Personal Impact Factor and h-Index Calculations: Finding Your h-Index
What Is the h-Index?
h-Index
h-Index = The number of papers (N) on a list of publications ranked in descending order by the times cited that have N or more citations.
The h-Index was developed by J.E. Hirsch and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Full citation: Hirsch JE. An index to quantify an individual's scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2005 Nov 15;102(46):16569-72.
Mount Sinai faculty can use the Scopus database to find their h-index.
h-Index Differences Between Databases
The h-Index from Scopus or Web of Science may differ from those on Google Scholar and other platforms because each covers and counts different sources of literature.
Scopus, for example, includes a curated selection of peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, while Google Scholar casts a much wider net by indexing books, preprints, theses, and other web-based content. As a result, Google Scholar may report higher citation counts and h-Index values by including more document types, multiple versions of the same work, and citations that may not be verified. These differences in scope and methodology mean that citation metrics are not always directly comparable across platforms.
Learn more about Google Scholar metrics coverage at: https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/metrics.html#coverage
Finding Your h-Index
For a more detailed look at your h-Index in the Scopus database, you can view an h-graph by clicking on the link on your Author Details page. This will bring you to a page containing not just a graph, but a way to analyze documents by date range, view co-authors and other document data, and see the total number of citations for all publications.
To view all your publications, follow steps 1-4 in the second box, How to Calculate your Personal Impact Factor. Click on All and the "Citation overview" link to generate a list of results.
