INSUFFICIENT DEFINITIONS OR A VAGUELY GRASPED NOTION? ON DEFINITIONS OF 'IMPACT'

Introduction.For a better theoretical understanding of the notion of “impact” (introduced by E. Garfield in 1955) definitions and perceptions of the mentioned notion used in scientometric literature have been analyzed.Materials and methods.Analytical interpretation of the scientific literature related to this problem (since 1955). The author considers the concept “impact” in its initial meaning of ‘scientific impact’.Results.The existing and used meanings of the term “impact” either are treated as a synonym of “influence” or do not go beyond the concept of “strong impression”, or coincide with the meaning of the term “pertinence”, or refer to purely technical indicators.Discussion and Conclusions.The conclusion has been made that that it is unreasonable to consider “impact” as a key notion of scientometrics because the notion is not sufficiently defined.