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European Journal of Operational Research 195 (2009) 641 www.elsevier.com/locate/ejor

Editorial

Formal methodologies and tools for decision support systems An editorial

This feature cluster is a selection of the best papers that mark state-of-the-art and perspectives describing Formal Methodologies and Tools for Decision Support Systems. These papers have been presented during the IFIP8/ TC8.3 International Conference on Creativity and Innovation in Decision Making and Decision Support CIDMDS2006 that was held at the London School of Economics (LSE), London, from June 28th 2006 to July 1st 2006. During this conference researchers pushed back the boundaries of the DSS area in its widest sense and focused on the need to nd new paths towards innovative and creative developments and usage of Decision Support concepts in organisations. These eorts built on accumulated knowledge in the eld, but also concentrated on bringing forth novel ideas and frameworks for Decision Support Systems. For this feature issue, a specic interest is given to the topic of new OR methodologies or tools used for designing Decision Support Systems (DSSs). Seventeen interesting papers have been submitted to this feature cluster; from among them, only four papers have been selected as perfectly concordant with the privileged topic. This issue is composed of two parts: the rst one is devoted to developed methodologies for DSSs and the second one focuses on the tools used for designing DSSs.

In the rst part, two methodologies for the development of DSSs are proposed. The rst contribution, authored by G. Phillips-Wren, M. Mora, G.A. Forgionne and J.N.D. Gupta, presents An Integrative Evaluation Framework for Intelligent Decision Support Systems. The second contribution, authored by C. Loebbecke and C. Huyskens, proposes a System Using a Five-Stage Methodology. The second part presents two contributions using Articial Intelligence and Web based tools for designing ecient DSSs. The third paper, authored by Z.Y. Zhuang, L. Churilov, F. Burstein and K. Sikaris, proposes to combine Data Mining and Case-based Reasoning for Intelligent Decision Support for Pathology Ordering by General Practitioners. The last contribution, authored by P.P. Repoussis, D.C. Paraskevopoulos, G. Zobolas, C.D. Tarantilis and G. Ioannou, presents A Web-based DSS for Waste Lube Oils Collection and Recycling. Pascale Zarate IRIT-INPT, Toulouse, France E-mail address: Pascale.Zarate@irit.fr Available online 20 February 2008

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