The quest ions in this art icle were formulated by G. Buela-Casal, the answers were given by J.E. Hirsch. *Corresponding author: Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. E-mail address: j [email protected] (J.E. Hirsch). Abstract The h-index originates from the assumpt ion that the number of citat ions received by a scient ist is a better indicator of th...

This paper studies mathematical properties of h-index sequences as developed by Liang [Liang, L. (2006). h-Index sequence and h-index matrix: Constructions and applications. Scientometrics, 69(1), 153–159]. For practical reasons, Liming studies such sequences where the time goes backwards while it is more logical to use the time going forward (real career periods). Both type of h-index sequence...

We derive Bose-Einstein statistics and Fermi-Dirac statistics by Principle of Maximum Entropy applied to two families of entropy functions different from the Boltzmann-Gibbs-Shannon entropy. These entropy functions are identified with special cases of modified Naudts’ φ-entropy. In a pioneering work sixty years ago, Jaynes [4] initiated the study of statistical physics by information theory. He...

References 1 Restif, O. and Koella, J.C. (2004) Concurrent evolution of resistance and tolerance to pathogens. Am. Nat. 164, E90–E102 2 Miller, M.R. et al. (2005) The evolution of host resistance: tolerance and control as distinct strategies. J. Theor. Biol. 236, 198–207 3 Fineblum, W.L. and Rausher, M.D. (1995) Tradeoff between resistance and tolerance to herbivore damage in a morning glory. N...

In order to take multiple co-authorship appropriately into account, a straightforward modification of the Hirsch index was recently proposed. Fractionalised counting of the papers yields an appropriate measure which is called the hm-index. The effect of this procedure is compared in the present work with other variants of the h-index and found to be superior to the fractionalised counting of ci...

Academic rewards and honors are proven to correlate with h-index, although it was not the decision criterion for them till recent years. Once h-index becomes the rule-setting scientometric ranking measure in the zero-sum game for academic positions and research resources as suggested by its advocates, the rational behavior of competing academics is expected to converge towards its gametheoretic...

How does one measure the quality of science? The question is not rhetorical; it is extremely relevant to promotion committees, funding agencies, national academies and politicians, all of whom need a means by which to recognize and reward good research and good researchers. Identifying high-quality science is necessary for science to progress, but measuring quality becomes even more important i...