FW: The Outgrow Index by Rousseau

[Eugene Garfield]

 The  Outgrow Index (OI)  suggested by Rousseau and Hu ranks a target
paper by comparing its citation count to that of the papers it 
cites. If the target paper is cited more than each of the papers it
cites, 
then its OI will be close to 1 (but always below 1). If the target paper
is 
cited less than the papers it cites, the OI will be 0.

It is very difficult if not  impossible to say whether  the OI is
meaningful in estimating the importance of the target paper. A good and
important publication may chance to cite a few citation classics. Then
its OI will be low. If the target paper cites only descriptive papers
(which are poorly cited), then its OI will be close to 1.

Thus, the paper by  Rousseau and Hu suggest a quantitative insex based
on the citation values of the target paper and the papers this target
paper cites, but its meaning for evaluative purposes is  as yet
uncertain

Authors:
Rousseau, Ronald
Hu, Xiaojun

Issue Date: Sep-2010 pages 288-291

Publisher: NISCAIR-CSIR, India

Abstract:

Proposes a relative index measuring the amount by which an article
outgrows, in terms of citations, the publications on which it is based.
The study involves citations collected from Web of Science during the
last week of April 2010 along with the number of citations received
(also in WoS) by each of the references.