ABSTRACT
A development common to almost all professional organizations is the increasing use of performance measurement systems (PMSs): the evaluation of professionals, based upon quantification of their performance. Judges are evaluated based on the number of verdicts, scientists on the number of publications, doctors on the number of interventions, and schools on their test scores. If performance can be quantified, professionals or professional organizations can also be ranked. Sometimes these rankings are only disclosed to the professionals in question, but it happens more and more often that they are openly accessible. By now, we are all familiar with national rankings, for instance of hospitals and schools, and with the international ranking of universities in the The Times Higher Education Supplement.
