h -Index manipulation by undoing merges

The -index is an important bibliographic measure used to assess the performance of researchers. Dutiful researchers merge different versions of their articles in their Google Scholar profile even though this can decrease their -index. In this article, we study the manipulation of the -index by undoi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quantitative science studies 2020-12, Vol.1 (4), p.1529-1552
Main Authors: van Bevern, René, Komusiewicz, Christian, Molter, Hendrik, Niedermeier, Rolf, Sorge, Manuel, Walsh, Toby
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
article splitting
citation graph
Citations
Computer applications
experimental algorithmics
Google Scholar profiles
Hirsch index
NP-hard problems
parameterized complexity
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Summary:The -index is an important bibliographic measure used to assess the performance of researchers. Dutiful researchers merge different versions of their articles in their Google Scholar profile even though this can decrease their -index. In this article, we study the manipulation of the -index by undoing such merges. In contrast to manipulation by merging articles, such manipulation is harder to detect. We present numerous results on computational complexity (from linear-time algorithms to parameterized computational hardness results) and empirically indicate that at least small improvements of the -index by splitting merged articles are unfortunately easily achievable.
ISSN:2641-3337
2641-3337
DOI:10.1162/qss_a_00093