The influence of merging on h-type indices

Each information production process has a unique h-index. This paper studies the problem: what are possible h-index values if we merge two or more IPPs? the paper gives examples of IPP mergings. There are at least two types: one where common sources add their number of items and one where common sources get the maximum of their number of items in the two IPPs. h case we show that max ( h 1 , h 2 ) ≤ h ≤ h 1 + h 2 for both types of mergings (hi, i = 1, 2 the h-index in the two IPPs; h is the h-index in the merged one). w that the above inequalities cannot be improved (in both merging types). We also show that the same inequalities are true for the g-index and the R-index but that they are false for the weighted h-index. For the R-index we can even refine the above inequality R ≤ R 1 2 + R 2 2 < R 1 + R 2