Pereira, JCR; Bronhara, B. 2011. H-index of Collective Health professors in Brazil. REVISTA DE SAUDE PUBLICA 45 (3): 599-606

[Eugene Garfield]

Pereira, JCR; Bronhara, B. 2011. H-index of Collective Health professors in 
Brazil. REVISTA DE SAUDE PUBLICA 45 (3): 599-606.

Author Full Name(s): Rodrigues Pereira, Julio Cesar; Bronhara, Bruna
Language: Portuguese
Document Type: Article

Author Keywords: Authorship and Co-Authorship in Scientific Publications; 
Researcher Performance Evaluation Systems; Scientific Publication Indicators; 
Bibliometric Indicators; Public Health
KeyWords Plus: BIBLIOMETRIC INDICATORS; SCIENCES

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To estimate reference values and the hierarchy function 
of professors engaged in Collective Health in Brazil by analyzing the distribution 
of the h-index.
METHODS: From the Portal da Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de 
Nivel Superior (Portal of Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education 
Personnel), 934 authors were identified in 2008, of whom 819 were analyzed. 
The h-index of each professor was obtained through the Web of Science using 
search algorithms controlling for namesakes and alternative spellings of their 
names. For each Brazilian region and for the country as a whole, we adjusted 
an exponential probability density function to provide the population parameters 
and rate of decline by region. Ranking measures were identified using the 
complement of the cumulative probability function and the hierarchy function 
among authors according to the h-index by region.
RESULTS: Among the professors analyzed, 29.8% had no citation record in Web 
of Science (h=0). The mean h for the country was 3.1, and the region with 
greatest mean was the southern region (h=4.7). The median h for the country 
was 3.1, and the greatest median was for the southern region (3.2). 
Standardizing populations to one hundred, the first rank in the country was 
h=16, but stratification by region shows that, within the northeastern, 
southeastern and southern regions, a greater value is necessary for achieving 
the first rank. In the southern region, the index needed to achieve the first 
rank was h=24.

CONCLUSIONS: Most of the Brazilian Collective Health authors, if assessed on 
the basis of the Web of Science h-index, did not exceed h=5. Regional 
differences exist, with the southeastern and northeastern regions being similar 
and the southern region being outstanding.
Addresses: [Rodrigues Pereira, Julio Cesar] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Epidemiol, Fac 
Saude Publ, BR-01246904 Sao Paulo, Brazil; [Bronhara, Bruna] Univ Sao Paulo, 
Programa Posgrad Saude Publ, FSP, BR-01246904 Sao Paulo, Brazil
Reprint Address: Pereira, JCR, Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Epidemiol, Fac Saude Publ, 
BR-01246904 Sao Paulo, Brazil.

E-mail Address: julio at lee.dante.br
ISSN: 0034-8910
URL: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0034-
89102011000300019&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en