For many decisions in science, evaluators have to select, assess, and rank authors based on their scientific achievements. However, the most diffused scientific performance bibliometric metric – the h index – produces many ties, precluding its use to define a full ranking of the authors. In turn, recently, Jorge Hirsch1 proposes the ℎɑ index (which measures the number of papers of the h core in which the author was the scientific leader)and the associated rɑ index(percentage of papers belonging to the h core in which the author was leader)to capture the concept of scientific leadership. We suggest using this last measure to break the ties of the h index. The method is extremely simple and provides a complete solution to this critical problem of the h index. To that end, we develop a two steps procedure, which is able to produce a more granulated ranking of the authors.

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Scientific performance,Ranking,Scientific leadership,Hindex

• Computer and Information Sciences - Natural Sciences
• Other Social Sciences - Social Sciences