%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I Gunther Eysenbach
%V 14
%N 5
%P e144
%T Two h-Index Benchmarks for Evaluating the Publication Performance of Medical Informatics Researchers
%A El Emam,Khaled
%A Arbuckle,Luk
%A Jonker,Elizabeth
%A Anderson,Kevin
%+ Electronic Health Information Laboratory, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada, 1 613 737 7600 ext 4181, kelemam@uottawa.ca
%K h-Index
%K medical informatics
%K bibliometrics
%K evaluation
%K research output
%D 2012
%7 18.10.2012
%9 Original Paper
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X Background: The h-index is a commonly used metric for evaluating the publication performance of researchers. However, in a multidisciplinary field such as medical informatics, interpreting the h-index is a challenge because researchers tend to have diverse home disciplines, ranging from clinical areas to computer science, basic science, and the social sciences, each with different publication performance profiles. Objective: To construct a reference standard for interpreting the h-index of medical informatics researchers based on the performance of their peers. Methods: Using a sample of authors with articles published over the 5-year period 2006–2011 in the 2 top journals in medical informatics (as determined by impact factor), we computed their h-index using the Scopus database. Percentiles were computed to create a 6-level benchmark, similar in scheme to one used by the US National Science Foundation, and a 10-level benchmark. Results: The 2 benchmarks can be used to place medical informatics researchers in an ordered category based on the performance of their peers. A validation exercise mapped the benchmark levels to the ranks of medical informatics academic faculty in the United States. The 10-level benchmark tracked academic rank better (with no ties) and is therefore more suitable for practical use. Conclusions: Our 10-level benchmark provides an objective basis to evaluate and compare the publication performance of medical informatics researchers with that of their peers using the h-index. 
%M 23079075
%R 10.2196/jmir.2177
%U http://www.jmir.org/2012/5/e144/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.2177
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23079075