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Main Authors: Sudheendra, Smitha Muthya, Zhang, Zhongxing, Cao, Wenwen, Huh, Jisu, Srivastava, Jaideep
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.12966
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author Sudheendra, Smitha Muthya
Zhang, Zhongxing
Cao, Wenwen
Huh, Jisu
Srivastava, Jaideep
author_facet Sudheendra, Smitha Muthya
Zhang, Zhongxing
Cao, Wenwen
Huh, Jisu
Srivastava, Jaideep
contents The scientific community increasingly relies on open data sharing, yet existing metrics inadequately capture the true impact of datasets as research outputs. Traditional measures, such as the h-index, focus on publications and citations but fail to account for dataset accessibility, reuse, and cross-disciplinary influence. We propose the X-index, a novel author-level metric that quantifies the value of data contributions through a two-step process: (i) computing a dataset-level value score (V-score) that integrates breadth of reuse, FAIRness, citation impact, and transitive reuse depth, and (ii) aggregating V-scores into an author-level X-index. Using datasets from computational social science, medicine, and crisis communication, we validate our approach against expert ratings, achieving a strong correlation. Our results demonstrate that the X-index provides a transparent, scalable, and low-cost framework for assessing data-sharing practices and incentivizing open science. The X-index encourages sustainable data-sharing practices and gives institutions, funders, and platforms a tangible way to acknowledge the lasting influence of research datasets.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_12966
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Beyond Citations: A Cross-Domain Metric for Dataset Impact and Shareability
Sudheendra, Smitha Muthya
Zhang, Zhongxing
Cao, Wenwen
Huh, Jisu
Srivastava, Jaideep
Computers and Society
The scientific community increasingly relies on open data sharing, yet existing metrics inadequately capture the true impact of datasets as research outputs. Traditional measures, such as the h-index, focus on publications and citations but fail to account for dataset accessibility, reuse, and cross-disciplinary influence. We propose the X-index, a novel author-level metric that quantifies the value of data contributions through a two-step process: (i) computing a dataset-level value score (V-score) that integrates breadth of reuse, FAIRness, citation impact, and transitive reuse depth, and (ii) aggregating V-scores into an author-level X-index. Using datasets from computational social science, medicine, and crisis communication, we validate our approach against expert ratings, achieving a strong correlation. Our results demonstrate that the X-index provides a transparent, scalable, and low-cost framework for assessing data-sharing practices and incentivizing open science. The X-index encourages sustainable data-sharing practices and gives institutions, funders, and platforms a tangible way to acknowledge the lasting influence of research datasets.
title Beyond Citations: A Cross-Domain Metric for Dataset Impact and Shareability
topic Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.12966