Exploring the h‐index at the institutional level. A practical application in world university rankings
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521211254059 |
| Date | 03 August 2012 |
| Pages | 534-547 |
| Published date | 03 August 2012 |
| Author | Mu‐Hsuan Huang |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Exploring the h-index at the
institutional level
A practical application in world university
rankings
Mu-Hsuan Huang
Department and Graduate Institute of Library and Information Science,
National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate the scientific performance of universities by
extending the application of the h-index from the individual to the institutional level. A ranking of the
world’s top universities based on their h-index scores was produced. The geographic distribution of
the highly ranked universities by continent and by country was also analysed.
Design/approach/methodology – This study uses bibliometric analysis to rank the universities. In
order to calculate their h-index the numbers of papers and citations in each university were gathered
from Web of Science, including the Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation Index. Authority
control dealing with variations in university names ensured the accuracy of each university’s number
of published journal papers and the subsequent statistics of their citations.
Findings – It was found that a high correlation exists between the h-index ranking generated in this
study and that produced by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The results confirm the validity of the
h-index in the assessment of research performance at the university level.
Originality/value – The h-index has been used to evaluate research performance at the institutional
level in several recent studies; however these studies evaluated institutions’ performance only in
certain disciplines or in a single country. This paper measures the research performance of universities
all over the world, and the applicability of the h-index at the institutional level was validated by
calculating the correlation between the ranking result of the h-index and the ranking by the Shanghai
Jiao Tong University.
Keywords H-index, Researchevaluation, Bibliometrics, University rankings, Research,
Organizationalperformance
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The evaluation of university research attempts to achieve the difficult task of
examining the research performance of a given university. If executed appropriately
research evaluations not only provide knowledge about the level of research
performance of a university, but also offer valuable insights for policy makers to set
long-term goals and to make decisions in allocating limited resources. Indeed research
performance evaluations have been shown to provide useful information for
decision-makers in higher education (Huang et al., 2006). Aside from budgeting
purposes academic performance measures also help the administration to set strategic
goals in faculty recruitment and grant allocation.
Generally speaking peer reviews and bibliometric indicators are the two main
approaches for the assessment of research performance. The peer review, an expert
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
OIR
36,4
534
Received 23 December 2010
Accepted 12 September
2011
Online Information Review
Vol. 36 No. 4, 2012
pp. 534-547
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/14684521211254059
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