This paper presents the first meta-analysis of studies that computed correlations between the h index and variants of the h index (such as the g index; in total 37 different variants) that have been proposed and discussed in the literature. A high correlation between the h index and its variants would indicate that the h index variants hardly provide added information to the h index. This meta-analysis included 135 correlation coefficients from 32 studies. The studies were based on a total sample size of N = 9005; on average, each study had a sample size of n = 257. The results of a three-level cross-classified mixed-effects meta-analysis show a high correlation between the h index and its variants: Depending on the model, the mean correlation coefficient varies between .8 and .9. This means that there is redundancy between most of the h index variants and the h index. There is a statistically significant study-to-study variation of the correlation coefficients in the information they yield. The lowest correlation coefficients with the h index are found for the h index variants \MII\ and m index. Hence, these h index variants make a non-redundant contribution to the h index.
%0 Journal Article
%1 bornmann2011multilevel
%A Bornmann, Lutz
%A Mutz, Rüdiger
%A Hug, Sven E.
%A Daniel, Hans-Dieter
%D 2011
%J Journal of Informetrics
%K analysis bibliometrics citation h-index scientometrics
%N 3
%P 346--359
%R 10.1016/j.joi.2011.01.006
%T A multilevel meta-analysis of studies reporting correlations between the h index and 37 different h index variants
%U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157711000071
%V 5
%X This paper presents the first meta-analysis of studies that computed correlations between the h index and variants of the h index (such as the g index; in total 37 different variants) that have been proposed and discussed in the literature. A high correlation between the h index and its variants would indicate that the h index variants hardly provide added information to the h index. This meta-analysis included 135 correlation coefficients from 32 studies. The studies were based on a total sample size of N = 9005; on average, each study had a sample size of n = 257. The results of a three-level cross-classified mixed-effects meta-analysis show a high correlation between the h index and its variants: Depending on the model, the mean correlation coefficient varies between .8 and .9. This means that there is redundancy between most of the h index variants and the h index. There is a statistically significant study-to-study variation of the correlation coefficients in the information they yield. The lowest correlation coefficients with the h index are found for the h index variants \MII\ and m index. Hence, these h index variants make a non-redundant contribution to the h index.
@article{bornmann2011multilevel,
abstract = {This paper presents the first meta-analysis of studies that computed correlations between the h index and variants of the h index (such as the g index; in total 37 different variants) that have been proposed and discussed in the literature. A high correlation between the h index and its variants would indicate that the h index variants hardly provide added information to the h index. This meta-analysis included 135 correlation coefficients from 32 studies. The studies were based on a total sample size of N = 9005; on average, each study had a sample size of n = 257. The results of a three-level cross-classified mixed-effects meta-analysis show a high correlation between the h index and its variants: Depending on the model, the mean correlation coefficient varies between .8 and .9. This means that there is redundancy between most of the h index variants and the h index. There is a statistically significant study-to-study variation of the correlation coefficients in the information they yield. The lowest correlation coefficients with the h index are found for the h index variants \{MII\} and m index. Hence, these h index variants make a non-redundant contribution to the h index. },
added-at = {2014-11-06T16:22:43.000+0100},
author = {Bornmann, Lutz and Mutz, Rüdiger and Hug, Sven E. and Daniel, Hans-Dieter},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2f98b72a11553acdb8863ae599e2843e4/jaeschke},
doi = {10.1016/j.joi.2011.01.006},
interhash = {3fe68087d8acee0cb12043d9dc49ffec},
intrahash = {f98b72a11553acdb8863ae599e2843e4},
issn = {1751-1577},
journal = {Journal of Informetrics },
keywords = {analysis bibliometrics citation h-index scientometrics},
number = 3,
pages = {346--359},
timestamp = {2014-11-06T16:22:43.000+0100},
title = {A multilevel meta-analysis of studies reporting correlations between the h index and 37 different h index variants },
url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157711000071},
volume = 5,
year = 2011
}