7.7 Norm scores for different disciplines

As indicated in Section 7.1, it is usually best to compare yourself to a reference group of peers in your own discipline or university. However, for some of you this might not be possible as there are not enough academics in your peer group or because you do not have the time to research your peer group. In that case, you might find the norm scores in this section useful.

Ever since Publish or Perish has been available, academics have asked me for "norm scores" for the various indices. I have always hesitated to provide these as these scores are so easily taken out of context and can often take on a life of their own. However, currently the only publications providing norm scores for the h-index and related indices deal with academics in the (Natural) Sciences. H-indices in the Natural Sciences are much higher than in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Hence, I felt that in order to support academics in the Social Sciences and Humanities it would be appropriate to provide some systematic evidence that lower citation indices can be expected in these disciplines.

A calculation of citation metrics for an individual academic requires one to be at least familiar with the field in question (in order to eliminate publications by authors with similar names) and preferably with the individuals work. Therefore, my "norm scores" only pertain to the two fields that I am familiar with: Management and International Business.