Scientific communications should be measurable.
Most teams are only seeing part of the picture.
A composite measurement framework that gives you a complete view of how your evidence base is actually performing.
Talk to us about the SIIMore metrics than ever — fewer answers
Medical affairs and publications teams have more metrics available to them than at any point in the past, but frequently it's the same few quantitative stats that end up standing as a proxy for sucess.
Measures like impact factor and number of publication, taken individually, don't tell you whether your scientific communications are actually working — whether the right audiences are finding your evidence, engaging with it, and interpreting it the way you intended.
Then there are the 'hidden' metrics — values that aren't immediately obvious, but that affect how your communications are ranked and prioritised.
The Scientific Impact Index (SII) was developed to move teams away from measuring volume, to data that answers questions about impact.
What the SII measures
Can your content be found?
Not just indexed — actively surfaced. This includes traditional search visibility, content availability, venue strength, and AI discoverability: whether your publications are structured in a way that allows both humans and AI systems to discover your key claims.
Is your content being used?
Citation uptake, citation performance relative to the broader field, and forward-looking indicators of impact all contribute to a view of whether the evidence is being picked up and built upon by the scientific community.
Is your content being interpreted correctly?
The hardest dimension to measure, and the one most commonly omitted. This includes whether AI search outputs accurately represent your key messages, and whether content is serving its intended communicative purpose where HCPs encounter it.
Why existing metrics aren't enough
Submissions to a high-impact journal can still be invisible in AI-generated responses. A congress poster can be shared widely and still fail to communicate the most important message. A key presentation can leave audiences picking up unintended talking points.
Individual metrics are useful. They tell you one thing. The SII exists to tell you something more complete — a single, structured view of how all scientific assets are performing across all these dimensions that determine real-world impact.
It also connects asset performance to your scientific narrative. The SII includes message-level impact mapping: each asset's score is attributed to the priority scientific messages it supports, so you can see which messages are best supported by high-impact evidence — and where the gaps are.
What the SII produces
Asset-level scoring
Every manuscript, abstract, congress output, or other scientific asset receives a composite SII score, broken down by pillar. You can see at a glance which assets are performing — and which aren't.
Pillar-level diagnostics
A low SII score can be driven by poor visibility, weak engagement, or inadequate representation in AI outputs. The pillar breakdown tells you where the problem is — which is the starting point for knowing what to fix.
Message impact mapping
Each priority scientific message receives a weighted impact score based on the SII scores of the assets that support it. This gives you a view of the evidence strength behind each message — and which messages need more high-performing assets.
Competitive context
Where relevant, the SII can be applied to competitor publications in the same area, giving you a benchmarked view of how your evidence base compares to others competing for the same clinical territory.
How we work
Define the assets
A programme's full publications set, a congress portfolio, or a focused subset of manuscripts. Scope is defined with you upfront.
Message mapping
We work with your team to define and map the priority scientific messages the evidence base is designed to support.
Data collection and analysis
We collect the data, run the analysis across all three SII pillars, and score each asset.
Reporting and insight
Receive a dashboard with scored outputs, pillar breakdowns, and message-level insight — in a format your stakeholders can use.
The SII is not a software product. It's a consulting engagement — we build and run the analysis, work with your team on the message mapping, and deliver outputs directly.
We can also build the SII into ongoing tracking — running it on a defined cadence as the evidence base evolves, so you have a living picture of portfolio performance over time.
Who this is for
Medical affairs teams
Looking to move beyond isolated metrics and demonstrate the real-world impact of their scientific communications portfolio to internal stakeholders and leadership.
Publications teams
Responsible for a programme or therapy area evidence base who want to understand where to focus — which assets to promote, which messages need reinforcement, and how the portfolio compares to competitors.
MedComms agencies
Working with pharma clients on publications planning and wanting to offer a more sophisticated view of publication performance than standard bibliometric tools provide.
Interested in what a complete view of impact looks like?
We're happy to walk through what an SII engagement would look like for your programme — including scope, deliverables, and what you'd take away.
Talk to us about the SII