Evaluation of publications by the part-set method

Abstract

AbstractSeveral scientists publish journal papers on more than only a single scientific field or subfield. However, in evaluating the impact of publications of individuals their all scientific publications are taken into account, in general. In this paper a new method, namely the part-set method is introduced for assessing papers according to the respective fields and forming a cumulative impact index. In assessing publications of scientists, elite set indicators (e.g. h-index, g-index, top percentage indices, π-index) are preferably used recently. For obtaining elite sets, we may apply inside standards, i.e. values derived from the number of papers and citations in the set analysed, or field (outside) standards taking into account the same factors referring to all papers on the corresponding field. For model calculations some scientometricians are selected who publish papers not only on scientometrics but also on other (e.g. physics, chemistry, medicine, etc.) fields. Consequently, their papers form complex sets of which part-sets may show different bibliometric features. In this publication, the number of papers in the elite set of the scientometric part-set and their citations are presented using both inside and outside standards. No significant correlation was found between the number of papers in the elite sets obtained by inside and that calculated by field standards. The number of citations in the different elite sets calculated by both inside and outside standards however, significantly correlates with each other. The presented model indicates that the sum of h-index of two part-sets derived from a common complex (total) set can be equal to or higher than the h-index of the corresponding complex set. In contrast, the sum of π-index of two part-sets can be higher or lower than or equal to the π-index of the parent complex set. The model reveals that the maximum value of the sum of h-index of two part-sets belonging to the same complex set can be two times the h-index of the corresponding complex set. In evaluating total scientific impact (e.g. life-work) of publications of scientists who are active in several fields, the application of sum (or weighted sum) of the pertinent impact indices (e.g. h or π-index) obtained for the individual fields separately may be recommended instead of calculating the impact of the total set.