  The 2004-2010 VQR, completed in July 2013, was Italy's second national
research assessment exercise. The VQR performance evaluation followed a pattern
also seen in other nations, in being based on a selected subset of products. In
this work we identify the exercise's methodological weaknesses and measure the
distortions that result from them in the university performance rankings. First
we create a scenario in which we assume the efficient selection of the products
to be submitted by the universities and from this simulate a set of rankings
applying the precise VQR rating criteria. Next we compare these "VQR rankings"
with those that would derive from application of more appropriate
bibliometrics. Finally we extend the comparison to university rankings based on
the entire scientific production for the period, as indexed in the Web of
Science.
