Evaluation of research publications and its impact on research: the case of Great Britain

The evaluation of research publications has been discussed in Britain for a number of years, but unlike some other European countries, this has not been in order to establish a formal system for evaluating or ranking journals or book publishers. The discussion has taken place in the context of the national Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and its successor the Research Excellence Framework (REF), which take place at five- to seven-year intervals, and where individual research publications a..