Evaluating the productivity of social work scholars using the h-index

Abstract

Objectives: This article reports the first estimated h-index values for social work faculty. Methods: Multiple raters blindly assessed two samples of faculty (1) tenure-track faculty at institutions listed in theU.S.News andWorld Report top 10 (n=337) and (2) tenuretrack editorial board members of 5 highly ranked socialwork journals (n=215). Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients for h-index values among the multiple raters ranged from .83 to .92, indicating good reliability. For faculty at top 10 institutions, mean estimated h-index values were 3.97 (SD= 2.87) for assistant professors; 8.59 (SD= 3.72) for associate professors; and 16.14 (SD= 8.35) for full professors. Values for editorial board members were generally similar. Conclusions: These are the first such published data; further research is needed. © The Author(s) 2011.