Valutare la produttività scientifica individuale e istituzionale

In this paper a simple indicator is proposed, born as an evolution of a proposal done in 1999 by the Observatory for the Evaluation of the University near the MURST. Such indicator can provide an estimate of the actual scientific productivity of individual teachers and researchers, but also of the structures and institutions to which they pertains, done through administrative data already included in the data-base managed by CINECA. Although, in this note, the exercise is limited to applying the indicator to publications, it can be extended to any activities related to research, without conceptual difficulties and with little operative difficulties. This indicator, whose elaboration is fast and with low cost (or even zero cost), is not explicitly ori-ented to the evaluation of the quality of scientific research, but it highlights the im-mediate relevance for the "meritocracy" modification that Government wishes to per-form in the Italian university system, even with economic levers