Abstract
The Impact Factor, the citation index, the Institute for Scientific Information, Thomson Reuters and the whole of scientometry had long been common concepts in the academic world. It was not so in the communist bloc countries.
Professor Milan Špála, MD., PhD. was one of the limited number of experts in Czechoslovakia who in the 1980s monitored the development of scientometric, bibliographic and database support for research in medicine and the natural sciences. Professor Špála shared his knowledge with unwavering enthusiasm at first with his close colleagues, and after the change of regime throughout the academic community.
He made a significant contribution to the fact that we in the Czech Republic also adopted information support for science.