i10Index

The i10-index is a simple bibliometric metric used by Google Scholar to indicate a researcher’s publishing impact. It represents the number of an author’s publications that have received at least ten citations in Google Scholar’s index.

Calculation and interpretation: For a given author, Google Scholar tallies all publications listed in the author’s profile and counts how many have accumulated ten or more citations. The resulting number, the i10-index, increases whenever a publication’s citation count reaches or surpasses ten. It is often displayed alongside the author’s h-index on Google Scholar profiles, providing a quick summary of easily cited work.

Usage and limitations: The i10-index is easy to understand and communicate, making it a popular quick indicator of scholarly productivity with a minimum level of cited recognition. However, it has notable limitations. It is field-dependent, favoring disciplines with larger citation cultures and longer publication histories. It does not account for the magnitude of citation counts beyond the threshold (a paper with 10 citations is treated the same as one with hundreds). It may be affected by name variants, author disambiguation issues, and the completeness of Google Scholar’s indexing. It also does not normalize for co-authorship or career length, and it can be influenced by self-citations and database coverage.

Relation to other metrics: Compared with the h-index, the i10-index provides a simpler, count-based measure that emphasizes the breadth of consistently cited work rather than the balance of quantity and impact. It should be used alongside other indicators (such as h-index, total citations, and field-appropriate metrics) for a fuller assessment of scholarly influence.