Assessing basic research: Reappraisal and update of an evaluation of four radio astronomy observatories

This paper critically reassesses the results of a previous evaluation of the research performance of four radio astronomy observatories over the period 1969¿1978, completed by two of the authors in 1980. At the same time, the evaluation is updated by presenting bibliometric (publication and citation) data for the subsequent five-year period 1979¿1983. While application of a more developed evaluation methodology is shown not to alter significantly the conclusions arrived at in the earlier study, there is evidence that the relative research performance of the four observatories has changed significantly since 1978.