*3.3. CRITIC Weighting Method*

In this method, the criteria weights are obtained by

$$w\_{\hat{j}} = \frac{\mathbf{C}\_{\hat{j}}}{\sum\_{j=1}^{n} \mathbf{C}\_{\hat{j}}} \tag{6}$$

where *Cj*, Equation (7), represents a measure of the conflict created by criterion *j* with respect to the decision situation defined by the rest of the criteria. As the scores of the alternatives in criteria *i* and *j* become more discordant, the value of *lij* is lowered. The higher the value *Cj*, the larger the amount of information transmitted by the corresponding criterion and the higher the relative importance for the decision-making process. The objective weights are derived by normalizing these values to unity, as indicated above through Equation (6).

$$C\_j = \sigma\_j \sum\_{i=1}^{m} \left(1 - l\_{ij}\right) \tag{7}$$

where σ*j* is the standard deviation of the *j*-th criterion and *lij* is the correlation coefficient, Equation (8). These correlation coefficients represent linear correlation coefficients between the criteria values in the matrix.

$$I\_{ij} = \frac{\sum\_{k=1}^{m} \left(V\_{ki} - \overline{V}\_i\right) \left(V\_{kj} - \overline{V}\_j\right)}{\sqrt{\sum\_{k=1}^{m} \left(V\_{ki} - \overline{V}\_i\right)^2} \sqrt{\sum\_{k=1}^{m} \left(V\_{kj} - \overline{V}\_j\right)^2}} \tag{8}$$
