Research evaluation of author’s citation-based performance through the relative author superiority index

Abstract The aim of this paper is to further explore the recent conversation about the indicators for research evaluation through citation-based indexes. It evaluates the Cuban Biotechnology; Applied Microbiology researchers’ citation-based performance, according to their scientific production in journals of the ISI Web of Science database through the Relative Author Superiority Index. The methodology comprises six steps: (1) preparation of the data; (2) calculation of the Percentile Rank Index for each of the papers; (3) calculation of the Author Superiority Index for each of the authors; (4) Calculation of the Relative Author Superiority Index; (5) Comparison of the Author Superiority Index of each author to their Hirsch (H) and G citation indexes and (6) individual or group evaluation of the citation-based performance. The findings suggest that the group of Cuban researchers in biotechnology achieved a high citation-based performance within the analyzed period. The results show the effectiveness of this index to assess the citation performance of individual or group researchers when the impact factor of the researcher or group under evaluation is not high. In addition, the Relative Author Superiority index could be complementary to other previous indicators such as H-index, G-index or citation counts as it overcomes the limitations of the age of publications, length of the author’s career, and the self-citation problem that are present in other indicators.