Modifications of the H-Index for Differentiated Assessment of the Results of Scientists' Creative Activity

Introduction. The article proposes an algorithm for evaluating the creative activity of a scientist based on citations of his/her publications, developed based on the h-index widely used in practice. The proposed algorithm will make it possible to take all citations of the author’s publications into account, as well as whether a significant number of the author’s works is available based on the number of citations and the intensity of the author’s work. The relevance of the goal of development of this algorithm is stipulated by the material demand for creation of an improved approach to the assessment of the effectiveness of publication activity of scientists as compared to the h-index. Methods. The work uses the approach of systematization of the total array of citations by dividing it into a basic citations array determined by the h-index and significant and intensive arrays. The obtained arrays formed the basis for the creation of three indexes: gh – the basic publication index, hp – the index of the author’s intensive work, and ghp – the complex index. The indexes are determined as Euclidean norms from the introduced citation arrays. Results and Discussion. The generated indices make it possible to perform a differentiated assessment of the publication work of scientists in a team and rank them at a higher quality level. The work uses the example of building of a rating of a team of authors generated by a sample from the Russian Science Citation Index using the h-index and the gh-index. It has been shown that the proposed approach is more effective compared to the h-index. The proposed differentiated approach to assessment of the rating positions of authors of publications in a creative team is based on a simple calculation and comparison of modified indices. Conclusion. Based on the introduced indexes, it is advisable to assess the publication activity of a scientist based on three ratings, namely: 1) rating of significant works; 2) rating of work intensity; 3) complex rating comprising both of the above. When establishing the rating, preference is to be given to the basic publication index. If the basic indices are equal, the higher complex index shall be given priority. For scientists with a large number of publications but an insignificant number of citations, it is advisable to establish the rating based only on the gp-index.