Quick fixes for research assessment exercise will not work

EDITOR—Tomlinson challenges those who seek to abandon the research assessment exercise to propose a credible alternative for the accountable allocation of public money.1 Goldbeck-Wood quotes a patients' spokesman, Clive Wilkinson, as saying, “The public understands that research is essential; but it needs to be on their terms—not on the basis of what is comfortable to academics.”2 The research assessment …