Structured evaluation of the scientific output of academic research groups by recent h-based indicators

Evaluating the scientific output of researchers, research institutions, academic departments and even universities is a challenging issue. To do this, bibliometric indicators are helpful tools, more and more familiar to research and governmental institutions. This paper proposes a structured method to compare academic research groups within the same discipline, by means of some Hirsch (h) based bibliometric indicators. Precisely, five different typologies of indicators are used so as to depict groups’ bibliometric positioning within the scientific community. A specific analysis concerning the Italian researchers in the scientific sector of Production Technology andManufacturing Systems is developed. The analysis is supported by empirical data and can be extended to research groups associated to other scientific sectors. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.