Fi-Index: A New Method to Evaluate Authors Hirsch-Index Reliability

Bibliometric is a field of study applied to the various scientific disciplines, in recent years, thanks to the digitalization of the scientific and academic world, these data have become increasingly accessible and reliable. Unfortunately, in the scientific field there is a race for bibliometric values, and these could often be influenced by the authors themselves. After a description of what the h-hindex is, and its calculation, it is proposed to evaluate how much self-citations can influence this value. The resulting formula shows results that give us objective information on how much the h-index of a particular author has been influenced by his self-citations, the Fi-index (from Greek phi or phi or f), by its author. This value could also be used in the future as a bibliometric parameter and to evaluate the reliability of this value, as well as of an author.

Automated summary

Bibliometric is a field of study applied to various scientific disciplines, which has been made more accessible and reliable in recent years due to the digitalization of the scientific and academic world. Unfortunately, there is a race for bibliometric values in the scientific field, which can be influenced by authors themselves. In this study, the h-index and its calculation are described, and a formula is proposed to evaluate the influence of self-citations on this value. The resulting Fi-index provides objective information on the extent to which an author's h-index has been influenced by their self-citations, and could be used as a bibliometric parameter in the future to evaluate the reliability of both the value and the author.