Inequality in measuring scholarly success: Variation in the h-index within and between disciplines.

ABSTRACT: Scholars and university administrators have a vested interest in building equitable valuation systems of academic work for both practical (e.g., resource distribution) and more lofty purposes (e.g., what constitutes "good" research). Well-established inequalities in science pose a difficult challenge to those interested in constructing a parsimonious and fair method for valuation as stratification occurs within academic disciplines, but also between them. The h-index, a popular research metric, has been formally used as one such method of valuation. In this article, we use the case of the h-index to examine how the distribution of research metrics reveal within and between discipline inequalities. Using bibliometric data from 1960-2019 on over 50,000 high performing scientists-the top 2% m

SUBMITTER: Light R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11760043 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature