The other H-index: the hyperbole index

Excerpt

This invited viewpoint co-authored by Dr. Andrew J. Bell and Dr. Dragan Damjanovic, both preeminent researchers in electroceramics, elaborates on the unintended but not inconsequential impact of the use of hyperbole in scientific communication with a focus on recent research on the development of lead-free piezoelectric materials. In writing a manuscript for a peer review journal such as the Journal of Materials Science, it is of course customary to justify the basic purpose of the research. This is absolutely critical when writing grant proposals, but within scientific communications, it is also helpful to provide the proper context for the results in relation to some technological target (e.g., properties, functionality, cost, etc.). While as a scientific community, we (i.e., researchers, editors, technology developers and end users) all share a common fundamental understanding of the need to present the research findings with the utmost honesty and integrity (and by “findings” I mean the actual data). These ideals are not uniformly adhered to in describing the impact of those findings, and this is where hyperbole fills the void as a means of enhancing the impact of the work. …