Call for papers for Volume 12 (2021), Number 2

2021-07-15

In recent times, constructing composite indicators has become very popular in the scientific literature. At the same time, various world organizations (World Bank, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Health Organization, International Monetary Fund, etc.) have been constructing composite indices. When constructing composite indices, in the weighting and aggregation process, different Operational research methods (e.g., Multi-Criteria Decision Making, Statistical methods, Data Envelopment Analysis, Quadratic Programming, …) are frequently used.

The quality of composite indices depends on the theoretical knowledge of the behavior and the quality of data and in the end, about the method(s) applied. As these indicators are very often included in economic modeling, the quality of composite indices can have significant impacts on the empirical results. Since most of the methods used in index constructions are from the field of Operational Research, we have decided to pay special attention to research dealing with the construction of composite index to capture a broader picture of the different methods that can be used for composite index construction. Advantages and disadvantages of different methods with regard to different types of data, size sample, the number of criteria, …

You are invited to submit papers which consider the construction of composite indices from different aspects. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Case study that applies one of the OR methods in the construction of composite indices (the whole procedure has to be presented: collecting data, type of data, normalization of data, weighting method)
  • Empirical papers that compare the advantages and disadvantages of different OR methods in the composite indicator construction with guidelines for performing different methods in specific situations
  • Developing a hybrid OR method for constructing composite indices

Finally, scientific papers from various aspects of operational research (OR) with the aim of presenting scientific ideas that will contribute both to theoretical development and practical application of OR are also welcomed.