Abstract

GALVEZ TORO, Alberto  and  AMEZCUA, Manuel. The Hirsch’s h-index: An update on the author’s evaluation methods and their contributions in scientific publications. Index Enferm [online]. 2006, vol.15, n.55, pp.38-43. ISSN 1699-5988.

The evaluation of a scientific-professional author makes sense in a competitive system in which the highest rating has effects in the author’s career or in his access to funding. In the evaluation process it is necessary to consider two differentiated dimensions that are usually confused: the measure method and the data source. The first one must be universal and valid for all authors. The second one should be adapted to the author’s field of study. J.E. Hirsch has recently developed a new indicator that apparently resolves the validity problems of the calculation systems known to date. This indicator is called h-index and differs from one scientific community to another, that is, from discipline to discipline, so it is necessary to develop a research that defines its values in all branches of learning (h-index per discipline). The value of number h represents the author’s scientific biography. It doesn’t measure immediacy, but long periods of time. The scientific-professional activity is biographic, therefore it was necessary to create an indicator that measured the career and the route. An acknowledged author in his field will have a higher h-index at the end of his professional life than at his beginnings independently of the journal in which he publishes or in the means used to disseminate his contributions.