title: Distribution of the h-index in radiation oncology conforms to a variation of power law: implications for assessing academic productivity.
abstract: Leaders of academic institutions evaluate academic productivity when deciding to hire, promote, or award resources. This study examined the distribution of the h-index, an assessment of academic standing, among radiation oncologists. The authors collected h-indices for 826 US academic radiation oncologists from a commercial bibliographic database (SCOPUS, Elsevier B.V., NL). Then, logarithmic transformation was performed on h-indices and ranked h-indices, and results were compared to estimates of a power law distribution. The h-index frequency distribution conformed to both the log-linear variation of a power law (r                         (2) = .99) and the beta distribution with the same fitting exponents as previously described in a power law analysis of the productivity of neurosurgeons. Within radiation oncology, as in neurosurgery, there are exceedingly more faculty with an h-index of 1-2. The distribution fitting the same variation of a power law within two fields suggests applicability to other areas of academia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Quigley
authors.forename: Emma B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Holliday
authors.forename: Clifton D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.forename: Mehee
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000193:education* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*