unofficial league tables have been created of university research capability by aggregating the results from units of assessment. Compiling league tables of universities based on the RAE is problematic, as volume and quality are both significant factors. Assessment process The assessment process for the RAE focuses on quality of research outputs (which usually means papers published in academic journals and conference proceedings), research environment, and indicators of esteem. Each subject panel determines precise rules within general guidance. For RAE 2008, institutions are invited to submit four research outputs, published between January 2001 and December 2007, for each full-time member of staff selected for inclusion. In response to criticism of earlier assessments, and developments in employment law, the 2008 RAE does more to take into account part-time workers or those new to a sufficient level of seniority to be included in the process. Criticism The RAE has not been without its critics. In its different iterations, it has divided opinion among researchers, managers and policy makers. Amongst the criticisms is the fact that it explicitly ignores the publications of most full-time researchers in the UK, on the grounds that they are employed on fixed term contracts. According to the RAE 2008 guidelines, most research assistants are "not eligible to be listed as research active staff". Publications by researchers on fixed term contracts are excluded from the Assessment Exercise unless those publications can be credited to a member of staff who is eligible for the RAE. This applies even if the member of staff being assessed only made a minor contribution to the article. The opposite phenomenon is also true, where non-research active staff on permanent contracts, such as lecturers who have been responsible primarily for teaching activities have also found themselves placed under deeper contractual pressure by their employing universities to produce research output. Another issue is that it is doubtful whether panels of experts have the necessary expertise to evaluate the quality of research outputs, as experts perform much less well as soon as they are outside their particular area of specialisation. Since 1996 the AUT, now incorporated within the UCU, has maintained a policy of opposition to the Research Assessment Exercise. In its view, The official Review of Research Assessment, the 2003 "Roberts Report" commissioned by the UK funding bodies, recommended changes to research assessment, partly in response to such criticisms. The House of Commons Science and Technology Select