A comprehensive guide to the TOPSIS method for multi-criteria decision making

Abstract

One common multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique is the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), which is frequently applied in several application fields. Finding an ideal and an anti-ideal solution, which are then utilized to determine the distances between the alternatives and the ideal solution, is the foundation of the TOPSIS approach. The method then ranks the alternatives according to their closeness to the ideal solution. TOPSIS is able to handle both quantitative and qualitative criteria, however, the method can be sensitive to the weight of the criteria, and the ranking results can be influenced by the choice of the reference alternatives. This paper provides an overview of the TOPSIS method, its applications, main characteristics and limitations. The paper also provides step-by-step instructions on how to apply the TOPSIS method, including the determination of the criteria weights, the construction of the decision matrix, and the calculation of the TOPSIS scores.