Fifteen years of grey system theory research: A historical review and bibliometric analysis

The grey system theory, identified as one of the developed multiple attribute decision-making techniques, has been published by and indexed in over 300 internationally recognized refereed journals. The objective of this study is to conduct a bibliometric study on publication and citation patterns of grey system theory published from 1996 to 2010 through a systemic search using the ISI web-based databases with a specific focus on grey relational analysis (GRA) and grey prediction. Results of the study demonstrate that there has been a substantial increase in the number of peer-reviewed papers on GRA or grey prediction indexed by the ISI Web of Knowledge. Also, citation analysis was used to examine the contributions of GRA and grey prediction studies. This bibliometric analysis would provide a ready reference for scholarly works on GRA and grey prediction, and serve as an informative summary kit for future research works.

► Competence criteria were decomposed into a hierarchical structure for AHP analysis.
► Prioritization of competences was determined by weighting criteria using Expert Choice.
► Consistency ratio was examined to ensure the validity of judgments.
► Highly ranked competences were determined as a foundation for future practices and research.