Determined to promote meritocracy and quality, Italy's minister of Education, University and Research, Letizia Moratti, has launched an evaluation plan to scrutinize the country's entire research system.

Twenty committees and a network of about 30,000 experts are going to evaluate the Italian research production in an attempt to regulate the way funding is distributed.

“Indiscriminate financing will be a thing of the past. Funds will be given to those who deserve them, on the basis of an in-depth evaluation,” Franco Cuccurullo, president of the Committee for the Evaluation of Research (CIVR), told The Scientist.

Created in 1999, CIVR is made up of seven experts appointed by the government on a 4-year basis. The committee already evaluates work from ministry-run research centers such as the National Research Center and the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment. From now on, it will organize the evaluation process for...

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