The Kinship or k-Index as an Antidote Against the Toxic Effects of h-Indices

[Eugene Garfield]

The Kinship or k-Index as an Antidote Against the Toxic Effects of h-Indices

Author(s): Molinie, A (Molinie, Antoinette); Bodenhausen, G (Bodenhausen, 
Geoffrey)
Source: CHIMIA  Volume: 65  Issue: 6  Pages: 433-436  DOI: 
10.2533/chimia.2011.433  Published: 2011  

Abstract: In a bilingual paper entitled 'Bibliometrics as weapons of mass citation 
- La bibliometrie comme arme de citation massive',([1]) recently translated into 
English,([2]) we have argued that the current fashion of ranking people, papers 
and journals is anything but harmless. The point was forcefully supported by 
Richard Ernst in a post-face entitled 'The Follies of Citation Indices and 
Academic Ranking Lists.([3,4]) We received a surprising number of passionate 
responses, such as 'It's written out of my heart' (TH); 'Je soutiens cette 
entreprise courageuse de tout coeur' (VT); 'Impact Faktoren sind ein 
Marktinstrument gewisser Verlage (FS); 'II y a un combat a mener' (SB). Some 
thoughtful responses have been incorporated into this Essay, albeit in 
attenuated form. We suggest that the 'fertility' of individual scientists be 
appreciated in terms of kinship rather than through personalized indices.

Language: English
Document Type: Article
Author Keywords: Bibliometrics; h-indices; k-indices

Addresses: [Bodenhausen, G] Ecole Normale Super, Dept Chim, F-75231 Paris 
05, France
[Molinie, A] Univ Paris Ouest Nanterre La Def, F-92023 Nanterre, France
[Bodenhausen, G] Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Inst Sci & Ingn Chim, CH-1015 
Lausanne, Switzerland
[Bodenhausen, G] CNRS, UMR 7203, Paris, France
[Bodenhausen, G] UPMC, Paris, France
Reprint Address: Bodenhausen, G (reprint author), Ecole Normale Super, Dept 
Chim, 24 Rue Lhomond, F-75231 Paris 05, France

E-mail Address: geoffrey.bodenhausen at epfl.ch
ISSN: 0009-4293
URL: 
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/scs/chimia/2011/00000065/00000006
/art00010