The h-index is a popular bibliometric performance indicator. We discuss a fundamental problem of the h-index. We refer to this problem as the problem of inconsistency. There turns out to be a very simple bibliometric indicator that has similar properties as the h-index and that does not suffer...

We propose a taxonomy of bibliometric indicators of scientific performance. The taxonomy relies on the property of consistency. The h-index is shown not to have this important property.

We introduce two new measures of the performance of a scientist. One measure, referred to as the hα-index, generalizes the well-known h-index or Hirsch index. The other measure, referred to as the gα-index, generalizes the closely related g-index. We analyze theoretically the relationship...