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Correlation Between H-Index, M-Index, and Academic Rank in Urology.

Authors :: Nocera AP
Boudreau H
Boyd CJ
Tamhane A
Martin KD
Rais-Bahrami S
Source :: Urology [Urology] 2024 Jul; Vol. 189, pp. 150-155. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 03.
Publication Year :: 2024
Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the h- and m-indices of academic urologists across all U.S. accredited urology residency programs to determine the relationship between these metrics and an author's academic rank, academic degrees, and gender. Methods: A total of 136 urology residency programs with available faculty information on their websites were evaluated. The academic rank, academic degrees, and gender were recorded for each clinical and research faculty member. Each author's h-index was determined using the Scopus database. The m-indices for each author were then calculated. Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results: This study demonstrated that the h- and m-indices positively correlate with an author's academic rank. Among the 2253 academic urologists evaluated, chairs/chiefs and professors had the highest median h- and m-indices (h-index 26, m-index 1.046 for chairs/chiefs; h-index 30, m-index 1.094 for professors). This was followed by associate professors (h-index 14, m-index 0.750), assistant professors (h-index 6, m-index 0.667), and clinical instructors (h-index 6, m-index 0.511). The median h- and m-indices were overall statistically higher for males than females. Faculty members with only a PhD were found to have the highest h- and m-indices followed by MD PhD, MD MBA, MD MPH, MD only, and DO only in descending order of index value. Conclusion: The h- and m-indices of academic urologists positively correlate with their academic rank. These metrics may serve as an additional tool in measuring an individual's academic productivity in consideration of job hirings, positional promotions, societal memberships, achievement awards, research grants, and more. Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)