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The article discusses the results of a poll made by the journal "Nature" on what and how metrics are used in academic institutions. It says that 150 readers responded to the survey and provosts, department heads, and other administrators were also surveyed at nearly 30 research institutions throughout the world. It states that three-quarters of the researchers surveyed said that metrics are used in promotion and hiring decisions, and about 70% mentioned that metrics are applied in performance review and tenure decisions. Moreover, most administrators asserted that they ignore the metrics in promotion, hiring, and tenure decisions. It discusses how metrics are used in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The article reports on the revaluation of the new Research Excellence Framework as a replacement to the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) peer-review system in England. The new system will allocate its £1 billion to department mainly on the basis of citations as an attempt by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to make the process fairer and the applications process easier. It stated that the new system might discriminate against researchers who had no time to build up many citations. However, the HEFCE defends the new system and cited that the university sector is broadly behind the proposals.