Scientific journals in the Communication and Information area: consolidation of the h-index and ethical issues regarding its use

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of using the h-index in the evaluation of scientific journals. Specifically, we aim to assess the use of these metrics to categorize a set of Brazilian journals from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior Communication and Information area. The methodological approach involves an exploratory examination in which data from 20 scientific journals in the area were extracted from Google Scholar Metrics on July 4, 2022. The data collection also included recording authorship metadata, publication URL, periodical, year, and the total number of citations received. Data analysis was conducted through a calculation to measure each journal's self-citation, and one journal had its analysis highlighted. The results demonstrated that two journals stood out in terms of citation percentage, the volume of citations resulting from metadata errors, and the lack of structured metadata for source analysis. Therefore, despite the h-index being an interesting metric for evaluating journals in the Communication and Information area, it is considered that it could be complemented by qualitative evaluations capable of understanding the ethical challenges necessary to ensure a fair and adequate evaluation of academic research.

Keywords:
scientific journals; h-index; google scholar; metrics; ethics