Quantifying the value of a scientific contribution, especially in basic science, is extraordinarily difficult and so the attraction of a single summary statistic that could rank discoveries in neat order is understandable. Such a statistic would be incredibly convenient to many—from funding agencies to scholarly journal editors to tenure committees to PIs hiring postdocs and graduate students.

http://www.ascb.org/quantifying-the-value-of-a-scientific-contribution/

What is a scientific contribution ?

Knowledge contribution based on scientific method to conduct the research.

Quantifying the value of a scientific contribution, especially in basic science, is extraordinarily difficult and so the attraction of a single summary statistic that could rank discoveries in neat order is understandable. Such a statistic would be incredibly convenient to many—from funding agencies to scholarly journal editors to tenure committees to PIs hiring postdocs and graduate students.

http://www.ascb.org/quantifying-the-value-of-a-scientific-contribution/

A contribution in Science is a result which is: new, useful and applicable

Science is knowledge or systematic study of things. Contribution we can say as sharing.

Once we discover/identify any latest scientific items/systematic studies it is our duty to share with each and everyone. So that scientific knowledge goes further to develop in to new idea and that shows either it has +ve or -ve effects. 

So Scientific contribution is must and should for a researcher then only there is advancement in research.

For me, scientific contribution is anything that it may go the science and the society further.

Yes, Prof Aristidis is absolutely!!! Any scientific contribution for that matter is to be useful for people and society at large. Scientific contribution should not be pointedin the direction of destruction.

Of course once you discover latest advancement/developments in any field ultimately results are enjoyed by society only. Society is nothing but you n me.

 A scientific contribution is anything which adds to the current knowledge of science or other fields and the number of things that can be achieved by it. It might be a discovery, an innovation, etc. that contribute to society development.

Thank you all 

Imagine science as a circle and scientists as objects surrounded in this circle !

scientific contribution is trying to expand this circle in order to make the life of these objects and others better ...

we express our interest and involvement in science to innovate our dream is scientific contribution.

Dear @Saad, thanks for sharing the question. You have already got fine answers. We should not avoid the originality of the scientific contribution. There are some related threads that will help you in research on scientific contribution. Some questions are interesting regarding the number of authors and their particular contribution...

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_the_performance_indicator_of_different_attributes_of_scientists

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Do_you_think_that_the_contribution_of_the_first_author_of_a_scientific_paper_should_be_evaluated_more_than_coauthors_contributions

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Should_the_contribution_of_each_individual_author_of_an_article_be_valued_differently

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_should_one_judge_the_individual_contribution_and_credit_of_a_multi_author_paper

Any systematic & practice becomes scientific development  so to say scientific contribution . We should not consider any scientific development in isolation that is under a separate mode but it is to be viewed in totality for all the contribution may by human beings so that scientific contribution  can become a part for all the viewers & learner  as the part of the scientific contribution .

Scientific contribution is not necessary being a subject of merely a science or also the subject of laboratory . Scientific contribution to be viewed in very wide range with the end of a contributory effect for the entire human beings ,academic & professional personnel in any areas including a music ,painting & fine arts .

This is my personal opinion 

gathering of data and reporting is a scientific contribution

At present, research is going on all over the world practically in all subjects and generating millions of research articles and other documents. In some cases, the research works are generating very good results, in most cases mediocre, and in some cases negative results. Basing research results, awards, fellowships, promotion, selection for a job, etc are decided. For all these, evaluation of research output becomes sine qua non...

Numerous indicators serve to measure scientific contribution.

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002322/232210E.pdf

(1) Science is the concerted human effort to understand the history of the natural world and how the natural world works. It is done through observation of natural phenomena, and/or through experimentation that tries to simulate natural processes under controlled conditions. The scientists make and record observations of nature, or of simulations of nature, in order to learn more about how nature, in the broadest sense, works.

(2) In most cases, they collect information to test new ideas or to disprove old ones. Scientists become famous for discovering new things that change how we think about nature. Many scientists find their greatest joy in a discovery that explains problem previously not explained, or that overturns some previously accepted idea.

(3) Scientists also work for corporations and are paid to generate new knowledge about how a particular chemical affects the growth of soybeans or how petroleum forms deep in the earth. The knowledge generated by them is kept secret by their employers for the development of new products or technologies.

(4) Doing research in the lab or in the field may be science, but it isn't necessarily a contribution to knowledge. No one in the scientific community will know about a piece of scientific research until it is published in a peer-reviewed journal. They may hear about new research at a meeting or learn about it through the grapevine of newsgroups, but nothing's taken too seriously until publication of the data.

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

Please, see....

UNESCO award sheds light on women's contribution in science

"Chinese paleontologist Chang Mee-Mann joined the ranks of laureates of L'Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards over the weekend, shedding the light on female science pioneers in a country that boasts the highest percentage of female students in science and engineering in the Asia-Pacific region despite prevailing prejudice.

The 82-year-old scientist of the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in China, was honored for "her pioneering work on fossil records leading to insights on how aquatic vertebrates adapted to life and land," the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)..."

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/03-26/297109.shtml

I think it is a set of new useful ideas based on a scientific methodology

Yes dear Karim !