Increasing the Hirsch index in Scopus and Web of Science

What is Hirsch index?

Hirsch index, commonly written as h-index, is a scientometric measurement indicator which evaluates a scientist’s productivity during the whole career. This index is built on the number of researcher’s publications and their citations quantity. It can also be calculated for a team of researchers or even the whole organization. This is why h-index is so widely adopted: its universal applicability leads to the status of the most common assessment tool. Basically, researchers’ and universities’ academic rating is commonly estimated with h-index.

To put it simple, h-index is a measure of researcher’s productivity and impact. Number of publications shows the productivity, and impact is measured by the number of their citations.

Speaking of the advantages that made h-index the most acknowledged assessment method, it is mostly unaffected by maxing the citations on their own. One paper can be cited dozens and hundreds of times, but h-index will remain intact unless the author publishes a new article. Consequently, h-index is going to grow only if the researcher’s new papers will be appreciated by the scientific community. Suppose, you published 2 papers so far and wish to publish the third one. If it receives three citations, your h-index will grow up to 3. And on the contrary, if you publish several papers more with less citation number, your h-index will not change. This also means, h-index cannot mathematically exceed the number of author’s publications, so it is protected from manipulations to certain extent.

Creator of h-index, Jorge Hirsch, pointed out several advantages of the new index he proposed back in 2005:

It summarizes the objective impact of a researcher; hence is reliable for dispatching new positions, grants and awards.
It is more effective than other criteria expressed with single-number value, which are commonly utilized for evaluating researcher’s activity.
It is easily accessed by anyone via international scientific databases (Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar).

On the other hand, creator of h-index identified certain limitations:

Scientists working in different disciplines should not be compared with their h-indices, because publishing and citation practices can differ and therefore produce incomparable Hirsch values.
H-index largely depends on researcher’s career longevity, since the number of publications and citations usually grows inevitably. This means researchers at different career stages cannot be compared directly by their h-index values. To overcome this matter, Jorge Hirsch proposed the “m parameter”: dividing h-value by the scientific age of a scientist (number of years since the author’s first publication).
Despite h-index is highly resilient to manipulations and compromising, the very fact of a single parameter used for estimating a scientist’s quality can be considered questionable. Besides, it could affect publishing activity of researchers (such as unnecessary self-citations or publications made in journals with lower rank).

Why is h-index important?

The h-index helps to determine the contribution value of the author in one’s field.
H-index allows making comparison of the scientists’ activities in their field of research, which, in turn, can affect the decision of the academic authorities to offer a certain academic position or not.
Similarly, h-index is taken into account when approving a grant application.
A scientist with a high h-index can be invited as a reviewer by journal editorial boards.
H-index dynamic helps to understand if researchers are moving in the right direction in their research or if they need to change the vector. In other words, insufficient h-value could stimulate researcher to reconsider one’s priorities in research direction and choosing journals for publishing.

How is h-index calculated?

To put it simple, h-index is defined by the equalizing the number of citations with the number of researcher’s publications being cited. If you publish a single article, your h-index will not exceed 1, regardless of how many citations it got. On the other hand, if you publish multiple papers and get only one citation for all of them, it would also make the h-index equal 1. This means, in order to increase your h-index, you should get proportionally more citations for your new articles published. If you want your h-index to reach 10, you need not only to publish 10 papers, but also make sure they will be cited at least 10 times.

How is h-index calculated

How to identify h-index of any researcher or organization?

Manual calculating h-index is not necessary, since major academic databases (WoS and Scopus) calculate it automatically for any author. You can identify your h-index in Scopus and Web of Science using the following links:

https://www.scopus.com/home.uri?zone=header&origin=searchauthorfreelookup

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/search

Figure 1. Authors’ search interfaces in WoS and Scopus official websites

There are also tools for calculating h-index of organizations or even countries, but this falls out of our scope today.

Who needs to increase h-index?

Increasing h-index is a legit goal practically for any researcher who desires to increase the influence in scientific community in any of the ways below:

– Advancing the career, participating in research projects and receiving funding.

– Aiming to take high position in academic circles or promote the academic degree.

– Becoming a reviewer in highly rated journals.

– Joining editorial board of a peer-reviewed journal.

– Membership in a scientific council.

– Participating in some acknowledged scientific programs.

Every academic organization is going to analyze researcher’s h-index as the most important criterion while considering one’s candidacy. This means you need to constantly add new publications into your portfolio.

Generally understood, the formation of a positive image of any researcher directly depends on the popularization and scientometric characteristics of research works. It is quite natural that the more times a scientist’s opinion is referred to by his colleagues, the greater authority he will have in the scientific community.

Which value of h-index is expected for every degree?

Successful PhD student would perfectly suffice in range of 1-5 h-index, indicating the start of academic career
For postdoctoral degree, adequate h-value would be in range of 5-10, indicating the researcher’s professional development.
Position of assistant professor usually requires the range of 10-20 h-index
Exceeding the h-value of 20 is expected from associate professor, showing one’s academic career in stable state
Breaching the value of 30 h-index is a trait of full professor, and it shows well established research background of the scholar

What benefits will a researcher with high citation and h-index scores receive?

Obtaining funding and grants. Let’s say two scientists with similar relevant experience and publication activity are applying for a grant. However, one of them has high citation rates, while the other has insignificant ones. The sponsor will prefer the first scientist, since he will be confident that he will conduct high-quality research that will be of great importance in scientific circles.
Opportunity to collaborate with renowned scientists. High citation rates ensure that the researcher enters the scientific vanguard. The most significant scientists from around the world will be interested in conducting joint research with a specialist with high scientometric indicators.
Obtaining the status of a reviewer or member of the editorial board of a scientific publication. An influential researcher will be invited to collaborate with high-quality journals indexed in international databases, since such a scientist has confirmed one’s expertise.
Membership of scientific and dissertation councils. Only experienced scientists with a high H-index and citation index get the right to evaluate the research work of other colleagues.
Opportunity to receive prestigious scientific awards. For example, every year Clarivate, which owns the Web of Science platform, publishes a ranking of the most highly cited researchers. Almost all scientists dream of being included in it, because being included in such rating lists actually means the Nobel level of the research conducted. Such scientists can receive prestigious scientific awards and take part in world-renowned research competitions.
Increasing the overall rating of a scientific institution. Collaboration with leading researchers is an indicator of the influence of a scientific institution or university. Thanks to this, such organizations are more often included in international ratings, which in the future may mean receiving additional funding.
Implementation of individual scientific goals. Sometimes increasing the H-index or citation index is a necessity for a scientist. For example, the h-index normative indicator is established at the legislative level for awarding academic titles in some European countries.

Which platforms should you target? Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar

To understand the significance of a researcher’s work, one should refer to the analytics of one’s profile within the framework of international scientometric databases: mainly Scopus and Web of Science, and Google Scholar platform additionally.

For tracking an author’s h-index in Scopus and Web of Science, it is necessary to understand exactly in which publications the scientist published his works and within which platform they are indexed. Thus, every scientist can become familiar with:

Citation rates, that is, the actual number of references to his work by other researchers whose articles are indexed in Scopus or Web of Science journals.
A scientist’s Hirsch index, which depends not only on the level of citations, but also on the number of indexed articles within scientometric databases.

High values of h-index in Scopus and Web of Science are assessed as very authoritative by the world scientific community, since their calculations take into account links located within the databases themselves.

How to increase h-index?

First of all, increasing methods can be divided as natural and artificial.

Artificial ways include self-citing abuse, agreement among several authors to cite each other, and blatant purchase of citations.

Natural methods are different in their nature:

1) Securing the quality of your research. Make sure you produce valuable studies, so other authors will geniunely want to cite you.

2) Proper choice of topics. Pick the most relevant themes for your publications in order to make them attractive for citing

3) Cooperation with other authors. The more people you contact with, the more people will notice you and your works to cite

4) In particular, try to collaborate with the authors who definitely have higher h-index. With their established names, they will have more chances to be cited, and so will you, due toi proximity

5) Joining conferences. Conferences are counted as publications on their own, but on top of that, it is a productive way of presentation yourself and therefore bringing attention

6) Promoting your research. Utilize academic networks, such as Academia.edu, to upload your studies and make them visible for potential citing

7) Reasonable self-citing. Though self-citing abuse is obviously unacceptable, you can do it if justified by research logic

8) Review papers. This kind of papers utilizes bigger amounts of references than original research, so it has more chances to be cited in future review papers

9) Open access publications. Since more readers have access to open access journals, your works will have more chances to be noted and cited

10) Multidisciplinary research. By its nature, a multidisciplinary research is going to draw attention from bigger number of researchers

11) High-impact journals. Try to publish your works in the journals that attract other authors and your potential citations by their own reputation

12) Keywords management. Select the keywords properly, so they reflect your research’s relevance. Also, try to incorporate them into your title and abstract (unless it is prohibited by the journal) in order to increase visibility

13) Constant research activity. Try to publish as many papers as possible and never stop your work.

Common mistakes that could negatively affect your h-index while publishing your studies:

Publishing in low-quality journals: Predatory journals and journals with low impact factors may result in your work being cited less frequently. Recommendation: Publish your manuscript in scientific journals with high impact factor and good reputation in your field which are indexed in Scopus or Web of Science.
Co-authoring too many papers: If you co-author too many papers, your contribution to each one may be less significant. Recommendation: Be selective about co-authorships. Co-authors should only be people who have made a significant contribution to the work.
Excessive self-citation: Self-citation itself is normal, but it should not be done excessively. Recommendation: Cite your work in your new articles only when it is really necessary.
Incorrect bibliographic citations: Errors in bibliographic citations can make it difficult for other researchers to find your work. Recommendation: Use a bibliographic style that matches the requirements of the journal in which you are publishing.
Not promoting your work: Don’t rely on other people to find your work. Share your research at conferences, on social media and other channels. Recommendation: Use social networks such as ResearchGate to promote your work.

By avoiding these mistakes, you can improve the quality of your publications and increase your H-index.

We will take care of all the listed matters and make sure non of them affects your h-index

Factors that may affect your H-index:

Field of Study: Some fields of study receive more citations than others.
Geography: Researchers from countries with high levels of science funding usually have a higher H-index than researchers from countries with low levels of funding.
Article Poorness: Poorly written or unedited articles with grammatical errors and unclear wording are less likely to be cited, negatively impacting the h-index.
Not using ORCID: ORCID is a unique researcher identifier that helps uniquely identify your work. Using ORCID can make it easier for other researchers to find and cite your work.

Differences between h-index values in Scopus, WoS and Google Scholar

You may have noticed that h-index is usually higher in Google Scholar compared to Scopus and WoS values. The reason is Google Scholar covering as many sources as it could technically reach, so the number of cited papers (also books conference proceedings, and so on), as well as citations, is truly huge in Google Scholar. On the contrary, Scopus and Web of Science databases cover only the limited number of sources within themselves, which can also undergo through evaluation and even be excluded from these two databases.

What is more important: h-index or citations number?

H-index became the most common and widely acknowledged parameter for researcher’s activity estimation. While overall citation numbers can be empirically valued in academic environment or even be utilized by particular organization, h-index had become the most important assessment parameter long ago.

Are there any fast ways to increase the h-index?

Lots of ways exist; however, the most effective would be the following:

Non-stopping publication activity. When you successfully publish your study in a journal indexed in databases like Scopus or Web of Science, proceed with your next research right away. Make plans for new studies and works constantly.
Be self-aware of your previous achievements. Aside from new plans, give some attention to your prior publications. Analyzing their citation dynamics can help you to build a future strategy.
Public relations. While the genuine quality of your research is the most important matter, you should also put some effort into promoting your works among other researchers. Make new connections, manage your network, join new academic circles – try to be visible as a person and a scholar both.

What is included in our h-Index increasing service?

Analyzing your profile in Scopus or Web of Science databases.
Finding relevant articles for citation.
Formatting links according the journals’ requirements.
Tracking the processes of articles publishing and indexing.
Acceleration of the indexing process, if needed.
Regular informing by the company’s manager about the status of completed works.

We guarantee the increase of your h-index to the desired level.

The pricing for our h-index increasing services

When we accept the project of increasing your h-index, the cost is formed individually, depending on following factors:

The number of publications existing at the moment of request.
The number of citations existing at the moment of request.
Customer’s time limit.
Scientific database desired.

The average cost of a single citation starts from 50 USD.

Why should you choose our company?

We provide unique service with individual approach for any customer, such as the following.

Consultations and recommendations on publications. We will not just create new citations, instead we will help build you a strategy for future promotion of your publications.
Research tools consulting. We will advise you about the means and ways to optimize your academic activity.
Internet presence. We will create or improve your profiles in acknowledged scientific networks as ResearchGate, Academia.edu and LinkedIn. These networks help scientists establish contacts with colleagues and potential co-authors for cooperation and mutual citation of articles.
Social network management. Regular social networks, such as Instagram or Facebook, are useful for promoting your image and therefore attracting attention.
Entering a contract. We are ready to enter a contract that will consider all the details of your request and working terms.
Convenient payment methods. We accept plastic cards, PayPal, bank invoices, Korona Pay and many other ways.
Confidentiality and safety. None of your personal data will compromised.

How to start the cooperation?

Send us your published articles and links to them.
Send the links to your institutional profile and Scopus ID or Researcher ID
Specify the database where you want to increase the h-index, and any additional requirements for the journals
Specify the value of h-index you wish to achieve (or number of citations you need)
Specify the time limit.

After conducting a preliminary analysis of your profile, we will calculate the fee without any hidden or additional payments, and approximate time frame for providing the service.

We guarantee to provide an organic increase in the citation of articles, pay attention to the technical aspects and display of the publication.

Contacts:

Feel free to send your requests and materials:

WhatsApp: +371 266 04 034

Email: info@science-publisher.org , sciencepublisher.coauthorship@gmail.com