The Most Influential Scientist in the Development of Medical informatics (17): Eugene Garfield

145 EUGENE GARFIELD (1925–2017) Eugene Garfield (1925-2017) is an American scientist, one of the founders of bibliometrics and scientometrics (13). He received a PhD in Structural Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. Dr. Garfield was the founder of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), which was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He founded the ISI in 1960 and developed an indexing system for science literature, based on the analysis of citations used within a given work. Works earn an “impact factor,” a measure of citations to other science journals that serves as an indicator of their importance in the field. The more citations in reputable journals, the higher the impact factor. The ISI sold subscriptions to their publication the Science Citation Index, and over time grew to include the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI). These databases now form the foundation of the online research tool called the Web of Knowledge. He is responsible for many innovative bibliographic products, including Current