Demonstrating impact: a possible approach for the LIS researcher

Abstract

For many years, research has been judged according to the number of citations it attracts. However, this criterion may be criticised for paying no attention to differences in the nature of individual citations. This article shows how researchers can produce an impact continuum, with one pole highlighting situations where their work is integral to a later study and the other scenarios where it is only peripheral. The continuum presented here suggests ten categories of use and examples from the author’s own work are given as illustrations. The paper also outlines problems associated with the continuum. These include subjectivity in the placement of the categories and the potential difficulty of determining how far a particular study has actually influenced the thinking of a later researcher. Nevertheless, there are clear ways in which the structure may be helpful to readers seeking to highlight their research impact through typologies and case studies.