Using mathematical programming to solve large ranking problems

This paper introduces a mathematical programming model that overcomes the major methodological problem of a large ranking task: respondent fatigue and deteriorated decision quality caused by an excessive number of objects to be ranked. The model was applied to the problem of ranking Marketing and International Business journals. There are more than 200 such journals, making direct ranking or rating very difficult, if not impossible. The result shows that the mathematical programming model uses very little information and yet can produce rankings that are in agreement with results obtained from direct ranking studies.