Saraykar Smita, Saleh Ayman, Selek Salih
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Acad Psychiatry. 2017 Aug;41(4):455-459. doi: 10.1007/s40596-016-0654-4. Epub 2017 Jan 6.
Academic productivity is measured under many domains: number of high impact publications, objective bibliometrics, securing extra-mural funding, etc. Citation impact is measured by an objective bibliometric called h-index. Securing funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is considered prestigious in the field of psychiatry. It is unknown if NIMH takes into consideration the author's h-index during the grant review process. The goal of this study was to determine the correlation between a principal investigator's (PI's) h-index and the NIMH funding.
Correlational analysis was conducted on publicly available 2012 NIMH funding data to assess the relationship between NIMH funding and a PI's h-index. A simple linear regression was calculated to predict the h-index based on the amount of funding offered to the PI.
A total of 139 PIs and their corresponding h-index and NIMH funding (direct, indirect, and total cost) were included. A strong correlation was found between h-index and NIMH funding: direct cost (r = 0.632, p < 0.001); indirect cost (r = 0.570, p < 0.001); and total cost (r = 0.639, p < 0.001). Total funding significantly predicted h-index, β = 0.821, t (2.599), p < 0.01, and explained a significant proportion of variance in h-index, R = 0.410, F (3, 119) = 27.59, p < 0.001.
A strong relationship was seen between h-index and securing NIMH funding. Thus, h-index stands out as a reliable measure for assessing the impact of scholarly contributions in academic psychiatry and can be used as an adjunct for performance evaluations, appointment, and promotions in academia.
学术生产力是在多个领域进行衡量的：高影响力出版物的数量、客观文献计量学、获得校外资金等。引用影响力是通过一种名为h指数的客观文献计量学指标来衡量的。在精神病学领域，从美国国立精神卫生研究所（NIMH）获得资金被认为是有声望的。目前尚不清楚NIMH在拨款评审过程中是否会考虑作者的h指数。本研究的目的是确定主要研究者（PI）的h指数与NIMH资金之间的相关性。
对公开的2012年NIMH资金数据进行相关分析，以评估NIMH资金与PI的h指数之间的关系。计算简单线性回归，根据提供给PI的资金数额来预测h指数。
共纳入139名PI及其相应的h指数和NIMH资金（直接成本、间接成本和总成本）。发现h指数与NIMH资金之间存在很强的相关性：直接成本（r = 0.632，p < 0.001）；间接成本（r = 0.570，p < 0.001）；总成本（r = 0.639，p < 0.001）。总资金显著预测了h指数，β = 0.821，t（2.599），p < 0.01，并解释了h指数中很大一部分方差，R = 0.410，F（3, 119）= 27.59，p < 0.001。
h指数与获得NIMH资金之间存在很强的关系。因此，h指数是评估学术精神病学中学术贡献影响力的可靠指标，可作为学术机构中绩效评估、任命和晋升的辅助指标。
