Detecting the Impact of Academics Self-Citations: Fi-Score

Abstract The academic landscape has witnessed significant transformations in recent years, primarily attributed to advancements in IT tools, which have advantages and drawbacks in the world of publications. The transition from traditional university library searches to the digital era, with access to various information sources such as Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar, has revolutionized research practices. Thanks to technology, researchers, academics and students now enjoy rapid and vast information access, facilitating quicker manuscript preparation and boosting bibliometric parameters. To identify authors “self-distorted” bibliometric parameters, different indices following the Hirsch index (h-index) (based on citations) have been proposed. The new “fi-score” evaluates the reliability of citation counts for individual authors and validates the accuracy of their h-index, comparing the number of citations to the h-index value to highlight value that is not within the norm and probably influenced or distorted by authors themselves. It examines how authors’ citations impact their h-index, although they are not self-citing. The study calculated the fi-score on a sample of 194,983 researchers. It shows that the average value of the fi-score is 25.03 and that a maximum value admissible as good must not exceed 32. The fi-score complements existing indexes, shedding light on the actual scientific impact of researchers. In conclusion, bibliometric parameters have evolved significantly, offering valuable insights into researchers’ contributions. The fi-score emerges as a promising new metric, providing a more comprehensive and unbiased evaluation of scholarly impact. By accounting for the influence of citations and self-citations, the fi-score addresses the limitations of traditional indices, empowering academic communities to recognize better and acknowledge individual contributions.