ψ-index: A new overall productivity index for actors of science and technology

Abstract

• ψ -index, a new overall productivity index for actors of Science & Technology (S&T) is introduced. • It reflects the offset-ability of top-cited papers/patents to a greater extent than g -index. • It can be used as an independent indicator and also to complement other indicators. • The existence of three different kinds of citation profile for actors of S&T is discussed. • A framework for determination of actor's profile type is developed and demonstrated using ψ and g indices. I propose an overall productivity index for actors in science and technology like authors, inventors, journals, assignees, etc., namely the ψ -index. An actor has a ψ -index value of ψ if ψ is the unique largest number such that citations earned by his/her/its ψ top-cited papers/patents averages at least to ( ψ + 1)/2. A major limitation of the h -index that led to the development of g -index is the motivation for ψ -index too. h -index ignores the effect of massive citations yielded by papers/patents in the so-called h -core. Though g -index captures the effect of massive citations by top-cited papers/patents, the ability of such massive citations to offset the less cited papers/patents down the list is not substantially reflected. ψ -index, on the other hand, reflects to the greatest possible extent, such an ability. The existence of three different kinds of actor profiles and important aspects related to each profile type is discussed. A framework for determination of the type of profile and the aspects associated with that profile is developed using ψ and g indices. Application of the framework is demonstrated using the scholarly profiles of selected prominent contributors from two research fields—‘Network science’ and ‘Scientometrics’.