This paper proposes the composite ratio and Euclidean aggregation (CREA) method, a new multi-criteria decision-making approach for biotechnology country evaluation. CREA assesses national biotechnology performance by integrating heterogeneous criteria related to regulation, innovation, research productivity, market size, clinical-trial activity, human capital, and intellectual-property protection. The method applies a common fixed-reference normalization expression to both criterion types while preserving their different preference directions. The benefit-performance and non-benefit-burden components are then aggregated separately and integrated through a hybrid Euclidean–ratio index. Objective criterion weights were determined using the SITDE method. Biotech patents received the highest weight of 0.126, while the IP protection index received the lowest weight of 0.048. The empirical application evaluated 13 countries using 10 criteria. The United States ranked first with a CREA score of 3.575, followed by Israel with 3.297 and China with 3.279, whereas Canada ranked last with a score of 1.058. Comparative analysis with RAM, COPRAS, MOORA, MOOSRA, and MULTI-MOORA produced Spearman correlations ranging from 0.962 to 0.995. Under the tested Ct5 weight-perturbation scenarios, the maximum absolute changes in CREA scores ranged from 0.17% to 4.45%, while the ranking positions of all 13 countries remained unchanged. In one rank-reversal experiment involving the addition of Denmark, the rankings of the original countries remained unchanged under CREA, whereas TOPSIS produced rank changes for 11 countries. These findings provide preliminary evidence of ranking stability and practical usefulness in the present biotechnology benchmarking application. Broader validation using larger samples, multiple datasets, and additional rank-reversal scenarios is required before general conclusions regarding the stability of CREA can be drawn.
Citation: Yalamanda Babu Gopisetty, E. Hymavathi, Vijaya Ramu Dirisala, Ravitez Dondeti. A novel composite ratio and Euclidean aggregation (CREA) multi-criteria decision-making method for decision support in cross-country biomedical and biotechnology research system evaluation[J]. Journal of Industrial and Management Optimization, 2026, 22(9): 4339-4386. doi: 10.3934/jimo.2026152
This paper proposes the composite ratio and Euclidean aggregation (CREA) method, a new multi-criteria decision-making approach for biotechnology country evaluation. CREA assesses national biotechnology performance by integrating heterogeneous criteria related to regulation, innovation, research productivity, market size, clinical-trial activity, human capital, and intellectual-property protection. The method applies a common fixed-reference normalization expression to both criterion types while preserving their different preference directions. The benefit-performance and non-benefit-burden components are then aggregated separately and integrated through a hybrid Euclidean–ratio index. Objective criterion weights were determined using the SITDE method. Biotech patents received the highest weight of 0.126, while the IP protection index received the lowest weight of 0.048. The empirical application evaluated 13 countries using 10 criteria. The United States ranked first with a CREA score of 3.575, followed by Israel with 3.297 and China with 3.279, whereas Canada ranked last with a score of 1.058. Comparative analysis with RAM, COPRAS, MOORA, MOOSRA, and MULTI-MOORA produced Spearman correlations ranging from 0.962 to 0.995. Under the tested Ct5 weight-perturbation scenarios, the maximum absolute changes in CREA scores ranged from 0.17% to 4.45%, while the ranking positions of all 13 countries remained unchanged. In one rank-reversal experiment involving the addition of Denmark, the rankings of the original countries remained unchanged under CREA, whereas TOPSIS produced rank changes for 11 countries. These findings provide preliminary evidence of ranking stability and practical usefulness in the present biotechnology benchmarking application. Broader validation using larger samples, multiple datasets, and additional rank-reversal scenarios is required before general conclusions regarding the stability of CREA can be drawn.
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