Ranking national R&D organisations: a data envelopment analysis

Abstract

Ranking and awarding the national research and development (R&D) organisations on a multiple criteria is a complex and yet challenging task. In this paper, a hybrid model based on data envelopment analysis/analytical hierarchy process (DEA/AHP) has been applied to rank the national R&D organisations on the basis of their relative efficiencies. This model has been supported as it overcomes the limitations of both the methods when used in isolation that DEA cannot rank all the DMUs and AHP is highly subjective. The advantages of both the methods have been utilised to solve the problem of evaluating and ranking the performance of national R&D organisations in a more refined way. The hybrid model has been demonstrated by taking an illustration of six national R&D organisations considered as decision-making units (DMUs) by taking a set of multiple output measures and one input measure.