  The use of outcome control modes of research evaluation exercises is ever
more frequent. They are conceived as tools to stimulate increased levels of
research productivity, and to guide choices in allocating components of
government research budgets for publicly funded institutions. There are several
contributions in the literature that compare the different methodological
approaches that policy makers could adopt for these exercises, however the
comparisons are limited to only a few disciplines. This work, examining the
case of the whole of the "hard sciences" of the Italian academic system, makes
a comparison between results obtained from peer review type of evaluations (as
adopted by the Ministry of Universities and Research) and those possible from a
bibliometric approach (as developed by the authors). The aim is to understand
to what extent bibliometric methodology, which is noted as relatively
inexpensive, time-saving and exhaustive, can complement and integrate peer
review methodology in research evaluation.
