Identifying Citation Classics in Fuzzy Decision Making Field Using the Concept of H-Classics

Citation classics identify those highly cited papers which are an important reference point in a research field. Identifying citation classics in a research field is one of the main approaches used to conduct a systematic evaluation of research performance. Highly cited articles are interesting due to the potential association between high citation counts and high quality research.The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the most frequently cited papers published into the Fuzzy Decision Making research field, using the H-Classics approach which is based in the well-known H-index. The Fuzzy Decision Making is represented by 70 highly citations classics which where published from 1981 to 2010. Furthermore, authors, affiliations, journals and the concept covered by those 70 highly cited documents are analyzed.We identify three countries that have contributed substantially to development of the Fuzzy Decision Making research field: Spain, Peoples Republic of China and USA. Regarding the journals, Fuzzy Sets and Systems, European Journal of Operation Research, IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems and International Journal of Intelligent Systems are the ones where the citations classics have been mainly published. Finally, the concepts covered by those citations classics are related with techniques and tools used in Fuzzy Sets theory and Fuzzy Decision Making research field, and terms related with Decision making theory and its developments.