Editing Research Assessment Exercise (section)

===2008===

The 2008 RAE used a four-point quality scale, and returned a profile, rather than a single aggregate quality score, for each unit.
The quality levels—based on assessment of research outputs, research environment and indicators of esteem—are defined as:

{| class="wikitable"
! Rating !! Description
|-
| 4* || Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour
|-
| 3* || Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour but which nonetheless falls short of the highest standards of excellence
|-
| 2* || Quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour
|-
| 1* || Quality that is recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour
|-
| Unclassified || Quality that falls below the standard of nationally recognised work. Or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment.
|}

Each unit of assessment was given a ''quality profile'' – a five-column histogram – indicating the proportion of the research that meets each of four quality levels or is unclassified.