7.7.1 Method

It is difficult to establish an appropriate reference group. However, I think most academics will agree that fellow academics who have been elected as presidents of the peak professional organization in their field would probably constitute an appropriate (if ambitious) benchmark. Therefore, I have calculated the various citation metrics (h-index, g-index, contemporary h-index and individual h-index) for presidents of the Academy of Management (AoM) and the Academy of International Business (AIB) since 1988. Since AIB presidentship only rotates every 2 years, the data are based on 13 individuals, whereas for AoM they are based on 23 individuals.

It is important to note that the record of specific individuals might be both underestimated and overestimated. Most of the publications of academics that were presidents in the early years will be relatively old. Google Scholar does not perform as well for older publications, because these publications and the publications that cite them have not (yet) been posted on the web. Hence their citation metrics might be understated.

On the other hand, given that Google Scholar cannot go back in time, I calculated their citation metrics as of the current date, rather than the date at which they became president, hence overstating their citation metrics. This overstatement could be very substantial for earlier presidents, and given the rapid increase in citations in the later stages of ones career could even be quite substantial for later presidents.