Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques in Medical Tourism Studies: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Medical tourism is in an increasing trend depending on many factors. The use of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods in the selection of the optimal situation rationalizes and facilitates the decision process. The aim of the study is to examine the studies in which multi-criteria decision-making techniques are used in medical tourism. Systematic review method is chosen to carry out the research. Articles which are published in English and Turkish languages between 2011- 2021, in Web of Science, Scopus and Science Direct databases are reviewed and examined. During the scanning process, 25 articles (out of 4331) are included in the study. Most of them were published in 2020 (28%), conducted in Turkey (36%), and used only one single MCDM method in their processes (72%). In addition, it is observed that most of the articles prefer to use AHP method (60%) and only 7 of the included articles proceed their studies by adopting fuzzy logic (28%). MCDM methods are widely used in medical tourism studies. It is suggested that MCDM methods should be used considering the characteristics of the method and the purpose of the study and integrated into the processes of fuzzy logic.