title: Taking Advantage of Citation Measures of Scholarly Impact: Hip Hip h Index!
abstract: Professional decisions about hiring, tenure, promotion, funding, and honors are informed by assessments of scholarly impact. As a measure of influence, citations are produced by experts but accessible to nonexperts. The h index is the largest number h such that an individual has published at least h works cited at least h times apiece. This is easy to understand and calculate, as or more reliable and valid than alternative citation measures, and highly robust to missing or messy data. Striving for a large h index requires both productivity and influence, which provides healthy incentives for researchers striving for eminence through scientific impact. A number of factors that can influence h are discussed to promote the mindful use of what might otherwise be an ambiguous or misleading measure. The h index adds a transparent, objective component to assessments of scholarly impact, and even academic eminence, that merits at least two cheers.
authors.affiliation: The College of New Jersey ruscio@tcnj.edu.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruscio
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001319:Authorship; D015706:Bibliometrics; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans; D012108:Research Personnel; D012586:Science; D014495:Universities
keywords: citations; fame; h index; scholarly impact