Decision making methods based on fuzzy aggregation operators: three decades review from 1986 to 2017

Abstract

In many real-life decision making (DM) situations, the available information is vague or imprecise. To adequately solve decision problems with vague or imprecise information, fuzzy set theory and aggregation operator theory have become powerful tools. In last three decades, DM theories and methods under fuzzy aggregation operator have been proposed and developed for effectively solving the DM problems and numerous applications have been reported in the literature. While various aggregation operators have been suggested and developed, there is a lack of research regarding systematic literature review and classification of study in this field. Regarding this, Web of Science database has been nominated and systematic and meta-analysis method called “PRISMA” has been proposed. Accordingly, a review of 312 published articles appearing in 33 popular journals related to fuzzy set theory, aggregation operator theory and DM approaches between July 1986 and June 2017 have been attained to reach a comprehensive review of DM methods and aggregation operator environment. Consequently, the selected published articles have been categorized by name of author(s), the publication year, technique, application area, country, research contribution and journals in which they appeared. The findings of this study found that, ordered weighted averaging (OWA) has been the highest frequently accessed more than other areas. This systematic review shows that the DM theories under fuzzy aggregation operator environment have received a great deal of interest from researchers and practitioners in many disciplines.