Comments on: H-index Me http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066 Theoretical Musings Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:29:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Egill http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-336527 Egill Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:00:32 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-336527 Hey guys, i know this guy who's got over 140 h- index, he also made this time machine, believe me! regards E Hey guys, i know this guy who’s got over 140 h- index, he also made this time machine, believe me!

regards
E

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]]> By: Rajesh http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-333448 Rajesh Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:49:17 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-333448 Scientific contribution in academia is like the writing of a group of blind men with a dead elephant. Although, the activity of those blind man look absurd to onlookers and their writings will be laughing stock but happily the scientists are enclosed in institutes and there are no onlookers. University education was once about liberty from one's parental job. With research becoming omnipresent in academia teaching shall become a family job with parents writing papers for their kids and securing citation for them. Scientific contribution in academia is like the writing of a group of blind men with a dead elephant. Although, the activity of those blind man look absurd to onlookers and their writings will be laughing stock but happily the scientists are enclosed in institutes and there are no onlookers. University education was once about liberty from one’s parental job. With research becoming omnipresent in academia teaching shall become a family job with parents writing papers for their kids and securing citation for them.

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]]> By: tarek ibrahim http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-329112 tarek ibrahim Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:09:27 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-329112 I could not calculte mine. Is there any way that you could calculate my h index? I am a high energy physicist. You can find my 39 papers in high energy physics at stanford site http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/hep/www?rawcmd=f+a+t.ibrahim with total number of papers of 39 and of 1803 citations. Sincerely yours Tarek Ibrahim I could not calculte mine. Is there any way that you could calculate my h index?
I am a high energy physicist.
You can find my 39 papers in high energy physics at stanford site

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/hep/www?rawcmd=f+a+t.ibrahim

with total number of papers of 39 and of 1803 citations.
Sincerely yours
Tarek Ibrahim

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]]> By: happy physicist http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-328975 happy physicist Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:03:28 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-328975 Sad (Ex-) Physicist: there is something extremely ironic about how wrong is the strategy you propose to increase your h-index: "you can move into an active field and start arguing with the leaders about well-accepted facts" If you look at the evolution of Hirsch career, you will notice a dramatic downturn in the number of citations of most of his papers after approximately 1990. And this was the consequence of doing exactly what you suggest to increase h: he moved into a very active field (High Tc superconductivity) and started arguing with the leaders about well-accepted facts (which does not make them correct, but that's another story). In particular, he disputed the validity of BCS theory. Interestingly, he has only two highly cited papers after that, and none of them in superconductivity (the h-index one, and the one about Spin Hall effect). Any of this makes h-index better. And you certainly have a point about people not reading the papers to judge their authors. But the point is being completely lost amongs all the bitterness and the anger in your rather obvious joke about h-enhancer. Sad (Ex-) Physicist: there is something extremely ironic about how wrong is the strategy you propose to increase your h-index:
“you can move into an active field and start arguing with the leaders about well-accepted facts”
If you look at the evolution of Hirsch career, you will notice a dramatic downturn in the number of citations of most of his papers after approximately 1990. And this was the consequence of doing exactly what you suggest to increase h: he moved into a very active field (High Tc superconductivity) and started arguing with the leaders about well-accepted facts (which does not make them correct, but that’s another story). In particular, he disputed the validity of BCS theory. Interestingly, he has only two highly cited papers after that, and none of them in superconductivity (the h-index one, and the one about Spin Hall effect).

Any of this makes h-index better. And you certainly have a point about people not reading the papers to judge their authors. But the point is being completely lost amongs all the bitterness and the anger in your rather obvious joke about h-enhancer.

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]]> By: Dave Bacon http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-328699 Dave Bacon Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:48:35 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-328699 http://scienceblogs.com/pontiff/2009/07/diary_of_a_sad_physicist.php http://scienceblogs.com/pontiff/2009/07/diary_of_a_sad_physicist.php

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]]> By: Sad (ex) Physicist http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-328581 Sad (ex) Physicist Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:14:17 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-328581 Dear Professor Bacon: What can I say, you are totally right and I have to admit that I was wrong. I totally agree with you now, Jorge Hirsch is a goddamn genius! Also, thank you for your interest in my well-being and my career. Three years have passed and I am now a changed man. Unfortunately, I was fired from Lehman Brothers and I started a business: I now sell h-index extenders. If you allow me, I would like to take the opportunity and post a testimonial about our services. V/R, Sad (ex-)Physicist TESTIMONIAL: ENLARGE YOUR H-INDEX!!! Dear Fellow Physicists! I would like to share with you a unique experience that has changed my professional life. What am I saying? It has changed my entire life! I hope that it may also help many other researchers, who might be suffering from the anxiety, associated with the small-h-index syndrome and large H-index envy, that I used to have, but have no longer! Even though most Departments claim that the H-index size of their members is not the most important criterion for hiring, promotion and tenure, recent research (funded by the National Size Foundation) shows that size does matter. It is not always the deciding factor and in rare cases other criteria are used: There are still a few places left, where some old-fashioned senior physicists actually read candidate's papers and look into the content (Ha!, can you imagine that!?) But fortunately people like that are a dying breed. Also, in cases involving women and underrepresented groups in science, measuring the H-index is inappropriate, and other measures have to be involved. But in most cases, the h-index size does become a crucial deciding factor and circumvents the need to read or understand research, thanks to the genius, Jorge Hirsch! But, now back to my story: When I was hired by my Department, my H-index was really small. It did not matter much at first, during my honeymoon, when our feelings were fresh and I just took many things for granted. But as time passed, I noticed that eventough my colleagues were nice to me, they clearly were not completely satisfied with my performance. Of course, I performed all required faculty duties and went above and beyond, but nothing could completely satisfy the Department and the higher-ups in the University administration. The problem was my h-index size: It was very, very small. If I did not find a way to enlarge my H-index, I was facing the prospect of not getting tenure, and being replaced with someone else (with a bigger one). This was when I developed a severe anxiety disorder, which now is widely-known as small H-index syndrome. I did not sleep well, checking my h-index every morning, hoping that it grew overnight. But, alas, it has never happened. I secretly checked h-indices of other members of the Department (thankfully, this information is now publically available), but it was mostly demoralizing: There are physicists here with really big ones and I knew that mine was not even close. Then, I decided to put my suffering to an end and do everything possible to enlarge my H-index. So, I developed stretching techniques to extend my h-index and they worked! I believe that if you have determination and patience, you can make it as big as you wish. And you do not even have to work hard! You can continue doing crappy research and still enlarge your H-index very substantially. In fact, I developed techniques, where the more unreasonable your research is, the better it is for your h-index size. For example, you can move into an active field and start arguing with the leaders about well-accepted facts (an extreme example of this technique would be to write a comment on the Einstein’s work pointing out that the equation E=mc^2 is wrong and in fact it should be E=mc^3!). I can assure you that in most cases, your work will not go unnoticed! Order NOW and you will learn more useful techniques that actually work (!) and will also receive 30 Minutes of FREE Live Tutoring on stretching your h-index! 30 day Free trial - for students and postdocs Bronze package (10 citations) - Ideal for assistant professors Silver package (20 citations) - Ideal for associate professors Gold package (50 citations) - For full professors Platinum H-index extender (100 citations) - For National Academy members! Dear Professor Bacon:

What can I say, you are totally right and I have to admit that I was wrong. I totally agree with you now, Jorge Hirsch is a goddamn genius!

Also, thank you for your interest in my well-being and my career. Three years have passed and I am now a changed man. Unfortunately, I was fired from Lehman Brothers and I started a business: I now sell h-index extenders.

If you allow me, I would like to take the opportunity and post a testimonial about our services. V/R,

Sad (ex-)Physicist

TESTIMONIAL: ENLARGE YOUR H-INDEX!!!

Dear Fellow Physicists!

I would like to share with you a unique experience that has changed my professional life. What am I saying? It has changed my entire life! I hope that it may also help many other researchers, who might be suffering from the anxiety, associated with the small-h-index syndrome and large H-index envy, that I used to have, but have no longer!

Even though most Departments claim that the H-index size of their members is not the most important criterion for hiring, promotion and tenure, recent research (funded by the National Size Foundation) shows that size does matter. It is not always the deciding factor and in rare cases other criteria are used: There are still a few places left, where some old-fashioned senior physicists actually read candidate’s papers and look into the content (Ha!, can you imagine that!?) But fortunately people like that are a dying breed. Also, in cases involving women and underrepresented groups in science, measuring the H-index is inappropriate, and other measures have to be involved. But in most cases, the h-index size does become a crucial deciding factor and circumvents the need to read or understand research, thanks to the genius, Jorge Hirsch! But, now back to my story:

When I was hired by my Department, my H-index was really small. It did not matter much at first, during my honeymoon, when our feelings were fresh and I just took many things for granted. But as time passed, I noticed that eventough my colleagues were nice to me, they clearly were not completely satisfied with my performance. Of course, I performed all required faculty duties and went above and beyond, but nothing could completely satisfy the Department and the higher-ups in the University administration. The problem was my h-index size: It was very, very small. If I did not find a way to enlarge my H-index, I was facing the prospect of not getting tenure, and being replaced with someone else (with a bigger one).

This was when I developed a severe anxiety disorder, which now is widely-known as small H-index syndrome. I did not sleep well, checking my h-index every morning, hoping that it grew overnight. But, alas, it has never happened. I secretly checked h-indices of other members of the Department (thankfully, this information is now publically available), but it was mostly demoralizing: There are physicists here with really big ones and I knew that mine was not even close.

Then, I decided to put my suffering to an end and do everything possible to enlarge my H-index. So, I developed stretching techniques to extend my h-index and they worked! I believe that if you have determination and patience, you can make it as big as you wish. And you do not even have to work hard! You can continue doing crappy research and still enlarge your H-index very substantially. In fact, I developed techniques, where the more unreasonable your research is, the better it is for your h-index size. For example, you can move into an active field and start arguing with the leaders about well-accepted facts (an extreme example of this technique would be to write a comment on the Einstein’s work pointing out that the equation E=mc^2 is wrong and in fact it should be E=mc^3!). I can assure you that in most cases, your work will not go unnoticed!

Order NOW and you will learn more useful techniques that actually work (!) and will also receive 30 Minutes of FREE Live Tutoring on stretching your h-index!

30 day Free trial – for students and postdocs

Bronze package (10 citations) – Ideal for assistant professors

Silver package (20 citations) – Ideal for associate professors

Gold package (50 citations) – For full professors

Platinum H-index extender (100 citations) – For National Academy members!

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]]> By: happy physicist http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-322604 happy physicist Thu, 07 May 2009 17:11:43 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-322604 To sad physicist. This reply might be 3 years late, but I can help it: Hirsch made great contributions in the 80 in the field of strongly correlated electrons (for instance, the Hirch-Fye algorithm to quantum Montecarlo). In the 90 he has also very important contributions (like a highly cited and influential paper on the spin hall effect) and, the most important, he thinks out of the beaten track. I wonder who's the ignorant here. Are you still in academia or you move to Lehman Brothers? To sad physicist. This reply might be 3 years late, but I can help it: Hirsch made great contributions in the 80 in the field of strongly correlated electrons (for instance, the Hirch-Fye algorithm to quantum Montecarlo). In the 90 he has also very important contributions (like a highly cited and influential paper on the spin hall effect) and, the most important, he thinks out of the beaten track. I wonder who’s the ignorant here. Are you still in academia or you move to Lehman Brothers?

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]]> By: Dave Bacon http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-203729 Dave Bacon Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:52:58 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-203729 Dude Sad Physicist, you're STILL harping on this? Man, that is Sad. Dude Sad Physicist, you’re STILL harping on this? Man, that is Sad.

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]]> By: Sad Physicist http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-203653 Sad Physicist Sat, 15 Sep 2007 14:37:25 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-203653 Dear h-index lovers! I would like to bring to your attention a new paper by this crazy man, Jorge Hirsch (arXiv:0708.0646) "Does the h-index have predictive power?" (the answer is "yes," it does have this power). It seems that he has invested a lot of his valuable time and applied his superior intellect to prove "...the superiority of the h-index." Obviously, the main conclusion of this "work" is that if you have a high h-index now, you are much more likely to become a great scientist in the future (to be a great scientist, of course, is defined as having a high h-index). Thus, you will have the highest scientific potential just before you croak. I view this paper as another sign that IDIOCRACY is becoming a reality in modern science. I decided that if this nonsense gets published in any serious scientific journal, I quit my faculty job (another job opening for you!) Best, Sad Physicist Dear h-index lovers!

I would like to bring to your attention a new paper by this crazy man, Jorge Hirsch (arXiv:0708.0646) “Does the h-index have predictive power?” (the answer is “yes,” it does have this power). It seems that he has invested a lot of his valuable time and applied his superior intellect to prove “…the superiority of the h-index.” Obviously, the main conclusion of this “work” is that if you have a high h-index now, you are much more likely to become a great scientist in the future (to be a great scientist, of course, is defined as having a high h-index). Thus, you will have the highest scientific potential just before you croak.

I view this paper as another sign that IDIOCRACY is becoming a reality in modern science. I decided that if this nonsense gets published in any serious scientific journal, I quit my faculty job (another job opening for you!)

Best,
Sad Physicist

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]]> By: lab-rat http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-179966 lab-rat Thu, 24 May 2007 16:36:52 +0000 http://dabacon.org/pontiff/?p=1066#comment-179966 Dear sad physicist, There is a lot of truth in some of the things you say, however I would not think that you will break out of your slump by putting down the work of the pontiff or others. Ironically all three of the "real leaders" you mentioned earlier (Einstein, Bohr, Feynman) worried a great deal about "two-level systems in single-particle quantum mechanics" and Feynman is one of the founding fathers of quantum information. Einstein and Bohr spent weeks arguing with each other what it all meant. If you got that all figured out, good for you, maybe you can let the rest of us know what the answers are. If not, quantum information seems to include a serious attempt to systematically approach the questions of the founding fathers that are (in my mind) still open. A quick look on current topics would also reveal, for example, that there is a close relation between quantum information processing and the interaction of spin systems. Pretty close to hardcore many-body theory from my lowly lab-rat perspective. Dear sad physicist,

There is a lot of truth in some of the things you say, however I would not think that you will break out of your slump by putting down the work of the pontiff or others.

Ironically all three of the “real leaders” you mentioned earlier (Einstein, Bohr, Feynman) worried a great deal about “two-level systems in single-particle quantum mechanics” and Feynman is one of the founding fathers of quantum information. Einstein and Bohr spent weeks arguing with each other what it all meant.

If you got that all figured out, good for you, maybe you can let the rest of us know what the answers are. If not, quantum information seems to include a serious attempt to systematically approach the questions of the founding fathers that are (in my mind) still open. A quick look on current topics would also reveal, for example, that there is a close relation between quantum information processing and the interaction of spin systems. Pretty close to hardcore many-body theory from my lowly lab-rat perspective.

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