Methodology

“AD Scientific Index” Methodology

1. What is the AD Scientific Index (Alper-Doger Scientific Index)?

Developed in 2021 by Prof. Dr. Murat Alper and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cihan Döğer, the AD Scientific Index is an independent and international ranking system that provides a multidimensional evaluation of the academic performance of scientists and institutions. Key highlights include:

Original academic rankings, detailed analyses, and comparative results
A resource guiding policy development to enhance scientific contributions and productivity
Analysis of 2.583.911 scientists and 24.513 institutions across 13 major academic fields and 197 disciplines, covering 221 countries
Data sourced from Google Scholar and subjected to rigorous multi-stage filtering processes
Evaluation based on total and last six years’ H-index, i10-index, and citation counts

2. Why is the AD Scientific Index (Alper-Doger Scientific Index) Needed?

✅ Most international university rankings consider parameters like:

Research productivity, impact, excellence
Educational quality
Faculty quality
Research output
Per capita performance

✅ Many of these rely heavily on publication and citation counts as key indicators of academic performance. However, these methods:

Vary in data sources (e.g., SCIE, SSCI, InCites)
Differ in what types of publications they count (articles, notes, conference papers, etc.)
May emphasize high-impact journals (e.g., Nature, Science, PNAS)
Often use H-index, top 5% journals by impact factor, total citations, and other indicators
Frequently face redundancy (measuring the same aspect multiple times), leading to “indicator alignment”
Rarely exceed coverage of 1,500–3,000 institutions or 70–100 countries due to these limitations

✅ How AD Scientific Index Addresses These Gaps

Focuses on both total and six-year productivity (H-index, i10-index, citation data)
Ranks individual scientists as well as academic fields, institutions, and countries
Broad coverage spanning countries, regions, institutions, disciplines, languages, and publication types
Ensures equal opportunities for comparison with a fair and transparent methodology
No reliance on non-public or invisible parameters in ranking formulas

3. What are the H-index and i10-index?

H-index: Evaluates both productivity and citation impact. An H-index of h means the researcher has h papers each cited at least h times.
i10-index (calculated by Google Scholar): Counts the number of publications with at least 10 citations.

These metrics:

Offer insight into consistent academic influence
Higher values indicate more sustained impact

4. The Importance of Last 6 Years Metrics

The AD Scientific Index places special emphasis on Last 6 Years metrics to reveal recent academic performance:

Total H-index, i10-index, citation count: Show long-term academic impact
Last 6 Years H-index, i10-index, citations: Highlight current contributions and relevance in evolving fields
Focuses on impact continuation over the last six years, not just publication dates
Ensures up-to-date perspective in identifying leading contributors and institutions

5. How Is the “AD Scientific Index” Different from Other Rankings?

✅ Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Comprehensive Metrics: Integrates total and last-six-year H-index, i10-index, and citation counts to provide a broad and balanced picture of academic impact.
Layered Comparisons: Enables evaluations at global, continental, national, and city levels, as well as public and private institutions, revealing both long-term influence and current momentum.

✅ Focus on Individual Scientists

Foundation of Institutional Success: Genuine breakthroughs and reputation stem from individual scientists.
Beyond Broad Factors: While other rankings often focus on “international reputation” or “teaching quality,” the AD Scientific Index homes in on concrete achievements, emphasizing the true drivers of institutional excellence.

✅ Accessible and Inclusive Data

Extensive Coverage: Utilizes publicly available Google Scholar data, carefully screened, to assess researchers across every field, country, and type of institution.

✅ Equal Opportunity

Fair Recognition: Offers equitable acknowledgment to all scientists and institutions, regardless of geographical or institutional background.
Seamless Participation: The system is easy to join on both individual and institutional levels, making academic performance visible at every tier, in near real time.

✅ Democratic and Universal Approach

Global Level Playing Field: Reflects how individual accomplishments shape the overall performance of institutions worldwide.
Commitment to Transparency: Employs impartial, reproducible methods, ensuring equal conditions for prominent research universities and smaller colleges alike.

✅ Identifying Misconduct

Guardian of Integrity: Acts as an early warning system against plagiarism, unethical authorship (e.g., gift authorship), or excessive publication practices.
Institutional and Individual Accountability: Ensures that authentic academic contributions remain in the spotlight by uncovering ethical violations, safeguarding the credibility of researchers and institutions.

6. Unique Features of the “AD Scientific Index”

✅ Academic and Economic Independence

Operates entirely free from external influences, ensuring that evaluations focus exclusively on academic merit.
Maintains objective and transparent standards without commercial or political pressure.

✅ Transparent and Rigorous Methodology

Relies on open-source, verifiable data combined with clearly defined algorithms and weighting.
Corrects errors within one week and strictly upholds impartiality to preserve credibility and accuracy.

✅ Comprehensive Evaluation

Provides both total and last-six-year metrics (H-index, i10-index, citations) for universities, institutions, hospitals, and companies.
Allows stakeholders to assess long-term trends alongside recent performance at a glance.

✅ Institutional Progress Analysis

Monitors and analyzes institutional development over the last six years, highlighting growth trajectories and performance shifts.

✅ Public vs. Private Comparison

Offers direct comparisons among public universities, as well as with private universities, companies, hospitals, and research institutes.
Illuminates sector-wide benchmarks for a broader context of academic achievement.

✅ Scientific Ranking Distribution

Examines academic staff rankings within each institution, showing percentile-based standings to pinpoint individual and collective strengths.

✅ Individual Status Tracking

Presents detailed profiles for researchers (H-index, i10-index, citations), delivering clear insights into each scholar’s impact and influence.

✅ Global and Regional Rankings

Encompasses 2.583.911 individuals from 24.513 institutions across 221 countries and 10 regions, covering a wide array of disciplines.
Enables branch- and sub-discipline-specific evaluations for targeted insights. individuals from institutions,

✅ Top List Reports

Generates country-level, regional, and global top lists, serving as valuable resources for benchmarking and recognition.

✅ Constantly Updated Rankings

Ensures continuous data refresh, with citation metrics updated every 10-15 days and rankings recalculated every two days.
Offers users an up-to-date view of academic performance.

✅ Valuing Feedback and Contributions

Incorporates community input to refine the methodology and maintain data accuracy.
Facilitates a collaborative approach that keeps rankings current and reliable.

✅ Increased Visibility & Early Detection of Ethical Violations

Sheds light on unethical practices (e.g., gift authorship, citation cartels, fake paper factories), promoting academic integrity through transparency.
Helps identify and address potential misconduct promptly.

✅ Art and Humanities Rankings & Social Sciences and Humanities Rankings

Provides dedicated rankings that accurately represent these fields, leveraging Google Scholar’s broad coverage.
Ensures these disciplines receive fair, detailed visibility alongside STEM areas.

7. Comprehensive and Inclusive Data Source Strategy

Most ranking organizations use Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, or Nature Index. Each has strengths and limitations.

✅Our Approach:

Global, practical, inclusive methodology
Robust auditing to mitigate data source limitations
Continuous data cleansing (nearly 1 million profiles reviewed; many deleted)
Ongoing quality improvements ensure increasingly accurate rankings

8. How Frequently Are AD Scientific Index Rankings Updated?

New entries, deletions, corrections typically visible within 1–3 days
H-index, i10-index, and citation numbers are updated every 15 days, while the ranking is refreshed every 2 days.
Data primarily from Google Scholar with a focus on standardizing names, institutions, and data
User contributions to enhance data accuracy are always welcome

9. How Can I Be Included in the List?

Currently includes 2.583.911 scientists from 24.513 institutions across 221 countries
New additions are limited to individual and institutional registrations via the “Register” link on the website
No automatic inclusion of every profile to maintain accuracy and data integrity

10. Who Can Be Included in the List and Reasons for Exclusion

2.583.911 scientists included, but some are not listed due to:
Technical and resource limitations: Because a very broad sample group has formed, our priority is to maintain the highest level of data accuracy and cleanliness. Therefore, we do not aim for unlimited expansion of the database, meaning we do not add every publicly accessible profile to the system.
No public Google Scholar profile
Personal preference or request to be removed
Incomplete or inaccurate profile information
When a profile is no longer publicly visible, the individual’s scores (e.g., h-index, i10 index, citation counts) are displayed as zero until the profile is made public again.
Ethical concerns: Cases such as presenting others' publications as one's own, including misleading or fabricated academic outputs, having retracted papers in the profile, etc., and related complaints are evaluated. If such violations are detected, the respective profiles are immediately removed from the list.

Institutions and countries are encouraged to verify profiles for accuracy and integrity. Profiles violating ethical standards may be removed without refund (even for paid registrations).

11. Is Registration Required to View Your Ranking?

Not required to see your ranking in the AD Scientific Index. You can estimate your approximate ranking by looking at the rankings of individuals with similar scores. Required if you wish to be included with all detailed elements in the ranking

12. How AD Scientific Index Ranks Scientists and Institutions?

✅ Key Indicators

Total H-index scores
Last 6 years’ H-index scores
Total i10 index scores
Last 6 years’ i10 index scores
Total number of citations
Number of citations in the last 6 years

✅ Ranking Categories

AD Scientific Index: H-Index Rankings
- Primary: Total H-index
- Additional factors: Last 6 years’ H-index, total i10 index, total citations
AD Scientific Index: i10 Index Productivity Rankings
- Primary: Total i10 index
- Additional factors: Last 6 years’ i10 index, total H-index, total citations
AD Scientific Index: Citation Rankings (Highly Cited Researchers)
- Primary: Total citations
- Additional factors: Last 6 years’ citations, total i10 index, last 6 years’ i10 index

Institutions are also ranked by these criteria at national, regional, and global levels.

✅ Studies Influencing Ranking Due to High Citation Numbers

For unusually high citations (e.g., CERN, ATLAS, ALICE, CMS), authors are marked with an asterisk “i” to indicate this distinction.
An alternative list excludes these studies to ensure balanced rankings.

13. Why Are Last 6 Years' Ratios Important?

Reflect recent productivity and influence
Indicate impact of individual performance and institutional policies
Provide a clear view of modern academic contributions

14. Subject Rankings: Which Subjects are Ranked in the AD Scientific Index?

The Index covers 197 sub-disciplines across various major fields:

Agriculture & Forestry: 15 subfields
Architecture & Design: 4 subfields
Business & Management: 8 subfields
Economics & Econometrics: 6 subfields
Education: 11 subfields
Engineering & Technology: 26 subfields
History, Philosophy, Theology: 3 subfields
Law / Legal Studies: 12 subfields
Medical and Health Sciences: 80 subfields
Natural Sciences: 6 subfields
Social Sciences: 22 subfields
Social Sciences and Humanities: 50 subfields
Art and Humanities: 6 subfields

This meticulous categorization aligns with university departments, enabling precise analysis of academic impact.

15. How Universities Are Ranked in the AD Scientific Index?

Rankings are based on the distribution of scientists within top percentile ranges (top % 10, %20, %40, %60, % 80, 90% percentiles and total scientists).
If two institutions have the same number of scientists in a range, the next percentile range is considered.
If a tie persists, the institution with the higher total number of individual scientists ranks higher.
Covers 24.513 institutions across:
- Total H-index
- Last 6 Years H-index
- Total i10 index
- Last 6 Years i10 index
- Total citations
- Last 6 Years citations

This approach helps institutions assess strengths, identify areas for improvement, and supports cross-border transfer or graduation equivalency evaluations.

16. Young University/Institution Rankings

Focuses on institutions established within the last 30 years. The ranking is formed by applying the university ranking only among institutions established within the last 30 years. Demonstrates global standing of these “young” entities. Identifies strengths and weaknesses to shape future policies

17. Social Sciences and Humanities Rankings – The AD Scientific Index Advantage

✔ Exclusive Ranking for Social Sciences & Humanities – Covers fields such as Business & Management, Economics & Econometrics, Education, History, Philosophy, Theology, Law, and Social Sciences.
✔ No Overshadowing by STEM Fields – Medicine, Engineering, and Natural Sciences are excluded, ensuring that institutions and scholars in Social Sciences & Humanities receive a fair and unbiased evaluation.
✔ A Balanced and Unique Ranking Approach – Unlike traditional rankings dominated by STEM disciplines, this ranking highlights the real academic impact of Social Sciences & Humanities, ensuring that institutions and researchers in these fields get the visibility they deserve.
✔ Comprehensive Performance Metrics – Rankings are conducted at both institutional and individual levels, based on H-index, i10-index, and citation data, providing a data-driven and objective assessment of academic excellence.

✔ The AD Scientific Index Advantage: With real-time data updates, a transparent methodology, and a strong focus on academic impact, this ranking ensures that achievements in Social Sciences & Humanities are properly recognized!

18. Art and Humanities Rankings

Specialized ranking for History, Philosophy, Theology, Linguistics and Literature, Archaeology, and Arts
Ensures achievements in arts and humanities are recognized
Provides balanced evaluation free from STEM dominance
Explorable at institutional and individual levels (H-index, i10 index, citations)

19. Pricing Policy

✅ Free Services

No charge for accessing individual and institutional rankings via the main category pages
Most comprehensive academic data (for individuals and institutions) is freely accessible on AD Scientific Index

✅ Premium Services

One-time fee (covering three years) for:
- More comprehensive analyses
- Ability to input and modify data on Scientist and Institution pages
- Full control over your academic profile
Differentiated pricing based on income levels of countries
Strict deletion policy for unethical or misleading profiles applies to all users (including paid)

We remain academically and economically independent, offering unbiased services to the academic community.

20. Privacy – Data Policy

We respect personal rights and data deletion requests.
Click here for more information on our privacy and data policies.