Hmm sounds like the h-index that Web of Science will generate for any given author (search on an author and select "create citation report" and it generates all sorts of data on how often you're cited, including this h-index). Roddy Roediger wrote about it in one of his presidential columns in the APS Observer http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1971 (not sure that link will work for everybody).
Anyway, it was all the rage among several of my colleagues- I've seen people spend over an hour looking up their friends, colleagues, job candidates, etc. It is definitely ego stroking (or crushing) but I have to admit the citation reports are full of interesting data. (and assuming there is only one M Palij, Mike has a very respectable h-index of 12 :) Patrick >>> On 2/8/2008 at 11:38 AM, "Mike Palij" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I received a curious piece of spam this morning from something > called "Index Copernicus" (IC) and though it did not promise to > increase the size of a bodily organ it suggested that it might inflate > one's ego somewhat. One of the services that it offered is to provide > the calculation of a "Personal Impact Factor" (PIF) (comparable > to ISI's Journal Impact Factor) and something called the Hirsh Index > (don't know anything about that). Apparently, I was being > offered the services because "you have reached a level of > professional recognition and awareness". > > Perhaps the IC has been reading TiPS? > > Anyway, I was curious about what a PIF was and whether > anyone actually used such a thing. So, like any other ordinary > human being, I did a google search for "personal impact factor" > and found a fairly good number of websites mentioning it > (though, perhaps, to various degrees of seriousness or > appropriateness). One hit caught my eye because it came > from the Mt. Sinai Medical School (a medical school/hospital > that NYU Medical entered into some kind of relationship > several years ago). The link below goes to a webpage at > Mt. Sinai's library website which apparently was set-up > because some dean at Mt Sinai wanted its faculty to calculate > their own PIF. See: > > http://www.mssm.edu/library/reference/impactfactors.shtml > > Personally, I found the webpage somewhat hilarious but it > may help one to understand why researchers, especially in > medical science, might be a little crazy in getting out publications, > as many as possible in a short a period of time, perhaps of > dubious quality and questionable ethics (e.g., plagiarism). > > I admit that I would be somewhat embarassed to calculate > my PIF for the timeframe specified on the Mt. Sinai website > because I've slacked off in publications in the last few years > (perhaps I've been spending too much time on TiPS?). > However, my lifetime PIF, based on all publications and > citations in ISI Web of Knowledge, is somewhat reassuring > and allows me to justify having a moderate degree of self-esteem. ;-) > > For folks with access to ISI Web of Knowledge it might > be an interesting (though possibly depressing) experience to > try to figure out what one's PIF is. I hope to God that no > one on this list actually has had to calculate this or soemthing > like this in order to justify their continued employment. I'm > familiar with environments where a person's worth is only > as good as their last (major) publication and they can be > truly insane places. > > -Mike Palij > New York University > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
