Critics consider Ellison an important contributor to science fiction, despite his stance that he is not a science fiction writer. A prolific author and editor, Ellison is praised for his contributions to the genre and for his work in elevating it in the eyes of the reading public. Thomas Dillingham of Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume Eight: Twentieth-Century American Science Fiction Writers comments,

There can be little doubt... that Ellison has been an important force in the field, publicizing good writing, insisting on the dignity of his own and his colleagues' work, and writing some very fine stories himself.

In St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers, a contributor observes that Ellison's body of work "is more multifaceted than that of perhaps any other science-fiction author, and because of the variety of things he does ... he continues to be an important force in science fiction."

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