Epstein, Richard A. “Caste and the Civil Rights Laws: From Jim Crow to Same-Sex Marriages.” Michigan Law Review 92, no. 8 (1994): 2456-478.
Total number of citations:
191
What can you learn about the number of citations to this article per year since it was published?
Published in 1995, the highest number of citations occurred in 1997. The number dipped to 15 in 1998. By 2000, the article was cited only eight times. In 2015, the article only received two citations. As such, the results demonstrate that an article is most likely to be cited shortly after its publication (>5 years), often when the article is most ground-breaking. However, there was a rejuvenated spike from 2016 to 2018. Are there social and political factors that influence research? Can we, as researchers, gauge and synthesize intersections between political and social events, and the research they influence? 2016 to 2018 was the beginning of the current presidential administration’s regime. Did this influence a rejuvenated interest in an article pertaining to Jim Crow and inequality in the United States? This data can therefore potentially indicate and reveal the ways in which (and why) research has ebbs and flows of being cited/
What can you learn about who cites this article? What are their disciplinary identifications?
Analyzing who is citing the article and the application they are citing for reveals which disciplines are engaging with the text and which fields are finding the research most integral for their own studies. In this instance, the article is heavily utilized by legal scholars.
What is the total number of publications?
11
What is the H-index?
6
What are the average citations per item?
17.36
Which of these numbers would you prefer to have used in evaluations for hiring and tenure? Why?
Neither. But unfortunately, that does not answer the question. Depending on what metrics a department is interested in the H index can be a powerful tool for showcasing the influence a researcher has in high-impact journals. This can be useful in determining the relevance and timeliness of one’s scholarship. If a department is seeking influential leaders within the field, the H index can be useful. The H index, however, can not compare professors 1:1. There are external factors based upon specific journals and fields that influence one’s H index. In short, the index can be an intriguing metric that can credit one’s influential scholarship, but I do not believe an H index can be used to discredit the influence of one’s work.
Is this kind of analysis appropriate for all academic fields? Why or why not?
It is not. The H index, for instance, does not necessarily take into consideration the variating numbers of citations in different fields. Will articles in fields that cite less be viewed as less impactful? Put simply, can an H Index really be used to compare articles from one department to articles from an entirely different discipline with different modes of access and standards? Likewise, the reasons for citing (average citations per item category) can be influenced by external factors that have little to do with the quality of one’s research.