What Is the h-index?
The h-index is a measure of a researcher's productivity and citation impact. It was proposed by physicist Jorge Hirsch in 2005. The h-index is defined as:
A researcher has an h-index of h if h of their papers have been cited at least h times each.
For example, if you have published 20 papers and 10 of them have each been cited at least 10 times, your h-index is 10.
The elegance of the h-index is that it rewards both quantity (publishing many papers) and quality (generating many citations). A single highly cited paper does not inflate it unduly, unlike raw citation counts.
What Is a Good h-index?
A "good" h-index is entirely relative to your field and career stage. Citation norms differ enormously between disciplines — a biologist and a mathematician with identical research impact will have very different h-indexes because citation rates in those fields differ.
h-index Benchmarks by Field
| Field | Strong Early Career (5–10 yr) | Strong Mid-Career | Distinguished Senior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biomedical / Life Sciences | 8–15 | 20–35 | 40+ |
| Medicine / Clinical Research | 10–20 | 25–45 | 50+ |
| Chemistry | 8–15 | 20–35 | 40+ |
| Physics | 6–12 | 15–30 | 35+ |
| Engineering | 5–10 | 12–25 | 30+ |
| Computer Science | 5–12 | 15–25 | 30+ |
| Economics / Business | 3–8 | 10–20 | 25+ |
| Psychology / Social Sciences | 4–10 | 12–22 | 25+ |
| Mathematics | 3–6 | 8–15 | 20+ |
| Humanities | 2–5 | 5–12 | 15+ |
These are rough benchmarks. Do not compare your h-index across fields — always compare within your own discipline and peer group.
h-index vs. Citation Count vs. i10-index
| Metric | What It Measures | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| h-index | Sustained impact across multiple papers | Hard to improve once established; ignores highly cited papers beyond the h threshold |
| Total citations | Raw reach of your work | One viral paper can dominate; does not show sustained productivity |
| i10-index | Number of papers with 10+ citations | Simple count; no weighting for highly cited papers |
| g-index | Accounts for highly cited papers better than h | Less commonly used; not available on all platforms |
How to Check Your h-index
Google Scholar
- Go to scholar.google.com
- Search your name and click "My Profile" (or set up a free author profile)
- Your h-index and i10-index are shown on your profile page
Google Scholar is the most generous (highest h-index) because it indexes the broadest range of sources including preprints, theses, and grey literature.
Scopus Author Profile
Scopus calculates your h-index based only on publications in Scopus-indexed journals. Login at scopus.com and search your name under "Authors". Scopus h-index is typically lower than Google Scholar but is widely used in formal academic evaluations.
Web of Science (ResearcherID)
WoS provides h-index based on its curated journal list. Create a free ResearcherID (Clarivate) profile to track your metrics. Generally gives the most conservative (lowest) h-index because WoS has the narrowest journal coverage.
ORCID
ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a persistent digital identifier for researchers. It does not calculate h-index itself but links your publications from multiple platforms in a single profile, making it easier to claim your full body of work and have it recognised across systems. Every researcher should have one.
ResearchGate vs Google Scholar
Both are free researcher profile platforms. Key differences:
- Google Scholar — Broader citation coverage; better h-index accuracy; no social features
- ResearchGate — Social networking features; "RG Score" (a proprietary metric); allows full-text upload of preprints and accepted manuscripts
Most researchers maintain both. Google Scholar is generally used for official metric reporting.
How to Increase Your h-index
- Publish in higher-impact journals — More eyeballs on your work means more citations
- Write review articles — Reviews are cited far more than original research
- Post preprints — arXiv, bioRxiv, and SSRN preprints get cited before formal publication
- Collaborate — Multi-author papers with researchers who have large networks get cited more
- Present at conferences — Raises awareness of your work in your community
- Make your work open access — OA articles receive on average 1.6–2× more citations than paywalled equivalents
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my h-index decrease?
No. Once a paper has been cited h times, those citations do not disappear. Your h-index can only stay the same or increase over time.
Does the h-index account for self-citations?
By default, no — platforms include self-citations unless you specifically filter them out. Scopus allows you to view your h-index excluding self-citations.
Conclusion
The h-index is a useful but imperfect measure of research impact. Compare it within your field and career stage, track it across Google Scholar, Scopus, and WoS, and use it alongside publication quality (journal quartile, impact factor) for a complete picture of your scholarly output. Use JournalsHub to find high-impact publication venues that can help grow your citation count over time.