Although composition of bibliometric indicators appears to be desirable, in many cases it may be misleading. After a brief introduction on the properties of scales of measurement, the attention of this communication is focused on a recent composite indicator, the hg-index, suggested by Alonso et al. (Scientometrics 82(2):391–400, 2010). Specifically, hg-index has three major criticalities: (1) the hg scale is the result of a composition of the h- and g-indices, which are defined both on ordinal scales, (2) the equivalence classes of hg are questionable and the substitution rate between h and g may arbitrarily change depending on the specific h and g values, (3) the apparent increase in granularity of hg, with respect to h and g, is illusory and misleading. Argument is supported by several examples.

Criticism on the hg-index / Franceschini, Fiorenzo; Maisano, DOMENICO AUGUSTO FRANCESCO. - In: SCIENTOMETRICS. - ISSN 0138-9130. - STAMPA. - 86, n.2:(2011), pp. 339-346. [10.1007/s11192-010-0261-1]

Criticism on the hg-index

FRANCESCHINI, FIORENZO;MAISANO, DOMENICO AUGUSTO FRANCESCO
2011

Abstract

Although composition of bibliometric indicators appears to be desirable, in many cases it may be misleading. After a brief introduction on the properties of scales of measurement, the attention of this communication is focused on a recent composite indicator, the hg-index, suggested by Alonso et al. (Scientometrics 82(2):391–400, 2010). Specifically, hg-index has three major criticalities: (1) the hg scale is the result of a composition of the h- and g-indices, which are defined both on ordinal scales, (2) the equivalence classes of hg are questionable and the substitution rate between h and g may arbitrarily change depending on the specific h and g values, (3) the apparent increase in granularity of hg, with respect to h and g, is illusory and misleading. Argument is supported by several examples.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2380454
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