The article is devoted to the analysis of the specifics institutional mechanism assessment for the scientific research effectiveness in France, where national dirigiste traditions are clearly manifested. Despite a series of cardinal reforms of recent decades in the field of management of the field of R&D and higher education, France continues to operate a centralized model of the organization of assessment, where the decisive positions are held by the highest bodies of state administrative power in the person of specialized unified national services for the assessment of R&D and higher education ( HCERES and etc.). The author tried to show the originality of these institutions and the main problems they faced, as well as to understand the reasons for their viability. The research focuses on the analysis of the methods and criteria used by them for evaluating scientific activities. Particular attention is paid to quantitative assessments of scientific research based on bibliometric indicators (“impact factor”, etc.), as well as on the basis of efficiency and profitability criteria. During the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using quantitative assessment indicators, it was found that in the conditions of France, an assessment based on bibliometric tools over the past 20 years has gradually turning into a tool for centralized management of research organizations, research teams and individual scientists.