Let's Analyze What Makes a Good H-Index Score


Understanding H-Index
The H-index is a metric that measures an author’s productivity by the number of publications that have published their work and the impact of the work based on the number of citations their research receives. In general, authors with a higher h-index score will have produced more research and therefore published more content which, to their peers, creates their reputation of credibility.
This quantitative metric was brought about in 2005 by Argentinian-American professor of physics Jorge E. Hirsch to analyse publication data.
Finding an author’s H-index
There are multiple platforms on which you may find an author’s H-index score. To name a few, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of science etc. However, in this blog, we’ll take you through the process of locating an author’s H-index on google scholar as shown below.
- Visit Google Scholar
- Enter the author’s name in the search bar
- If a profile exists for the author, it will appear at the top of the search results, click the author's name, and their profile page will open.
- View their h-index on the right side of the screen.
Calculating H-Index Score
The H-index measures the importance, significance, and impact of research contributions. To calculate an author’s H-index, you’d need to create a list of all publications in which the author has been published and rank them in descending order of the citations his/her work has received. Understanding the H-index of an author is an indication of their credibility, so that brings us to the question:
What is a good H-index score?
J. E. Hirsch (2005) observes that Noble Prize winners in physics have an average H-index score of 30, this highlights that Noble prize winners are selected with a scientific body of research and a history of contributional impact. This proved that successful scientists do need a good h-index score.
Hirsch stated that after 20 years of research; an H-index score of 20 was good, 40 was outstanding and 60 was truly exceptional.
Does the H-index score evaluate an author in all important aspects?
Undoubtedly, it is appealing to have a singular value that measures an author's productivity and impact. Many committees have opted the H-index as their metric of choice as well. Bordons and Costas (2007) stated that the key advantage of the H-index metric is that it measures the scientific output of a researcher with objectivity. This plays a vital role in making decisions about promotions, fund allocation and awarding prizes.
However, there are suggestions that H-index does not take other important variables into account. According to Enago Academy (2022), a higher H-index score does not indicate better quality of research. The article further elaborates that the H-index score does not account for an author’s career stage, research and journal quality and contribution to the scientific community. The score also has potential unintended negative impacts; for example, a younger researcher may not challenge a researcher with a high h-index score and researchers aiming for a higher h-index may only pursue popular fields of science.
Furthermore, BiteSizeBio (2021) states that the H-index score does not take into account the number of authors on a research paper. If a paper has 1 author with about 100 citations, this researcher deserves more recognition than a paper that had 10 authors with similar citations.
The fluctuation of the H-index score
The H-index score does not decrease unless the paper is redacted or deleted. Older papers may continue to gain new citations, and the h-index can potentially increase indefinitely, even after the researcher has stopped actively publishing.
What is the difference between H-index and the journal impact factor?
The Journal Impact Factor metric is used to evaluate the importance of a journal within its respective field or discipline. In simpler terms, it measures the frequency of citations the average article within this journal receives. On the contrary, the H-index metric is used to measure the productivity and quality of an author’s publications. While they are both measures of research quality, they measure different aspects of research and can therefore not be compared.
To conclude, having a good H-index score is impressive. However, every author’s research contrasts with that of another. There are many more aspects to investigate when evaluating a researcher.
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9 Best Alternatives to Z Library: Consume Research Seamlessly on These Platforms


Z-library is an e-book and journal database that has sparked controversy, conversation, and reform since its launch in 2009. After countless lawsuits and domain seizures, the rise and fall of Z-library have allowed many non-pirated alternative digital libraries to emerge and provide students and researchers with legal content gateways. The steady increase of these non-restricted alternatives has elevated the dissemination of quality research globally for students, researchers and lifelong learners to benefit from. In this blog, we uncover legal and safe academic platforms that are great alternatives to Z library. These platforms do not violate copyright or privacy laws and offer a far better navigation experience with advanced features to aid research consumption and comprehension. Project Gutenberg This project initially started as a volunteer-driven effort to organise and digitise the literary content, it features more historic books for which US copyright laws have expired. Since its establishment, it has grown to offer over 60,000 literature and academic resources from an array of subjects and areas of study. The platform is completely free of cost and offers the available material in different formats to ease research consumption and dissemination. The Open Library Established in 2008, this library is a partnership between California State Library and Kahle-Austin Foundation and is an initiative overseen by Internet Archive. The Open Library specialises in e-books and offers over 20 million academic and literary sources to browse through and download without any restrictions or paywalls. The main goal of this library is to “create one web page for every book ever published” in an effort to make all library material accessible by anybody, anywhere. Libby - Overdrive Overdrive is one of the leading digital reading platforms globally, the organisation disseminates reading material within 88,000 libraries and schools in 109 countries. It is a very secure method of downloading and utilising ebooks and requires a student ID or public library pass to access. The platform houses everything from academic essays, university press books and freshly released novels. Overdrive also operates Libby, which is a new app under their umbrella that allows readers to borrow ebooks, audiobooks and magazines from local libraries, it stands to be accessible for all ages and offers a very wide range of reading material to encourage reading from a young age. Zendy Launched in 2019, Zendy offers unrestricted academic research across all mediums like ebooks, journals, articles, case studies and much more. The platform was launched with the intention to bring diversity and global collaboration across various fields of scientific research; to ease research discoverability and consumption Zendy also hosts AI-powered features, advanced search and filtering options, personalized lists, and automatic citations. LibreTexts This is an organisation that is run by the University of California, Davis. The platform hosts free courses and textbooks in an effort to make academia accessible worldwide, LibreTexts is centred around the value of providing open education resources in an ethical and legal way. Arguably, the best offering of this platform is the interactive visuals that can be enabled when reading a piece of research; this feature was launched to ease comprehension and aid visual learners. Standard Ebooks This digital library offers free ebooks that have been thoroughly and professionally typeset and designed. It features a user-friendly browsing and reading experience and offers a wide range of content; everything from novels to academic research. Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-based project that formats, typesets, proofreads and corrects reading material and creates new editions that are compatible with e-reader technology. The website is not only widely accessible but also easy to use. Open Textbook Library Run by the University of Minnesota and supported by Open Education Network, this platform covers public domain and open access textbooks. It allows users to download, edit and disseminate textbooks at no cost. With a current offering of over 1,200 textbooks across several areas of study, Open Textbook Library has been gathering academic content for over 10 years in the industry and is a well-reputed resource. HathiTrust Founded in 2008, HathiTrust is an esteemed collaboration between research libraries and academics worldwide. The platform offers over 17 million digitised academic materials and access to some of the most prestigious libraries globally, like the Bodleian Library in Oxford and original digitised collections from the Harvard University Library. It is a valuable academic platform that houses research content across an array of disciplines without paywalls and restrictions. SciHub Launched in 2011, SciHub is a resource that provides free access to scientific and academic research papers. It was established with the goal to eliminate all barriers in science to foster global collaboration, promote open access practices and provide academic research to individuals regardless of their institutional affiliations, financial situations and geographic location. The website hosts over 80 million academic research papers across an array of disciplines.

Struggling to find research papers? Try this fast and easy way on Zendy!


Sick of wasting hours jumping between databases trying to find relevant research papers? Discover Zendy, the fastest and easiest way to discover over 85 million academic resources on one intuitive platform. While research brings valuable discoveries, the very process of research discoverability can be considered challenging. Needing to access an array of databases and being met with paywalls and other restrictions can cause a researcher’s productivity to significantly decline. We value your time as a student, researcher, professor and lifelong learner hence we’ve built an intuitive platform that is an easy and effective method of conducting research. Zendy houses millions of journal articles, books and proceedings across a wide range of disciplines that are all accessible for free. Try Zendy Open Ease of Location & Accessibility Undoubtedly, the open access movement has made significant strides in the world of research and academia. However, it is still challenging to locate relevant research papers across a number of open access databases and libraries without accessing a number of third-party websites. On Zendy, locating relevant research is not only simple but also quick. The platform utilises advanced filtering and intelligent search algorithms to deliver personalised search results. Furthermore, the academic online library is designed with specific features to make locating, reading and consuming research much easier. Zendy’s latest AI-powered features which are summarisation and key phrase highlighting, have both been implemented to efficiently give readers a gist of the lengthy and informative research papers. It doesn’t stop there, Zendy also provides reading, favorites, and history lists to ease the process of re-locating previously visited research papers. Find Research Papers Dissemination of Quality Research As an academic library, Zendy deeply recognises the importance of quality research that is available and accessible for students, researchers and professionals. In the current sphere of misinformation, evidence-based research is imperative for informed decision-making. We aim to make this simple, our academic library houses research content across all major disciplines within journals, proceedings, e-books, articles and much more. Discover Top Research Striving For Equality Within Research To promote and implement equality in the field of research, building easier access to scientific research is important. Moreover, creating and maintaining legal gateways to access research is beneficial for readers and researchers alike, this not only boosts the reach of the study but also allows for significant improvement with key contributions from emerging regions. Zendy stands as a safe and legal gateway to provide access to scientific research to anyone, anywhere. Get unlimited Access

Get to Know the 5 Influential Women Who Revolutionised Science


Various branches of Science have spearheaded the latest advancements we witness in our world. The field of Science is ever-evolving because researchers and scientists work rigorously; churning out compelling developments to ensure that life on Earth thrives in terms of longevity and universally beneficial conditions. While Science evolves, it has not always been the most welcoming field to diversity; even now, women and minorities struggle to break through scientific fields in several parts of the world. While setting foot in a research laboratory in itself is a recognised achievement, this blog highlights the work of 5 influential women who trailblazed their scientific disciplines at a time when their very presence was not accepted in these settings. Katherine Johnson - Mathematician As a pioneering Mathematician, Katherine Johnson was one of the first African American women to work for NASA. Her role at NASA entailed calculating and analysing the flight paths of NASA space crafts. She is best known for generating the revolutionary calculations that enabled the first Americans to launch into the Earth’s orbit and set foot on the moon in 1962. This involved a complex networking system that linked worldwide communications and tracking stations to the IBM computers in Washington. The calculations that ran through the computers were thoroughly analysed and double-checked by Katherine Johnson because the astronauts were wary of trusting machines. In 2015, at the age of 97, Katherine Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama in an effort to recognise her pivotal contributions to NASA’s first human space flight. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson - Doctor/Physician Making significant strides in Medicine, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first female doctor in England. She practised Medicine when women were not allowed to, and she spent 6 months at Middlesex Hospital and had to leave when male students began to protest against her on the basis of her gender. However, she received an honours certificate in Chemistry & Material media due to her incredible scores. After applying to several Medical schools and being rejected on grounds of gender, she was finally accepted into the Society of Apothecaries. In early 1865, Elizabeth went on to establish her very own practice. However, the general public was reluctant to be treated by a female doctor so her patients were often poor or female. This changed in late 1865 when the cholera epidemic caused a demand for doctors and the traffic at her practice showed a steady increase. In 1870, Elizabeth found out that the University of Sorbonne in Paris was welcoming female admissions into their medical programmes; this encouraged Elizabeth to learn French and attain her medical degree to become a qualified doctor. Finally, in 1874, she recognised how scarce female doctors were in Britain and how beneficial they were to treating female medical conditions. This led to her co-founding the London School of Medicine for Women which was the first teaching hospital for women. Chein-Shuing Wu - Physicist Nicknamed the “First Lady of Physics'' - Chein-Shuing Wu was a Chinese-American immigrant that grew to be recognised as a pioneer in the field of Physics. She is widely recognised for the Matthan Project which led to the creation and development of nuclear weapons in war research; however, her most notable work is the Wu experiment which proved that identical particles do not always behave and react in the same manner. In 1978, Wu was awarded the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics for her revolutionary discovery. Rosalind Franklin - Scientist The very photographer of the famous “Photo 51” - Rosalind Franklin is now widely known for discovering the double helix structure of DNA and RNA by utilising X-ray crystallography. While her impact on Science is critical, the credit for discovery was given to James Watson and Francis Crick who were her male colleagues at the time. Due to the lack of recognition, Rosalind Franklin moved on to Birkbeck College and thoroughly studied the molecular structures of viruses, coal and graphite. Her most notable work was on the structure of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus which enabled her to travel the globe and deliver seminars about the coal & virus molecular structure. Marie Curie - Physicist & Chemist Taking the world of Physics & Chemistry by storm, the discoveries and contributions of Marie Curie are invaluable. She conducted crucial research on radioactivity and discovered 2 chemical elements, radium and polonium. Marie also led the first research project on the impact of radiation treatment on tumours, her generous work specialising in cancer research resulted in her spearheading the Curie Institute which was formerly known as the Radium Institute. The establishment is the leading medical research centre in Paris which focuses on cancer research and radiation therapy, now, it has also expanded to cell biology and biophysics. Furthermore, Marie Curie is the first person and only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice and the only person to have won the esteemed award in 2 scientific categories, those being Physics and Chemistry. Read research and breakthrough discoveries from pioneering women in science on Zendy now.