Table 4.

h-index Caveats

The h-index is a metric for evaluating the cumulative impact of an author’s career publications; it measures quantity with quality by comparing publications to citations. It is, however, not intended for a specific time frame.

The h-index calculation does not discern among publication types. For example, meta-analyses and review articles are more likely to be cited than research articles and meeting abstracts.

Author name variants and multiple versions of the same work in some resources pose challenges with calculating the h-index.

Different publication practices among disciplines may affect the h-index.

Several resources (Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) offer tools that automatically calculate the h-index for authors, allowing for a metric that is easily available. However, the h-index for each resource will vary greatly, even if the same set of publications is being compared.

Self-citations or gratuitous citations among colleagues can skew the h-index.

The h-index disregards author ranking and coauthor characteristics on publications.

Young authors are at a disadvantage.

The h-index does not provide the context of the citations; why is the work being cited?

The h-index does not serve as a predictor of future scholarly performance or impact.