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Updated: Mar 18, 2026
05:02
Comparing Bibliometric Analysis Using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science Databases
Published on: October 24, 2019
34.2K
Multiple Citation Indicators and Their Composite across Scientific Disciplines.
John P A Ioannidis1,2,3, Richard Klavans4, Kevin W Boyack5
1Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS), Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America.
Plos Biology
|July 2, 2016
Summary
Assessing scientific impact is complex due to multi-authorship. This study introduces a composite score combining citation metrics, offering a more comprehensive view of researcher influence beyond total citations.
Area of Science:
- Bibliometrics and scientific impact assessment.
- Analysis of multi-authored scientific publications.
Background:
- Increasing multi-authorship complicates traditional citation metric interpretation.
- Existing metrics like total citations and Hirsch H index may not fully capture an author's contribution in collaborative work.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore various citation indicators accounting for total impact, co-authorship, and author order.
- To develop and evaluate a composite score for a more comprehensive assessment of scientific influence.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of citation patterns for 84,116 scientists across 12 scientific fields.
- Calculation and correlation of multiple citation indicators including total citations, Hirsch H index, Schreiber Hm index, and author-order specific metrics.
- Development of a composite score by standardizing and summing six log-transformed indicators.
Main Results:
- Correlation patterns between citation indicators vary significantly across scientific fields.
- The proposed composite score identifies different top-ranked scientists compared to total citations alone; many highly influential researchers rank higher with the composite score.
- Nobel laureates and other prominent scientists are better represented in top rankings using the composite score.
Conclusions:
- A composite citation score provides a more nuanced and comprehensive evaluation of scientific impact than single metrics.
- Considering co-authorship and author order alongside total citations is crucial for accurate researcher assessment.
- No single or composite metric can definitively identify all top scientists, but a multi-indicator approach enhances discoverability.
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