Quantifying research publication efficiency: A comparative analysis of the HY-index and the h-index

Abstract

Efficiently quantifying the scholarly output of researchers, scientists, academic institutions, departments, and universities is of paramount importance within academic circles. This study centers on the application of a novel index known as the HY-Index, designed to evaluate the quality of articles from various sources, with the primary aim of addressing the limitations associated with established indices, notably the widely-used h-index. We deploy the HY-Index alongside the h-index to assess the performance of the top fifty researchers affiliated with Umm Al-Qura University, using data from the Google Scholar database. Comparative analyses are conducted, and rankings based on the HY-Index and h-index are scrutinized to determine which index offers a more suitable approach for quantifying researcher efficiency. Our findings reveal that the linear trend equation of the HY-Index rank closely aligns with the linear trend equation of the citation rank, surpassing the alignment observed with the h-index rank. Additionally, the linear trend equation of the HY-Index rank exhibits greater similarity to the linear trend equation of the publications rank compared to the h-index rank. Consequently, the HY-Index provides a more precise means of assessing author quality based on both citation and publication rankings, offering a fairer measurement of author quality compared to the h-index.