Rising Stars: Expert Reviews and Reputational Yardsticks in the Research Excellence Framework

We use the UK's 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) to study attributes of top‐scoring (four‐star) publications in Economics and Econometrics. Although official documents contain aggregate scores for each institution, we show how these aggregates can be used infer score awarded by REF panellists publication. demonstrate that this responds journal prestige as measured Thomson Reuters Article Influence Score. Several econometric analyses confirm limited contribution other publication attributes, such citation counts, score, top generalist five economics journals are four stars unambiguously. conclude large‐scale evaluations REF, peer reviews bibliometrics should viewed complementary modes assessment; time‐consuming task would more cost‐effective if targeted at whose quality cannot classified unambiguously using bibliometrics.