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<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD JATS (Z39.96) Journal Publishing DTD v1.0 20120330//EN" "JATS-journalpublishing1.dtd"><article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="research-article"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">INFORMATICA</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>Informatica</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="epub">0868-4952</issn><issn pub-type="ppub">0868-4952</issn><publisher><publisher-name>VU</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">INF25102</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.15388/Informatica.2014.02</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Research article</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Decision Making with Unknown Data: Development of ELECTRE Method Based on Black Numbers</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="Author"><name><surname>Hashemi</surname><given-names>Shide Sadat</given-names></name><email xlink:href="mailto:shide_hashemi@yahoo.com">shide_hashemi@yahoo.com</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="j_INFORMATICA_aff_000"/><xref ref-type="corresp" rid="fn1">∗</xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="Author"><name><surname>Razavi Hajiagha</surname><given-names>Seyed Hossein</given-names></name><email xlink:href="mailto:s.hossein.r@gmail.com">s.hossein.r@gmail.com</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="j_INFORMATICA_aff_001"/></contrib><contrib contrib-type="Author"><name><surname>Amiri</surname><given-names>Maghsoud</given-names></name><email xlink:href="mailto:mg_amiri@ie.sharif.edu">mg_amiri@ie.sharif.edu</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="j_INFORMATICA_aff_002"/></contrib><aff id="j_INFORMATICA_aff_000">Department of Management, Kashan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kashan, Iran</aff><aff id="j_INFORMATICA_aff_001">Institute for Trade Studies and Research, Tehran, Iran</aff><aff id="j_INFORMATICA_aff_002">Department of Industrial Management, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran</aff></contrib-group><author-notes><corresp id="fn1"><label>∗</label>Corresponding author.</corresp></author-notes><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>01</day><month>01</month><year>2014</year></pub-date><volume>25</volume><issue>1</issue><fpage>21</fpage><lpage>36</lpage><history><date date-type="received"><day>01</day><month>12</month><year>2011</year></date><date date-type="accepted"><day>01</day><month>03</month><year>2013</year></date></history><abstract><p>In multi criteria Decision Making, the decision maker wants to find the best alternative among a set of alternatives in order to satisfy a set of criteria. Traditionally, decision making models are based on crisp data. The shortcoming of these data in capturing the reality and lack of information persuaded researchers to develop decision making methods with uncertain data. In this paper, the ELECTRE method is extended with black numbers, under ambiguous environment. The proposed method is applied in a supplier selection problem. It's an outstanding method that can be used in real world problems with ill-defined and incomplete data.</p></abstract><kwd-group><label>Keywords</label><kwd>multiple criteria Decision Making</kwd><kwd>ELECTRE</kwd><kwd>unknown data</kwd><kwd>black number</kwd><kwd>supplier selection</kwd></kwd-group></article-meta></front></article>