How can I use an h-graph?
Last updated on August 15, 2024
The h-graph is one way of displaying and comparing the productivity and impact of published work of scholars. The h-index is the method used which was developed by J. E. Hirsch.
The h-index is based on the highest number of papers included that have had at least the same number of citations. The graph shows a 45 degree line which models a 1:1 relationship between publishing articles and being cited. An author’s publishing history is mapped out on this graph, beginning with their publication with the highest citations to the lowest.
Select a section below to find out more about the h-index, how it works, and how corrections can be made:
The h-index is available in both a graph and a document list from the Analyze Author Output page. The graph displays information as an interactive graph for authors, multiple authors, or a group of selected documents.
The graph includes two lines: h-index and the 45 degree line:
- The h-index represents the number citations received for each of the articles in descending order.
- The 45 degree line represents the number of citations equal to the number of articles.
Where the author’s line meets the 45 degree line marks the h-index, and it can be used to compare different scholars
For more information:
Click on a topic below to see steps on creating an h-graph for:
You can create an h-index for a single author and any matched authors.
- Run an author search. A list of author search results opens.
- From the author results list, click the name of the author you want to evaluate. The author details page opens.
- From the author details page, click ‘View h-graph’. The Analyze Author Output page opens with the h-index tab selected.
- You can interact with the results:
- Change the date range
- Select ‘Exclude self citations’
- Select ‘Exclude citations from books’
- Or zoom in on a segment of the graph by left-clicking and dragging across the section you are interested in.
You can create an h-index for more than one author from Author search results. The h-index includes documents written by all selected authors.
- Run an author search. A list of author search results opens.
- From the results list, select checkboxes for authors you want to evaluate.
- Click ‘View citation overview’. The Citation overview for the selected authors opens.
- From the Citation overview page, click ‘View h-graph’. The Analyze Author Output page opens with the h-index tab selected, depicting the selected authors’ h-index.
Selected documents from a document results list
You can create an h-index for selected documents from most Scopus results lists.
- Run a document search. A list of documents search results opens.
- From the document search results, select the documents you want to evaluate.
- From the document search results list, click ‘View citation overview’. The Citation overview for the selected documents opens.
- From the Citation overview page, click ‘View h-graph’. The h-graph for the selected documents opens.
Your h-index relies on two key pieces of information for its accuracy:
- The documents you published must be linked to your profile
- Citations of your documents must be linked in Scopus
We get it right almost all the time; however, there are times when corrections need to be made, and we are happy to help you with those.
How
Find out which of these categories best fits your situation:
- Missing documents - Can I find the document on Scopus?
- Yes? See How can I correct my author profile?
- Missing citations - Can I find the citing / cited documents on Scopus?
- Yes? See How can I add missing citations?
Scopus is currently updating pre-1996 cited references going back to 1970. The h-index might increase over time.
For more information, see the Scopus content coverage policy.
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