Impact and Metrics: Library Tools and Services

h-index Defined

The h-index attempts to measure both the productivity and citation impact of the works of a specific author. Its use has now been extended to cover these measures for journals and, in some cases, departments or groups of scholars. It is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications. The h-index can be manually determined using citation databases or using automatic tools. 

The h-index shows how many papers published by the author have been cited proportionately. An index of h means that the author has h papers that have been cited at least h times. For more detail and information, review the following video. There is also a link to a Cornell University Library guide that covers the i10 index, a new(er) way of helping express productivity and impact in scholarly publishing.