Understanding the metrics used to assess the quality of journals

Various databases offer access to thousands of academic journals. A miscellaneous picture with respect to quality, scientific influence and prestige is presented by umpteen numbers of journals present. Authors wishing to publish their research aim to publish in journals with the highest ratings and are ultimately in no man’s land.

Researcher and Author Impact Metrics: Variety, Value, and Context

Numerous quantitative indicators are currently available for evaluating research productivity. No single metric is suitable for comprehensive evaluation of the author-level impact. The choice of particular metrics depends on the purpose and context of the evaluation. The aim of this article is to overview some of the widely employed author impact metrics and highlight perspectives of their optimal use. The h-index is one of the most popular metrics for research evaluation, which is easy to calculate and understandable for non-experts. It is automatically displayed on researcher and author profiles on citation databases such as Scopus and Web of Science. Its main advantage relates to the combined approach to the quantification of publication and citation counts. This index is increasingly cited globally. Being an appropriate indicator of publication and citation activity of highly productive and successfully promoted authors, the h-index has been criticized primarily for disadvantaging early career researchers and authors with a few indexed publications. Numerous variants of the index have been proposed to overcome its limitations. Alternative metrics have also emerged to highlight ‘societal impact.’ However, each of these traditional and alternative metrics has its own drawbacks, necessitating careful analyses of the context of social attention and value of publication and citation sets. Perspectives of the optimal use of researcher and author metrics is dependent on evaluation purposes and compounded by information sourced from various global, national, and specialist bibliographic databases.

Measuring Individual Performance with Comprehensive Bibliometric Reports as an Alternative to h-Index Values

The h-index is frequently used to measure the performance of single scientists in Korea (and beyond). No single indicator alone, however, is able to provide a stable and complete assessment of performance. The Stata command bibrep.ado is introduced which automatically produces bibliometric reports for single researchers (senior researchers working in the natural or life sciences). The user of the command receives a comprehensive bibliometric report which can be used in research evaluation instead of the h-index.

Analysis and Study on Academic Influence of National and Provincial Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / 医学信息学杂志

The paper analyzes the papers of national and provincial Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the Web of ScienceTM from 2007 to 2016 based on h-index,ESI highly cited papers,ESI hot papers and other bibliometrics indexes,contrasts the academic influence of China CDC and five provincial CDCs with top 5 number of SCI papers,and puts forward the suggestions that China CDC should play the role of an academic leader,and the provincial CDCs should continuously give full play to their advantages in their respective research fields.

Co-Author Networks in Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to analyze the co-author networks in the Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, a representative journal published by a branch of the domestic psychiatric academy, in order to present the current state of the co-authoring of and developments in child and adolescent psychiatry. METHODS: We visualized and estimated the basic characteristics of the co-author networks shown by 564 authors who wrote 251 papers published in the Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry between 2005 and 2015, in order to assess their network characteristics, author centrality, and relevance to research performance. RESULTS: The co-author networks in the Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry showed the characteristics of a small world and scale-free network. There was a correlation between the author centrality within the network and the research performance of the authors, but less correlation was shown between the centrality and mean paper citation counts. CONCLUSION: The network structure in the Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry showed similarity to the co-authoring of other branches. However, given that the mean paper citation counts were less correlated with the author centrality than those in other branches, it may be necessary to promote an increase in the mean paper citation counts.

Bibliometrics: Tracking research impact by selecting the appropriate metrics / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

Traditionally, the success of a researcher is assessed by the number of publications he or she publishes in peer-reviewed, indexed, high impact journals. This essential yardstick, often referred to as the impact of a specific researcher, is assessed through the use of various metrics. While researchers may be acquainted with such matrices, many do not know how to use them to enhance their careers. In addition to these metrics, a number of other factors should be taken into consideration to objectively evaluate a scientist′s profile as a researcher and academician. Moreover, each metric has its own limitations that need to be considered when selecting an appropriate metric for evaluation. This paper provides a broad overview of the wide array of metrics currently in use in academia and research. Popular metrics are discussed and defined, including traditional metrics and article-level metrics, some of which are applied to researchers for a greater understanding of a particular concept, including varicocele that is the thematic area of this Special Issue of Asian Journal of Andrology. We recommend the combined use of quantitative and qualitative evaluation using judiciously selected metrics for a more objective assessment of scholarly output and research impact.

The h-Index in academic morphology / El Índice h en la morfología académica

The h-index is an objective and easily calculable measure that can be used to evaluate both the relevance and amount of scientific contributions of an individual author and field. The aim was to examine how the h-index of academic morphologists in Chile relates with academic rank. A descriptive and correlational study was design. We accessed the Chilean Society of Anatomy professor list in January of 2015, for analysis of academic morphologists' h-indexes using the Scopus database, and data was organized by academic rank. Also, m-Quotient was calculated. Institutional productivity was measured, and institutions were ranked on the basis of cumulative h-index, m-Quotient and the total number of publications and citations. For all morphologists analyzed, the mean h-index was 2.9±2.94 (range 0­12). The mean h-indexes were 1.9±2.135 for instructors, 2.5±2.54 for assistant, 5.1±2.89 for associate and 4.7±3.92 for professors. There was a significant relationship between h-index and academic rank (P<0.001). The m-Quotient were significantly different between assistant/associate and professors (P<0.001). By academic degree, the mean h-indexes were 1.0±1.92 for Bachelor, 1.6±2.0 for specialists, 2.3±2.26 for masters and 4.9±3.4 for Ph.D. The total number of publications for Chilean morphologist was 1343 publications (13.85±18.392), with 5321 citations (54.86±106.392). The top 3 institutions were Universidad de La Frontera, Universidad de Chile and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that h-index (P<0.001) and number of publications (P<0.001) were the best predictors of academic rank. There exists a significant relationship between h-index and academic rank, with h-index increasing with academic rank. It is a reliable tool for quantifying academic productivity within morphology, easily calculable and may be useful when evaluating decisions regarding advancement within academic morphology departments. These results should serve as benchmarks for future studies.

El índice h es una medida objetiva y fácilmente calculable que se puede utilizar para evaluar la importancia y cantidad de contribuciones científicas de un autor y área del conocimiento. El objetivo fue evaluar el índice h de morfólogos académicos en Chile, y su relación con la jerarquía académica. Se diseño un estudio descriptivo correlacional. Se accedido a la lista de profesores de la Sociedad Chilena de Anatomía en enero del 2015; para el análisis del índice h de los académicos morfólogos se utilizó la base de datos Scopus, y los datos fueron organizados por jerarquía académica. Además, se calculó cociente m. Se midió la productividad institucional clasificándose sobre la base de índice h y cociente m acumulados, y el número total de publicaciones y citaciones. Para todos morfólogos analizados, la Media del índice h fue de 2,9±2,94 (rango 0­12). Según jerarquía académica, se observaron índices h de 1,9±2,135 para instructores, 2,5±2,54 para asistentes, 5,1±2,89 para asociados y 4,7±3,92 para profesores titulares. Hubo una relación significativa entre el índice h y jerarquía (P<0,001). Los Cocientes m fueron significativamente diferentes entre los profesores asistente/asociado (mayor) y titulares (P<0,001). Según el grado académico, la Media de los índices h fueron 1,0±1,92 para licenciados, 1,6±2,0 para especialistas, 2,3±2,26 para magíster y 4,9±3,4 para los Ph.D. El número total de publicaciones para los morfólogos chilenos fue 1.343 (13,85±18,392), con 5.321 citas (54,86±106.392). Las 3 mejores instituciones fueron Universidad de La Frontera, Universidad de Chile y Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. El análisis de regresión logística multivariante demostró que el índice h (P<0,001) y el número de publicaciones (P<0,001) fueron los mejores predictores de jerarquía académica. Existe una relación significativa entre el índice h y jerarquía, al aumentar el índice h aumenta la jerarquía. El índice h es una herramienta fiable para cuantificar la productividad académica dentro de la morfología, fácilmente calculable y puede ser útil en la evaluación de las decisiones relativas a la promoción dentro de los departamentos académicos en el área morfológica. Estos resultados deben servir como puntos de referencia para futuros estudios.

The h-index, a simple tool also can be used for the assessment of scientific impact of academic surgeon and physician / 中华临床营养杂志

The physicians and surgeons working in modern hospital should get achievement in the clinic,research,teaching,and prevention.In the past,scientific impact was assessed by the citation number of published papers in domestic and foreign journals,which obviously has many limitations.Hirsch JE,a physics professor from the United States proposed the h-index for the evaluation of the scientific impact of individual scientists in 2005.The h-index has been now been introduced in China.The applicability,limitations,and usage of h-index are discussed in this article.

Evaluation on research development of clinical departments with SCI publications: the case of Peking University Cancer Hospital / 中华医学科研管理杂志

To evaluate scientific research development of clinical departments of Peking University Cancer Hospital,we used SCI database to analyze the production of SCI papers of the hospital staff and searched h-index for principal investigators.We also explored the influence factors on scientific research to provide references for scientific research management and discipline construction.

El índice-H y Google Académico: una simbiosis cienciométrica inclusiva / H-index and Google Scholar: a inclusive scienciometrics symbiosis

Se examina el origen del "factor de impacto" como indicador de la influencia de una revista científica y su evolución hasta convertirse en un instrumento altamente redituable para la empresa Thomson Reuters, gracias en parte a su naturaleza excluyente y anglocéntrica. El índice-H de Hirsh y sus variantes, así como la posibilidad de conjugarlo con las prestaciones de Google Académico, son valorados con detalle y conceptuados como componentes de un modelo alternativo, con imperfecciones diversas, pero libre de buena parte de las objeciones que se han hecho a los indicadores precedentes. Tales posibilidades resultan especialmente atractivas cuando se involucran idiomas diferentes al inglés en el análisis.

The paper shows how the dominant journal impact factor has arrived to its present features and discuss the degree in which this metric is prone to be manipulated and misused, as opposed to the prescribed utilization by Thomson Reuter, the corporation in charge of its official computation. Hirsch's H-index and a large family of related indicators seek to give a single number that in some sense summarizes an author's research output and its impact. The free public availability of information offered by Google Scholar allows citation counts, and analyses based thereon, to be performed and duplicated by anyone. Combining H-index with this information provides an avenue for more transparency and supply an extraordinary opportunity to develop a fairer scienciometric analysis, specially when languages other than English are involved.

Current Status of Scientific Citation Index Expanded Article Publications and Relationship with the Human Resources of Medical Schools in Korea / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper was to quantify both the output and the impact of the relationship between Korean medical schools and their human resource departments and their ability to support the basic data for research goals of Korean medical schools. METHODS: The SCOPUS database was used to identify SCIE (scientific citation index expanded) articles produced by Korean medical schools between 1997 to 2008. The SCIE criteria, impact factors, and citation numbers were classified according to the database of Thomson Scientific Company. The human resources of medical schools were collected, such as the number of professors, graduate students, clinical fellows, residents, interns, and research assistants, through use of the medical deans' association biannual report. RESULTS: There was a significant difference across Korean medical schools in the number of the SCIE articles and citation numbers, resulting in only a few institutions producing most of the impact. Among the variables, the proportion of professors of basic medical science (p<.01) and the number of research faculties per professor (p<.01), were related significantly to the SCIE per professor. The only factor affecting both SCIE number and SCIE per professor was the number of research faculties per professor. The number of graduate students in the medical school had no impact on productivity. CONCLUSION: For the medical schools with restricted resources, the strategic plans for proper management of human resources are needed to promote scientific publication.

Evaluation of Domestic and International Journals in the Field of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Using <i>h</i>-Index / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

Domestic and international thoracic, cardiac and vascular surgery (TCVS) journals were evaluated using Impact Factor (IF) and <i>h</i>-index, since the information should be valuable when selecting a journal in this field to submit a manuscript. The <i>h</i>-index was introduced by Hirsch to show the quality and quantity of articles. Scientific databases such as PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) were used in this study. For surgery, there were 452 journals in PubMed, 170 in WoS and 165 in the list of journal analytics of Scopus in July 2008. Two journals in surgery from Japan were listed in WoS. One of them was “Surgery Today (ST).” Four journals from Japan were listed in Scopus journal analytics, and ST had the highest <i>h</i>-index among the four. Citations of ST have increased in the last decade, although the numbers of published articles were similar for ST and Jpn. J. Thoracic. Surg. When “trend” is defined as the number of articles divided by number of citations, ST performed best among Japanese journals in the 2008 Scopus list. A strong correlation existed between IF and the <i>h</i>-index for TCVS journals. However, there are some limitations in the <i>h</i>-index, since it shows lifetime contribution. The order for IF and <i>h</i>-index was reversed occasionally because of the difference in the calculation methods. Eight TCVS-related journals were listed in WoS : J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. (JTCVS), Ann. Thorac. Surg. (ATS), J. Vasc. Surg. (JVS), Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg. (EJCTS), J. Cardiovasc. Surg. (JCVS), Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. (TCVS), J. Cardiac. Surg. (JCS), and Heart Surg. Forum (HSF). Three major journals in TCVS : JTCVS, ATS and JVS, had a high <i>h</i>-index greater than 117, compared to 59 for EJCTS. When the <i>h</i>-graphs were superimposed, the “<i>h</i>” values of JTCVS, ATS, and JVS were close to each other. When comparing the 4 minor journals in WoS : JCVS, TCVS, JCS and HSF, as well as ST, journal analytics showed that JCVS had the best trend among the five. It was concluded that the <i>h</i>-index is valuable for the evaluation and comparison of TCVS journals, since the index can be obtained easily using online databases, and the “trend” of a journal is helpful in making a choice when submitting a manuscript to minor TCVS journals.

Analysis on Applying H -index to Evaluate the Quality of Academic Journals / 医学信息学杂志

Applying H-index combined with other evaluation index of qualitative and quantitative evaluation for seientifie research ability, levels of researchers as well as academie journals, is becoming inereasingly concerned and will gradually be applied. The paper discusses the connotation, extension, feasibility, limitations on H-index and further analyzes the applicability of using H-index to evaluate the quality of academic journals.

H-index in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences: comments and concerns

Bibliometric parameters have been used in order to evaluate a scientist's performance. The h-index has been gradually accepted as the most adequate parameter for this purpose. To have an idea of this index among Brazilian scientists, we performed an analysis of this parameter for the full members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (BAS). The h-index of 402 members listed in 10 distinct categories by the BAS was determined, cross-checked with the curriculum vitae of each of them listed at the Plataforma Lattes database (CVL) and compared with each other. Despite the large production, mostly in journals without impact factor, the h-indexes among the BAS members are comparatively low and show a large variation in all of the 10 categories, particularly in Biomedical and Physical sciences. The highest average of h-index values was found in Biomedical, Health and Chemical sciences; the lowest values were found in Human sciences where this index is meaningless. Several problems due to the trend that new and "fresh" publications need be constantly produced (the "bakery-effect") are discussed. This study points to the need of developing countries such as Brazil to invest in national scientific journals in order to make them gradually part of the mainstream journals. This would have a positive effect on bibliometric parameters of Brazilian researchers, including the h-index.

Índices bibliométricos estão sendo utilizados como ferramentas na avaliação do desempenho de cientistas, sendo o índice h o mais empregado atualmente. Com o propósito de tecer considerações sobre o índice h de cientistas brasileiros, foi realizada uma análise do mesmo entre os membros titulares da Academia Brasileira de Ciências (ABC). Foram calculados os valores do índice h para os 402 membros titulares separados nas 10 áreas do conhecimento distintas listadas pela ABC. Concomitantemente os trabalhos de cada pesquisador foram conferidos através da comparação com os currículos apresentados na Plataforma Lattes. Apesar da grande produção científica, a maioria em jornais sem fator de impacto, os índices h dos membros da ABC demonstram uma grande variação em todas as 10 áreas, particularmente nas Ciências Biomédicas e Físicas. As maiores médias do índice h foram encontradas nas Ciências Biomédicas, da Saúde e Químicas; os menores valores estão nas Ciências Humanas, onde este índice não reflete a produção dos respectivos pesquisadores, revelando-se inútil nesse caso. Devido a uma pressão por contínua publicação (the bakery-effect), diversos problemas relacionados são discutidos. A conclusão principal deste estudo corrobora a necessidade de países em desenvolvimento, como o Brasil, investirem em periódicos científicos nacionais, possibilitando a incorporação gradual dos mesmos nas principais listagens dos periódicos com fator de impacto, causando um efeito positivo sobre os índices dos pesquisadores atuantes no país.

Hirsch's index: a case study conducted atthe Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo

An analysis of scientific bibliographic productivity using the Hirsch h-index, information from the Institute of Scientific Information database and the Curriculum Lattes (CNPq, Brazil) was performed at the Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (FFCLRP-USP) that has four departments in natural, biological and social sciences. Bibliometric evaluations of undergraduate programs showed a better performance of the departments of Chemistry (P < 0.001) and Biology (P < 0.001) when compared to the departments of Physics and Mathematics and Psychology and Education. We also analyzed the scientific output of the six graduate programs of FFCLRP: Psychology, Psychobiology, Chemistry, Physics Applied to Medicine and Biology, Comparative Biology, and Entomology. The graduate program in Psychology presented a lower h-index (P < 0.001) and had fewer papers indexed by the ISI web of science (P < 0.001) when compared to the other graduate programs. The poorer performance of the Psychology program may be associated with the limited coverage by the Thompson Institute of Scientific Information database.