A skeptical view on the Hirsch index and its predictive power

Abstract

The h-index was proposed by Hirsch in 2005. It is now often used as a measure of scientific performance of individual researchers. Assuming that it has predictive power, the index is even considered in academic appointment processes and for the allocation of research resources. But this is questionable, because the development of the index is dominated by citations to rather old publications. This inert behavior is demonstrated for the citation record of W P Schleich. Other variants of the h-index are analyzed, in particular a timely h-index h t which takes into account only the publications and citations of the previous t years. Finally, some alternative measures of scientific performance are discussed.