{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T08:39:53Z","timestamp":1774600793427,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MIT Press","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,3]],"date-time":"2023-05-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1683072000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":122,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["direct.mit.edu"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The ranking and categorizations of academic articles of a data set have traditionally been based on the distribution of their total citations. This ranking formed the basis for the definition of the h-index. As an alternative methodology, the ranking of articles of a data set can be performed according to the distribution of the average citations of the articles. Applying this same principle to the h-index itself leads to an average h-index, the ha-index: the largest number of papers ha published by a researcher who has obtained at least ha citations per year on average. The new ha-index offers more consistency, increased selectivity, and fairer treatment of younger scholars compared to the classic h-index. With its normalized time aspect, the method leads to better acknowledgment of progress. The evolution of the h-indices over time shows how the ha-index reaches its full potential earlier and offers more stability over time. The average citation ha-index partly solves the problem of the temporality of the h-index. he ha-index can also be applied to academic journals. In particular, the application of the ha-index to journals leads to more stability as they reach their limit sooner. The ha-index offers a response to the inflation of h-index levels.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1162\/qss_a_00259","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,3]],"date-time":"2023-05-03T09:55:52Z","timestamp":1683107752000},"page":"756-777","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1162\/mitpressjournals.corrections.policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["The\n                    <i>h<\/i>\n                    a-index: The average citation\n                    <i>h<\/i>\n                    -index"],"prefix":"10.1162","volume":"4","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0111-415X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Yves","family":"Fassin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Marketing, Innovation, and Organization, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Ghent, 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