History and research assessment exercises

While it is recognised that Research Assessment Exercises stimulate activit y and that successive history panels have sensitively developed appropriate procedures, nonetheless there is much unease among university historians a bout the impact of RAEs on their subject. This paper argues that such conce rn reflects characteristics of the discipline that make selective funding o f university departments of history especially awkward. Historians study as individuals and as specialists, not in departmental teams. Resources-espec ially time free from teaching and administrative burdens-have not been equa lly distributed between university departments, and in consequence RAEs in history are likely simply to confirm the wisdom of past funding decisions. The identfication of 'international excellent' historians is particularly p roblematic. And distortions arising from the tendency of university managem ents to treat RAEs as a game rewarding the tactically astute exert a damagi ng influence: good research will not be achieved by bullying historians to produce a monograph for every RAE.