This paper studies the evolution of the national system of assessment of public research in the Netherlands in the context of Dutch science policy and university governance. It puts a specific focus on the use and relevance of the bibliometric indicators as a tool for measuring scientific quality in former and current evaluation practices. The study draws on policy documents, archival material and 11 expert interviews with bibliometricians and science policy stakeholders. Also more than 200 evaluation reports of the past 20 years of national Dutch research evaluation have been studied. First results show that the use of advanced bibliometric methods occurs at a stable, yet low level in the nineties in the evaluation reports and increases strongly as of the early 2000s. Most review committees value the data as a supporting or confirming additional piece of evidence in their assessments. The firm establishment of bibliometrics in the Dutch evaluation landscape is the result of several overlapping historical ...