TY - JOUR AU - Hönekopp, Johannes AU - Kleber, Janet PY - 2008 DA - 2008/10/06 TI - Sometimes the impact factor outshines the H index JO - Retrovirology SP - 88 VL - 5 IS - 1 AB - Journal impact factor (which reflects a particular journal's quality) and H index (which reflects the number and quality of an author's publications) are two measures of research quality. It has been argued that the H index outperforms the impact factor for evaluation purposes. Using articles first-authored or last-authored by board members of Retrovirology, we show here that the reverse is true when the future success of an article is to be predicted. The H index proved unsuitable for this specific task because, surprisingly, an article's odds of becoming a 'hit' appear independent of the pre-eminence of its author. We discuss implications for the peer-review process. SN - 1742-4690 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-5-88 DO - 10.1186/1742-4690-5-88 ID - Hönekopp2008 ER -