The impact factor is a measure of the importance of a journal based on the number of citations received in a year. ... Articles published in a journal with a high impact factor do not all receive a large number of citations, some articles may even receive none.
An author's h-index is equal to the highest number h of their publications that received at least h citations each.
The impact factor is calculated for journals, the h index for persons. Therefore it is not possible to say which is more important.
Generally, impact factor is a measure of the quality of journals while h-index is usually dedicated to authors (Of course, journals have also h-index). For a given research (for example, a research paper) you have to check the following to ensure if it have enough quality:
Where is it published? Better journals have usually higher impact factors. In usual, poor research can not be published in prestigious journals. Good papers are usually submitted to well-known journals. It is a general principle not for any paper in any journal. No doubt there are a lot exception!
The number of citations for a given paper, can be also a good criterion to assess particular paper. Seminal papers usually have higher citations, even in a short time after they are published; they are useful and so cited by others.
The author(s) is also important. Experienced researchers usually publish high-quality papers. It means established experts and their research work are more reliable than others.
There are also many other factors such as the visibility of a given paper, publishers, the hotness of field area, etc. affecting the quality and reliability of papers.
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