Correspondence Response to Stephen Holgate

P rofessor Stephen Holgate commentson our statement that “the new UKResearch Excellence Framework (REF) puts more emphasis on bibliometric data and less on peer review than did its predecessor” [1]. As the Chair of Main Panel A of REF 2014, he describes the informed peer review process in his domain. In our opinion, peer review can indeed be considered as an ideal way of evaluating research. This process can be informed by bibliometric indicators to variable extents [2]. In the case of REF, our conclusion is that bibliometric indicators have obtained a more pronounced position than in the former Research Assessment Exercise. For example, sub-panel 11 (Computer Science and Informatics) intended to make use of Google Scholar as a source of citation information in addition to Scopus (Elsevier) data provided by the REF tea