The evaluation of scientists and academic staff needs to be done by independent evaluation panels based on a (subjective) assessment of the scientific merits of their publications. In every reasonable place it's also done that way. In addition to this, funding for time-limited contracts has to be treated similar to investment funding, i.e., evaluate very carefully in the beginning and do an internal evaluation of the performance afterwards (mostly to evaluate the initial evaluation) but avoid continuous evaluation and mostly only advise/help during the contract period.
The worst thing to have is indicator counting of any kind. The system will be swamped with mediocre, sometimes almost fraudulent scientists who game it. (It's just too easy to game the system: Just find a bunch of friends who put their names on your papers, and you do the same with their papers, and you've multiplied your "results".)
H-Index is also flawed. In my area in the humanities papers and books are often quoted everywhere because they are so bad. I know scholars who have made a career by publishing outrageous and needlessly polemic books and articles. Everybody will jump on the low-hanging fruit, rightly criticize this work, the original authors get plenty of opportunities to publish defences, and then they get their tenure. Publishers like Oxford UP know what sells and are actively looking for crap like that.
The worst thing to have is indicator counting of any kind. The system will be swamped with mediocre, sometimes almost fraudulent scientists who game it. (It's just too easy to game the system: Just find a bunch of friends who put their names on your papers, and you do the same with their papers, and you've multiplied your "results".)
H-Index is also flawed. In my area in the humanities papers and books are often quoted everywhere because they are so bad. I know scholars who have made a career by publishing outrageous and needlessly polemic books and articles. Everybody will jump on the low-hanging fruit, rightly criticize this work, the original authors get plenty of opportunities to publish defences, and then they get their tenure. Publishers like Oxford UP know what sells and are actively looking for crap like that.