H-index and academic rank in psychiatry: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: The Hirsch-index (H-index) is a bibliometric measure of research productivity and citation impact. In this systematic review and meta-analysis we aimed to derive pooled H-index benchmarks across professorial academic ranks in psychiatry, and to determine whether H-index differs significantly between successive academic ranks. Methods: PRISMA guidelines were followed in conducting a comprehensive search using the databases Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar. Key search terms included: “Bibliometrics”, H index”, “H-index”, “Career Mobility”, “academic rank”, “Faculty, Medical”, “psychiatry”, “academic psychiatry”, “psychiatric”, and “Psychiatry in Literature”. Papers reporting data on mean H-index stratified by professorial academic rank were included. The DerSimonian and Laird random effects model was used to conduct the meta-analysis. Results: Four studies (all North American) were included in the systematic review and three in the meta-analysis. Mean H-index increased across successive academic rank. Pooled random effects estimates for mean H-index were: 4.02 (95% CI: 3.01–5.02) for Assistant Professor, 8.04 (95% CI: 6.28–9.79) for Associate Professor, and 21.22 (95% CI: 19.96–22.48) for Full Professor. Conclusion: H-index increases with successive academic rank in psychiatry, with pooled benchmarks identified for each professorial level. Available data are limited to North American institutions, underscoring the need for Australasian studies. Show more