Ghanima Al-Sharrah

This paper is concerned with introducing a modified Copeland method as a relative and categorized ranking tool. Using the concept of partially ordered sets and the social choice theory, the Copeland score ranking methodology is applied outside its usual political voting environment to rank objects in the scientific field. The ranking methodology was assessed using 45 data sets with different number of objects and indicators and compared with other methods. Results show that the Copeland method appears as a good and stable tool for ranking objects giving results comparable to the Dominance and the Simple Additive Ranking methods with the advantage of lower sensitivity and CPU time. Also, it solves the problem of isolated objects found in some Hasse diagrams. Keywords: Copeland Method, Hasse Diagram, Categorized Ranking, Relative Ranking, Sensitivity.