Evaluating scholarly publications

Evaluation tools on the university level:

Publication Forum, Research Assessment Excercise (RAE), international rankings (e.g. the Shangai list)

Tools for evaluating the impact of research groups and researchers:

Publication frequency, citations, academic networks, quality of publication channels.
Indicators: h-index, g-index

The Hirsch-index was developed by Professor Jorge E Hirsch in 2005. The index measures the researcher’s publication effectiveness and the significance of the publications. The larger the h-index is the greater is the number of the researcher's publications that have been cited. 

To be observed regarding the h-index:

• The advantage of the h-index is its stability, since a few publications that have been cited many times do not greatly affect the index value. Publications that have not been cited at all, or only a few times, do not affect the index value at all
• The h-index varies in different disciplines, which means that researchers h-indexes of different disciplines are not usually comparable
• The h-index is usually higher for researchers with a long career researching, than for young researchers at the start of their careers
• The h-index can also be used when evaluating journals

If you are  using the name of the author or organisation as a search word, please be careful with your search. In order to find all the relevant articles, it is recommended to pay attention to the following things:

Further problems may be caused by:

• Asian names, names with Scandic letters, multipart names
• Researchers who have changed their last name
• Names with special characters (diacritics, apostrophes)