The Association of Business Schools publishes a journal quality guide that is used to evaluate the research output of academics in management schools in the UK and other NW European countries. Journals are ranked out of four, with 4* being the best ranking. Obviously academics are rewarded for publishing lots of articles in high-ranked journals. The current guide (4.0) is here. A new guide, version 5, is being prepared and is anxiously awaited.
We have received this progress report explaining the process and methodology for the preparation of the new rankings.
The following sentences were of interest:
The key point to reiterate is that the list is a hybrid one, and ultimately reflects the opinion of experts, and does not follow any rigid formula dictated by the metrics, but is partially informed by the information they contain.
A suitable analogy would be a motor car review published in the motoring press, which presents a rating based on subjective opinion, in some manner informed by objective performance data.

Jeremy Clarkson, Motoring Journalist
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