H-index and promotion decisions

Abstract

Two disciplines, medicine and health management & information sciences which offer graduate programs were studied. From well known citation databases, it was found that significantly higher number and impact factors of journals of high consensus disciplines indicate a higher chance of publication for the faculty members of these disciplines compared with low consensus disciplines. Due to the shortcomings of current scientometric indexes and movement towards new generation universities, it seems imperative for evaluation and promotion committees to reconsider the criteria which are largely publication-based. It is suggested that potential differences across disciplines as well as individual competencies and differences within disciplines be taken into consideration in decision making about promotion of faculty members.