Departmental h-Index: Evidence for Publishing Less?

Abstract Purpose The h-index is an established method for determining an individual faculty member's impact on the scientific literature. The purpose of this study was to measure and describe over time the combined h-index of a large university medical imaging department. Materials and Methods All faculty members from the Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, were identified from administrative records for 6 separate years between 2000-2014. Individual members' and the departmental h-index were calculated using citation data from the Scopus database. Descriptive univariate statistics were reported. Factors contributing to the change in departmental h-index over time were assessed using linear regression analysis. Results The number of faculty members increased from 117 in 2000 to 186 in 2014. The departmental h-index increased from 48 in 2000 to 142 in 2014. During this time period, the median h-index for faculty members increased from 4 (interquartile range 2-8) to 10 (interquartile range 5-19). Regression analysis revealed that for every additional staff member, the departmental h-index increased by 1.4 (standard error = 0.1, P