Sangwal Keshra
Department of Applied Physics, Lublin University of Technology, ul. Nadbystrzycka 38, 20-618 Lublin, Poland.
Scientometrics. 2012 Dec;93(3):987-1004. doi: 10.1007/s11192-012-0805-7. Epub 2012 Jul 10.
The nature of the empirical proportionality constant A in the relation L = Ah(2) between total number of citations L of the publication output of an author and his/her Hirsch index h is analyzed using data of the publication output and citations for six scientists elected to the membership of the Royal Society in 2006 and 199 professors working in different institutions in Poland. The main problem with the h index of different authors calculated by using the above relation is that it underestimates the ranking of scientists publishing papers receiving very high citations and results in high values of A. It was found that the value of the Hirsch constant A for different scientists is associated with the discreteness of h and is related to the tapered Hirsch index h(T) by A(1/2) ≈ 1.21h(T). To overcome the drawback of a wide range of A associated with the discreteness of h for different authors, a simple index, the radius R of circular citation area, defined as R = (L/π)(1/2) ≈ h, is suggested. This circular citation area radius R is easy to calculate and improves the ranking of scientists publishing high-impact papers. Finally, after introducing the concept of citation acceleration a = L/t(2) = π(R/t)(2) (t is publication duration of a scientist), some general features of citations of publication output of Polish professors are described in terms of their citability. Analysis of the data of Polish professors in terms of citation acceleration a shows that: (1) the citability of the papers of a majority of physics and chemistry professors is much higher than that of technical sciences professors, and (2) increasing fraction of conference papers as well as non-English papers and engagement in administrative functions of professors result in decreasing citability of their overall publication output. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11192-012-0805-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
利用2006年入选英国皇家学会的6位科学家以及波兰不同机构工作的199位教授的论文发表量和被引数据，分析了作者论文发表总量L与其赫希指数h之间的关系L = Ah²中经验比例常数A的性质。使用上述关系计算不同作者的h指数时，主要问题在于它低估了发表高被引论文的科学家的排名，导致A值偏高。研究发现，不同科学家的赫希常数A值与h的离散性有关，并且与锥形赫希指数h(T)的关系为A^(1/2) ≈ 1.21h(T)。为克服因不同作者h的离散性导致A值范围较宽的缺点，提出了一个简单指数——圆形被引区域半径R，定义为R = (L/π)^(1/2) ≈ h。这个圆形被引区域半径R易于计算，且改善了发表高影响力论文的科学家的排名。最后，引入被引加速度a = L/t² = π(R/t)²（t为科学家的发表持续时间）的概念后，从可被引性方面描述了波兰教授论文发表的一些一般特征。从被引加速度a对波兰教授数据的分析表明：(1)大多数物理和化学教授论文的可被引性远高于技术科学教授；(2)会议论文以及非英文论文比例的增加以及教授参与行政职能会导致其整体论文发表量的可被引性降低。电子补充材料：本文的在线版本（doi:10.1007/s11192-012-0805-7）包含补充材料，授权用户可获取。
