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Updated: May 18, 2026

Evidence-based Knowledge Synthesis and Hypothesis Validation: Navigating Biomedical Knowledge Bases via Explainable AI and Agentic Systems
05:47

Evidence-based Knowledge Synthesis and Hypothesis Validation: Navigating Biomedical Knowledge Bases via Explainable AI and Agentic Systems

Published on: June 13, 2025

Revised h index for biomedical research

Andrej A Romanovsky1

  • 1Systemic Inflammation Laboratory (FeverLab), St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA. andrej.romanovsky@dignityhealth.org

Cell Cycle (Georgetown, Tex.)
|September 18, 2012
PubMed

Proposed by Hirsch as a quantitative measure of the total output of a researcher, the h index does not work well in the field of life sciences, where an author's position on a paper typically depends on the author's contribution. We revise the h index by weighing first and last authorship papers four times heavier than middle authorship papers. The revised index (r) signifies a shift in how we evaluate the research output in biology and medicine: it places more value on conducting and directing original, independent investigations as compared with contributing to projects conducted and directed by others.

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