Abstract
The expectation that scientific research should provide answers to societal issues and support institutional decision-making is increasing, but still there are no systematic methods of identifying and measuring the wider societal impacts of research. In this article, various views on the meaning of impact, the different types of impact or influence that research can have on the society, and the potential of altmetrics to capture and measure this societal impact will be discussed.
Highlights
An important goal or mission of research is that it should advance more research by creating grounds for new research to build upon, or to allow other researchers to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’ as Newton so eloquently noted when attributing his success to the work of those before him
With the data collection issues, potential presence of bots and the lack of original thought in online messages mentioning research articles, it may be challenging to find any demonstrable evidence of behavioral changes or of the impact research may have had on society
Altmetrics are currently being investigated for that purpose, if and how they could be used to assess societal impact of research
Summary
An important goal or mission of research is that it should advance more research by creating grounds for new research to build upon, or to allow other researchers to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’ as Newton so eloquently noted when attributing his success to the work of those before him. With the increasing demand for evidence of different forms of a wider societal impact of research, new ways to identify and measure these types of impact are needed.
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