Research Metrics

 This is a Snowball Metric. For more information on Snowball Metrics, click here.

The h-index attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work.  The h-index is not a static value; it is calculated each time you look it up.  Each database will produce a different h index due to differing content (coverage and date ranges) being used. 

The h-index expresses the number of articles (h) that have received at least h citations.  For example, if an author has 12 papers in a particular database that have each been cited at least 12 times, the h-index will be 12.  If an author has one paper that has been cited 12 times, the h-index will be 1.  The higher the h-index the better.

The h-index is influence both by quantity (Scholarly Output) and publication impact (Citation Count).  Originally conceived as a useful reflection of a researcher’s accumulated career, it is represented by a single number which stays the same or increases with time – it cannot go down. 

The h-index metric is useful to benchmark activity in a way that relies on the balance between two fundamental aspects of performance – productivity and citation impact.  

• Scopus
• Web of Science
• Google Scholar My Citations
• Publish or Perish (using Google Scholar data)

The boxes below provide specific instructions

The boxes below provide specific instructions for each of these.

Connect to Scopus

When you get to the main Scopus search screen:

1. Click the Author Search tab (instead of the default Document search)
2. Enter surname and first initial in the labelled boxes
3. Enter "Limerick Institute of Technology"  into the Affiliation box
4. Press Search
5. Click the profile name that you are searching. 
6. The h-index is displayed in the metrics box
7. Or you can click on Citation overview  to see your citation stats and link to the  h-index graph

Open Google Scholar

1. Search for the name you wish to view
2. If a user profile exists for this person, it will dispaly at the top of the results list

3. Click on this link, and the profile will be displayed.

Note: this relies on an existing Google Scholar My Citations profile being set up.  If you are looking for yourself and haven't yet set up a profile, follow the directions here.

Open the Publish-or-Perish  program:

• Note: This is an installed program but installation does not require Administrator privileges.
• Download site for Windows here: http://www.harzing.com/pop_win.htm
• Download site for Mac OSX here: http://www.harzing.com/pop_osx.htm

To calculate h-indexes and other metrics for a researcher:

• Highlight Author tab at top of screen
• Enter the author: surname, initials in the  search box
• Uncheck discipline boxes that do not apply at right
• Click the Lookup button
• Publish or Perish will calculate various metrics and display them and list all relevant publications in descending order of citation count in lower pane
• If false hits are found (article does not actually belong to that author) you can uncheck the box next to the article and the metrics will recalculate to match checked boxes only