Quantifying a scientist's intellectual leadership

We propose a new metric, the Intellectual Leadership Quotient (ILQ) to quantify the intellectual leadership demonstrated by a researcher. The ILQ provides a simple, accurate and quantifiable measure of a scientist's intellectual leadership. In our view, both the ILQ as well as the Hirsch (h) index should be considered concurrently when judging the scholarly work of a scientist. We propose that to be considered a leader who is shaping the field, ILQ values in excess of 80 in conjunction with a high h index would be necessary. In addition to facilitating better judgements related to faculty hiring, promotion/ tenure cases, and society awards, the use of the ILQ will enable funding agencies to make better, more well-informed decisions. Other benefits of the ILQ include curbing unethical h index inflation and discouraging the frivolous addition of co-authors to a manuscript. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.