Comparative study of four impact measures and qualitative conclusions

Abstract

We present a study of four impact measures: the h-index, the g-index, the R-index and the j-index. The g-index satisfies the transfer principle, the j-index satisfies the opposite transfer principle while the h- and R-indices do not satisfy any of these principles. We study general inequalities between these measures and also determine their maximal and minimal values, given a fixed total number of citations.