases its value when the real citation distribution approaches its ideal form. The method is very general because the ideal distribution can be defined differently according to the main objective of the index. In this paper we propose to define it by a "squared-form" distribution: this is consistent with many popular bibliometric indices, which reach their maximum value when the distribution is basically a "square". This approach generally rewards the more regular and reliable researchers, and it seems to be especially suitable for dealing with common situations such as applications for academic positions. To show the advantages of the [symbol in text]-index some mathematical properties are proved and an application to real data is proposed.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4277364?pdf=render
spellingShingle Tommaso Lando
Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti
A new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution.
PLoS ONE
title A new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution.
title_full A new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution.
title_fullStr A new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution.
title_full_unstemmed A new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution.
title_short A new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution.
title_sort new bibliometric index based on the shape of the citation distribution
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4277364?pdf=render
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