ScholarCheck

In addition to the various features powered by ScholarCheck throughout HeinOnline, we’ve developed an overall ranking system based on selected ScholarCheck metrics, along with the author’s h5-index and h-index. We call this ranking ScholarRank.

How Is ScholarRank Calculated?

ScholarRank is determined by the calculation of HeinOnline ScholarCheck metrics, h5-index, and h-index.

First, the raw data is gathered for each of the five metrics. These metrics are: 

• Cited by Articles (0-5 Years)
  This metric counts the number of times this author has been cited by other articles in HeinOnline within the past five years only. Citation style sources include the Bluebook, Prince’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, and the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.
• Cited by Articles (5+ Years)
  This metric counts the number of times this author has been cited by other articles in HeinOnline beyond the past five years only. Citation style sources include the Bluebook, Prince’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, and the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations.
• h5-index
  The h5-index is an author-level metric that attempts to measure both the productivity and citation impact of an author's publications over the most recent five complete calendar years. The index is based on the number of papers (h) published by the author in that period that have each been cited at least h times. This metric provides a more current snapshot of an author's research influence than the traditional h-index.
• h-index
  The h-index is an author-level metric that attempts to measure both the productivity and citation impact of the publications of an author. The index is based on the set of the author's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications.
• Accessed (Past 12 Months)
  This metric is used to account for relevancy & recency and counts the cumulative number of times an author’s articles have been accessed by HeinOnline users within a rolling 12-month period. For an author’s article to count as accessed, the article must be clicked from either search results or by browsing to the article, or retrieved using the citation navigator.

This raw data is then displayed on the author's profile. See the example below:

Next, the Z-score is calculated for each of the five metrics. The five Z-scores are averaged, and the final average is entered into the standard competition ranking. The author's standing within this ranking produces the author's final ScholarRank.

ScholarRank is calculated in the following manner:

Z-Score Calculation (to calculate the Z-scores of each metric): Z_x = (x-µ)/σ

Average Z-Score (determined by averaging the five Z-scores): Z_µ = (Z₁ + Z₂ + Z₃ + Z₄ + Z₅)/5

Final ScholarRank (determined by ranking each author’s Average Z-scores): Z_µ, ranked by standard competition

*Standard deviations and averages fluctuate daily; as such, the final results are subject to change.