The contemporary world is witnessing rapid development of scientometric methods. In Lithuania, scientometric tools have been used to evaluate scientific products for many ye­ars, thus raised numerous discussions regarding their validity among the research communi­ty. Neither globally nor on the scale of Lithuania, relevance of scientometric methods leaves no doubt. Taking into account the need to evaluate research activity, success of such methods and their faultlessness is mostly related to exhaustive study of the method, analysis of indicators and indexes, and unambiguous perception of concepts. The objective of the article is to review the development of scientometrics, attempt systemising the currently used indicators and defining concepts and reveal possibilities of their use, on the basis of experience of foreign researchers.

Article in Lithuanian