Abstract: At present, the main academic appraisal system using by countries all over the world is quantitative assessment and peer review. Most countries mainly use the peer review; the quantitative assessment is just a supplement. Since the late 1980s, China has been more and more paying attention to academic quantitative indicators, it shows a trend of extremes. The phenomenon is extremely harmful to the academic development, personnel training, and technological innovation. Therefore, the academic appraisal system must be improved and the quantitative assessment must be used correctly and rationally in order to play the encouragement and guidance function of academic appraisal.

Key words:     academic appraisal, quantitative appraisal index, peer review