The chapter takes an external view of the Italian evaluation experience in SSH, as described in various chapters of this volume. It compares the choices made by the Italian Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR) to those of other countries, in light of the international literature on evaluation criteria, methodologies, and techniques. While not offering policy recommendations, the chapter articulates in a reflexive way the notion of research quality, and calls for a deepening of the cultural foundations of the evaluation exercise, based on cross-country differences rooted in language and history.