Let's talk numbers: what Hirsch index is considered a good one?

The Hirsch index is one of the most important indicators of scientific productivity and citability of a researcher's publications. This metric is often used in the selection for academic positions, in the distribution of grants and in other forms of evaluation of scientific qualifications. Nevertheless, despite its widespread use, this indicator raises a number of debates. One of the most popular questions is what is considered a "good" Hirsch index?

What is the Hirsch index?

The Hirsch index is an indicator that reflects both the productivity of a researcher (the number of his/her scientific publications) and scientific impact (the number of citations of these articles). It takes into account both the volume and quality of scholarly activity: a high h-index means that the author has published a significant number of papers, each of which has resonated with an academic audience.

This indicator is an important tool for identifying leading scientists in various scientific fields. It is widely used by research organisations, universities and research centres when assessing a researcher's contribution to the development of their field of expertise, as well as when making decisions on grant awards, promotions or invitations to collaborate.

How to calculate the Hirsch index

A researcher's H-index is defined as the number h such that the researcher has at least h scientific publications, each of which has been cited at least h times. This index demonstrates the balance between the number of publications and their scientific impact.

For example, if you have only one article published, your h-index cannot be higher than 1, even if your paper has received hundreds of citations. At the same time, if you have ten articles, but each of them has been cited only once, your h-index will also be 1.

To increase the h-index, it is not enough to publish many articles – it is important that these publications are actively cited in other scientific papers. To achieve an h-index of 10, it is necessary to have at least 10 articles with at least 10 citations each.

Which Hirsch index is considered "good" depending on the stage of an academic career?

The h-index increases with the number of publications and total academic experience. The table below summarises the average h-index values at different stages of academic career:

Note: for humanities and social sciences, these values may be significantly lower.

Influence of discipline and database on H-index

The H-index varies considerably from discipline to discipline. For example, in physics and biomedicine the average citation rate is higher than in history or philosophy. Therefore, direct comparison of indicators between different subject areas is incorrect.

Also, h-index values depend on the scientometric database:

• Google Scholar. Provides the widest coverage: includes scholarly articles, books, dissertations, preprints, conference proceedings, and even some unverified sources. This makes the h-index in Google Scholar generally the highest. However, a low level of filtering may reduce the accuracy of the score.

• Scopus. Indexes peer-reviewed journals, covering a wide range of international publications. The h-index values in Scopus are generally lower than in Google Scholar, but have greater reliability and comparability.
• Web of Science. This bibliographic database is characterised by the most rigorous peer review procedure. The h-index scores calculated in Web of Science are often the lowest, but they have the greatest academic legitimacy in the international scientific community.

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