Comparison of Impact Factors of Journals and H Index of Faculty Members of Different Medical Specialties in Loghman Hakim General Hospital

Abstract

Background : With the advancement of knowledge, increasing science production and competition, evaluation of scientific products becomes one of the challenging and undeniable necessary subjects. In Iran, Deputy of Research for Ministry of Health uses H index as one of the scientometrics index for evaluation of research activities of the board members. In journals rating system Impact Factor index, is used. Purpose: This study aims to compare H index of the board members and impact factor in top journals of each medical specialty. Methods: In this descriptive study, data for H index of the board members gathered via Google Scholar citation database and impact factor of top journals, from SClmago database, supported by Scopus. 10 top journals with the highest impact factor in medical specialties, until the end of 2015, were studied. Study population of Loghman Hakim Medical Center was selected as a sample of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science. In the present study, 10 medical specialties were studied and information for each field including analyzed and compared. Results: From 10 medical fields, infectious diseases had the highest and otolaryngology had the lowest mean of the impact factor. Toxicology had the highest and radiology had the lowest mean H index. Comparing means of H index and impact factor between the medical specialties, showed that the mentioned indexes in various fields have significant difference statistically. Conclusion: Applying equal criteria for evaluation of medical specialties will lead to a bias. Comparing research activities of a researcher in otolaryngology field with other fields, relying on the current criteria, will leads to completely wrong interpretation.