H-Index: An Alternative Metric for Ranking Scientists

The ability to design an instrument sufficiently versatile to effectively gauge the impact of a scientist’s work within his/her own specialized field is a daunting task—to say the least. Initially, the Journal Impact Factor (JIP) was developed for selecting and comparing the journals within The Science Citation Index (SCI). Unfortunately, it was never intended to evaluate a scientist’s work; rather, it was designed to assess journals. Due to growing dissatisfaction, another technique or instrument was sought whose purpose was to simultaneously evaluate a scientist’s works and the number of citations each work received from other scientists. Just such an instrument emerged: the H-Index. Today, it is rapidly gaining attention from scientists around the globe. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is twofold: to describe the features, strengths, and weaknesses of the H-Index and to suggest how it may affect high school, undergraduate, and graduate students