The Hirsch index (h-index) is used by the scientific community to give a rounded assessment of a scientist’s output, since it takes into account not only the number of publications but also their level of citation. Sustainable growth in the h-index is rarely the result of isolated actions – it calls for a consistent strategy that takes in the state of a research profile, journal selection, research connections, and sound citation practice.
Why does growth in the Hirsch index need a strategy?
The Hirsch index value is determined by the ratio between the number of a scientist’s publications and their level of citation, so isolated actions – publishing a single paper in a prestigious journal, for example – have only a limited effect on the indicator, whereas sustainable growth is only possible through a systematic approach that combines several strands of work at once.
A practical strategy for raising the indicator can be broken down into the following stages:
- Auditing and tidying up a research profile across all bibliometric databases.
- Choosing journals and publication topics with their citation potential in mind.
- Expanding research connections and co-authorship practice.
- Keeping self-citation within the bounds of publication ethics.
- Regularly monitoring the indicator’s progress and adjusting the approach.
A research profile audit as the basis for growth in the Hirsch index
Before focusing on publication activity, it is worth checking the accuracy of the data that bibliometric databases use to build a scientist’s profile: errors in formatting can mean that some citations are left out of the calculation or are split across several profiles belonging to the same author.
When auditing a profile, it is worth paying attention to the following points:
- consistent, correctly formatted spelling of the author’s surname and initials in English
- up-to-date affiliation and workplace details
- a correctly completed ORCID identifier
- no duplicate author profiles within the same database
Sorting out these inconsistencies does not raise the Hirsch index directly, but it does allow citations already accumulated to be counted correctly, and it lays the groundwork for further work on the indicator.
How does journal choice affect growth in the Hirsch index?
Publishing in journals with a high Impact Factor or CiteScore increases the likelihood that a paper will attract attention from the scientific community and be cited. It is important to consider not only a journal’s quartile but also how closely its subject matter matches the scientist’s field of research, and to analyse the citation record of work already published – this helps identify which topics and formats attract the strongest response, and to bear this in mind when preparing future publications.
Co-authorship as a factor in growth of the Hirsch index
Joint publications with scientists from well-known research groups widen a paper’s audience and increase the likelihood of citation, while attending conferences and maintaining a presence on academic networks such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu makes research more visible to colleagues at other universities and in other countries. These connections build up gradually: within a strategy, they are best treated as a long-term strand of work rather than a one-off step taken before submitting a particular paper.
How much self-citation is acceptable when raising the Hirsch index?
An author citing their own earlier work is acceptable where it is justified by the scientific context and genuinely needed to develop the topic under discussion: under widely followed academic-ethics practice, self-citations should usually make up no more than 12–13% of the total sources in a paper. Some bibliometric databases leave self-citations out of the Hirsch index calculation altogether, so using them excessively not only runs counter to the norms of publication ethics but may also fail to produce the intended effect.
Monitoring the Hirsch index across databases
The value of the Hirsch index can differ between databases, since Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar draw on different sets of publications and take different approaches to counting citations. As part of a strategy, it is worth regularly tracking the indicator’s progress across several systems at once and adjusting the approach where needed – for instance, shifting focus towards topics or publication formats with a stronger citation record.
Raising the Hirsch index is a gradual process that brings together work on a research profile, journal selection, research connections and sound citation practice. One-off measures produce only a limited effect, whereas a systematic strategy delivers sustainable growth in the indicator while upholding the principles of academic integrity.
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