H-index in medicine is driven by original research

AIM: To investigate the contribution of selected types of articles to h-indices of medical researchers. METHODS: We used the Web of Science to export the publication records of various members from 26 scientific medical societies (13 European, 13 North American) associated with 13 medical specialties. Those included were presidents (n = 26), heads of randomly chosen committees (n = 52), and randomly selected members of those committees (n = 52). Publications contributing to h-index were categorized as research articles, reviews, guidelines, meta-analyses, or other published work. RESULTS: Overall, 3259 items authored by 129 scholars were analyzed. The median h-index was 19.5. The median contribution of research articles to h-index was 84.4%. Researchers in the upper h-index tercile (≥28.5) had a larger share of research articles that contributed to h-index in comparison with those in the lower h-index tercile (≤12.5) (median 87.3% [1st-3rd quartile: 80.0%-93.1%] vs 80.0% [50.0%-88.9%], P = 0.015). We observed an analogous difference with regard to guidelines (1.1% [0%-3.7%] vs 0% [0%-0%], P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Original research drives h-indices in medicine. Although guidelines contribute to h-indices in medicine, their influence is low. The specific role of randomized controlled trials in building h-index in medicine remains to be assessed.