Abstract: The h-index, also known as the Hirsch index, is often used for journal evaluation. However, the h-index has obvious disadvantages. Because the h-index increases annually, some journals that are satisfied with the status quo may slack off, and it is unfair to younger journals. Furthermore, citations of articles that are published in different years have different impacts. Citations of earlier papers are given less weight than more recent papers. In this paper, we define a weighted h-index, which weights articles that are published in different years. We computed journal rankings in the JCR category of information science and library science according to the weighted h-index. We compared this rank to the JIF (journal impact factor) rank. The results show that while the correlations between the ranked lists were high, there were considerable individual differences. The JIF, which treats articles that are published in different years equally, may lead to deviation.

Key words: H-index