The following brief guide is to introduce you to some common ways published researchers can try to evaluate the relative influence they have had in their discipline. If you have any questions or require further assistance, please contact your librarian.

H-Index

The H-Index is a metric that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a researcher by looking at the number of published papers and the number of citations to those papers.

• It is calculated by taking into account the balance between the number of publications and the number of citations per publication
• For example, an h-index of 26 tells us that an author has 26 publications which received 26 citations or more

Considerations:

• Depends on the total number of publications an author produces
• Those with short careers have a disadvantage
• Does not account for the number of authors of a paper, nor the location of the author in the list
• Does not account for typical citation behavior in specific fields
• Some disciplines cite much more frequently than others, which could skew the H-Index
• Depends on the indexing of whichever database you use
• Depends on the specified time frame
• The value for 1990-1995 could be completely different from the value for 2000-2005
• An author’s lifetime H-Index will never decrease
• Once you have twelve papers with 12+ citations, no matter how many more papers you publish, you can only end up increasing your H-Index
• Hirsch proposed the tool to measure authors against one another in the same stage of their careers

Citation Tracking

• Citation tracking allows published authors to gather citation statistics about their published work
• keep track of how many citations your works have received overall as well as paper-by-paper citation counts
• see who is citing your papers and in which journals those articles appear
• Web of Science, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar all compile citation information for the published articles that they index
• Google Scholar, Web of Science, and SCOPUS all offer an H-Index for an author
  • You can compare the values from the different databases
• Ambitious researchers can create their own H-Index using and comparing the citation information gathered from the different sites
• Due to each database indexing different journals, you could discover that your articles are being cited more often than just what one database shows
• Set up a "My Citations" account in Google Scholar to keep track of your articles and see how many times they are being cited

WorldCat Identities

• If you have edited or published a book, or contributed to a book, WorldCat Identities can provide some useful statistics
• See the number and location of libraries where the book is held
• See a word cloud of subjects associated with the book
• View a publication timeline showing your output as well as the number of works about you
• WorldCat identities also provides an audience level for your works, how many languages you’ve been translated into, and your most widely held works

Finding Author Metrics

Web of Science:

• Once in Web of Knowledge, click the Web of Science link in the tabs near the top of your screen
• In the Author Finder, search your last name, first initial
• Select the record(s) that represent you and then click View Records
• Select all of the records that represent your work
• Choose Create Citation Report on the top left, just above the list of results
• See your H-Index, total citations, most frequently cited articles, and other citation trends

SCOPUS:

• Click on Author Search, and search your last name, first initial and affiliation
• Click the record that most completely represents you
• If you see more than one record that represents you, you can submit a request to merge authors and have everything of yours under one name
• Unlike Web of Science, you cannot see the H-Index or author evaluator if you choose more than one author name
• See your H-Index, view collaborators, see the topic areas where you publish in the Author Evaluator, and retrieve your Citation overview to see total citations and other trends

WorldCat Identities:

• Type the author name in the search box: last, first
• Choose the relevant entry from the list and you are then taken to the information page for that author

Google Scholar:

• Click on Advanced Search and type your name in the author search box
• Click on Create Email Alert to receive a notification whenever someone new cites one of your articles.
• Go to the main Google search page. In the black bar across the top, click on more and then click even more and choose iGoogle
• Log in to iGoogle using your gmail username and password, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click Add news, games, and more. Search for the “Google Scholar Citation Counter” gadget and add it to your page
• Once added to your iGoogle page, just type in your name and run a search to get an H-Index value from Google Scholar
• Under the search bar, click on the "My Citations" link to set up a profile for adding your published articles and tracking citations

More Information

If you need more detailed information on how to use each tool for citation tracking or finding your H-Index, try consulting the following websites:

• Help with Citation Reports - Information from the Web of Science Help menu on generating and interpreting Citation Reports
• Help with Author Evaluator Tools - Information from SCOPUS on how to generate an author report
• About Google Scholar Citations - Information from Google Scholar on how to create a profile and track citations to your works
• In-Depth Review of a Worldcat Identities Profile - A detailed review of all the elements that appear in a Worldcat Identities author profile