The harmonic h-index: an impromevement of the Hirsch h-index and the Egghe g-index

Abstract

In order to characterize the scientific output of scientists, in this paper we define the harmonic har-index whose values are positive integers. It is proved that $h \leq har \leq g$, where h is the Hirsch index and g is the Egghe index. Despite the fact that the har-index is defined in a completely different way (including sum of reciprocals of citations of a researcher), based on our computatioanl results, we get the surprising fact that this index is highly correlated with the hg-index ($hg=\sqrt{hg}$ ) introduced by Alonso et al. (2010). Accordingly, we believe that the har-index keep the advantages of both measures as well as to minimize their disadvantages. In addition, it is much easier to calculate the values of har-index than those of g-index and hg-index.