The Scientific Productivity and Academic Output of Elite Iraqi Pediatricians: H-Index Reliability Indicators.

Background: The scientific productivity and academic output of elite Iraqi pediatricians as measured by bibliometric parameters has become of increased interest. The aim of this study is to evaluate the scientific productivity and academic output of Iraqi pediatricians who have H-index of 10 or higher. Materials and methods: The first step of this research was to determine the Iraqi pediatricians who have H-index of 10 or more at Google Scholar Citation by examining more than 300 profiles of Iraqi authors on the 16th and 17th of August, 2019. The second step was to study the H-index and scientific productivity and academic output of the authors found at other web sites such as the Scopus and Publons. Results: Initially, three Iraqi pediatricians were found to have H-index of 10 at Google Scholar Citation and no Iraqi pediatrician having H-index of more than 10 was found. However, one of the Iraqi pediatricians “Mahmood Dhahir Al-Mendalawi” received citations for articles not authored by him and his profile contained articles not authored by him. His actual H-index was definitely less than 10 and his Scopus H-index was 3. Therefore, only 2 Iraqi pediatricians who actually have H-index of 10 were found. Aamir Al-Mosawi who also has H-index at Scopus of 8 and at Publons of 6 and Mazin Faisal Al-Jadiry who has H-index at Scopus of 6, but has no profile or H-index at Publons. Conclusion: This is the very first study evaluating the scientific productivity and academic output of elite Iraqi pediatricians. When evaluating the H-index of an author at Google Scholar Citation, it is necessary to check the main articles contributing to the H-index of the author are actually belongs to him or her. A very low Scopus H-index is a good indicator to check the accuracy of citation calculation at Google Scholar Citation.