The relative significance of the H-index

Abstract

Use of the Hirsch-index ($h$) as measure of an author's visibility in the scientific literature has become popular as an alternative to a gross measure like total citations (c). I show that, at least in astrophysics, $h$ correlates tightly with overall citations. The mean relation is $h=0.5(\sqrt{c}+1)$. Outliers are few and not too far from the mean, especially if `normalized' ADS citations are used for $c$ and $h$. Whatever the theoretical reasoning behind it, the Hirsch index in practice does not appear to measure something significantly new.

More references added, small corrections. Research note, 3 small pages, 1 figure

References in corpus (2)

• The inconsistency of the h-index
• Viva the h-index

Cited by in corpus (2)

• A measure of total research impact independent of time and discipline
• Citations to Australian Astronomy: 5 and 10 Year Benchmarks