title: The h-index in medical education: an analysis of medical education journal editorial boards.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Disciplines differ in their authorship and citation practices, thus discipline-specific h-index norms are desirable. Thus the goal of this study was to examine the relationship between the h-index and academic rank in the field of medical education, and the differences in the h-index between MD's and PhD's in this field.
  
  
  METHODS
  Due to the absence of a formalized registry of medical educators, we sampled available editorial board membership (considered a proxy for identifying 'career' medical educators) to establish h-index values. These were determined using Web of Science (WoS) and Google Scholar (GS), and internet searching was used to determine their academic rank. The correlation between authors' h-indices derived from WoS and GS was also determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  130 editors were identified (95 full professors, 21 associate professors, 14 assistant professors). A significant difference was noted between the h-indices of full professors and associate/assistant professors (p < .001). Median h-indices equaled 14 for full professors (Interquartile range [IQR] =11); 7 for associate professors (IQR =7) and 6.5 for assistant professors (IQR = 8). h-indices of MD's and PhD's did not differ significantly. Moderate correlation between GS and WOS h-indices was noted R = 0.46, p < .001.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results provide some guidance as to the expected h-indices of a select group of medical educators. No differences appear to exist between assistant professor and associate professor ranks or between MD's and PhD's.
authors.forename: Asif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doja
authors.forename: Kaylee
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eady
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horsley
authors.forename: M Dylan
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Bould
authors.forename: J Charles
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Victor
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sampson
mesh_terms: D000047:Academies and Institutes; D015706:Bibliometrics; D002170:Canada; D035081:Editorial Policies; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D055811:Journal Impact Factor; D008297:Male; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D010819:Physician's Role; D011786:Quality Control