A rationale for the Hirsch‐index rank‐order distribution and a comparison with the impact factor rank‐order distribution | Zendy

Egghe Leo | Zendy

Open Access

A rationale for the Hirsch‐index rank‐order distribution and a comparison with the impact factor rank‐order distribution

Author(s) -

Egghe Leo

Publication year - 2009

Publication title -

journal of the american society for information science and technology

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

eISSN - 1532-2890

pISSN - 1532-2882

DOI - 10.1002/asi.21121

Subject(s) - rank (graph theory) , distribution (mathematics) , notice , index (typography) , mathematics , order (exchange) , statistics , scale (ratio) , combinatorics , computer science , law , mathematical analysis , geography , political science , cartography , economics , finance , world wide web

We present a rationale for the Hirsch‐index rank‐order distribution and prove that it is a power law (hence a straight line in the log–log scale). This is confirmed by experimental data of Pyykkö and by data produced in this article on 206 mathematics journals. This distribution is of a completely different nature than the impact factor (IF) rank‐order distribution which (as proved in a previous article) is S‐shaped. This is also confirmed by our example. Only in the log–log scale of the h‐index distribution do we notice a concave deviation of the straight line for higher ranks. This phenomenon is discussed.

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