An International Journal in Information Science and Engineering
Official Publication of the International Fuzzy Systems Association (IFSA)

Since its launching in 1978, the journal Fuzzy Sets and Systems has been devoted to the international advancement of the theory and application of fuzzy sets and systems. The theory of fuzzy sets now encompasses a well organized corpus of basic notions including (and not restricted to) aggregation operations, a generalized theory of relations, specific measures of information content, a calculus of fuzzy numbers. Fuzzy sets are also the cornerstone of a non-additive uncertainty theory, namely possibility theory, and of a versatile tool for both linguistic and numerical modeling: fuzzy rule-based systems. Numerous works now combine fuzzy concepts with other scientific disciplines as well as modern technologies.

In mathematics fuzzy sets have triggered new research topics in connection with category theory, topology, algebra, analysis. Fuzzy sets are also part of a recent trend in the study of generalized measures and integrals, and are combined with statistical methods. Furthermore, fuzzy sets have strong logical underpinnings in the tradition of many-valued logics.

Fuzzy set-based techniques are also an important ingredient in the development of information technologies. In the field of information processing fuzzy sets are important in clustering, data analysis and data fusion, pattern recognition and computer vision. Fuzzy rule-based modeling has been combined with other techniques such as neural nets and evolutionary computing and applied to systems and control engineering, with applications to robotics, complex process control and supervision. In the field of information systems, fuzzy sets play a role in the development of intelligent and flexible manBmachine interfaces and the storage of imprecise linguistic information. In Artificial Intelligence various forms of knowledge representation and automated reasoning frameworks benefit from fuzzy set-based techniques, for instance in interpolative reasoning, non-monotonic reasoning, diagnosis, logic programming, constraint-directed reasoning, etc. Fuzzy expert systems have been devised for fault diagnosis, and also in medical science. In decision and organization sciences, fuzzy sets has had a great impact in preference modeling and multicriteria evaluation, and has helped bringing optimization techniques closer to the users needs. Applications can be found in many areas such as management, production research, and finance. Moreover concepts and methods of fuzzy set theory have attracted scientists in many other disciplines pertaining to human-oriented studies such as cognitive psychology and some aspects of social sciences.

The scope of the journal Fuzzy Sets and Systems has expanded so as to account for all facets of the field while emphasizing its specificity as bridging the gap between the flexibility of human representations and the precision and clarity of mathematical or computerized representations, be they numerical or symbolic.

The journal welcomes original and significant contributions in the area of Fuzzy Sets whether on empirical or mathematical foundations, or their applications to any domain of information technology, and more generally to any field of investigation where fuzzy sets are relevant. Applied papers demonstrating the usefulness of fuzzy methodology in practical problems are particularly welcome. Fuzzy Sets and Systems publishes high-quality research articles, surveys as well as case studies. Separate sections are Recent Literature, and the Bulletin, which offers research reports, book reviews and conference announcements and various news items. Invited review articles on topics of general interest are included and special issues are published regularly.

research articles
surveys
case studies

Co-Editors-in-Chief
B. De Baets
Ghent University Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling, St. Pietersnieuwstraat 33, 9000, Ghent,, Belgium Email B. De Baets
D. Dubois
Toulouse Institute of Computer Science Research, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France Email D. Dubois
E. Hüllermeier
University of Paderborn Department of Computer Science, Warburger Str. 100, 33098, Paderborn, Germany Email E. Hüllermeier
L. Godo
Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, Campus UAB s/n, 08193, Bellaterra, Spain Email L. Godo
Former Editors in Chief
H.J. Zimmermann
(Founding Editor, 1978-1998)
H. Prade
(1998-2006)
Honorary Editor
L.A. Zadeh †
University of California Berkeley Division of Computer Science, Berkeley, California, CA 94720-1776, United States
Advisory Editors
J.C. Bezdek
The University of Melbourne Department of Computing and Information Systems, 111 Barry Street - Building 168, University Of Melbourne, 3010, Australia
B. Bouchon-Meunier
Sorbonne University, 75005, Paris, France
U. Höhle
University of Wuppertal, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285, Wuppertal, Germany
J. Kacprzyk
Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-901, Warszawa, Poland
E.P. Klement
Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstr. 69, 4040, Linz, Austria
R. Kruse
Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg Faculty of Computer Science, Postfach 4120, Magdeburg, Germany
Y.-M. Liu
Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
H.T. Nguyen
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 88003-8006, United States
D. Ralescu
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45221, United States
E.H. Ruspini
M. Sugeno
Doshisha University Faculty of Culture and Information Science, 1-3 Miyakodani Tatara, Kyonatabe, 610-0394, Kyoto, Japan
E. Trillas
University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
J.L. Verdegay
Int. Artificial,Depto. de Ciencias de la Computacion,Universidad de Granada, Codigo Correspondencia Para Organismos Oficiales,, 18071, Granada, Spain
R.R. Yager
Iona College Machine Intelligence Institute, New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York, 10801, United States
Area Editors
P. Angelov
Lancaster, United Kingdom Hybrid Systems
G. Beliakov
Burwood, Victoria, Australia Aggregation Operations
R. Belohlavek
Olomouc, Czech Republic Algebra
M. Bernal
Ciudad Obregon, Mexico Control Engineering
J.P. Carvalho
Lisboa, Portugal Fuzzy systems
L. Coroioanu
Oradea, Romania Fuzzy intervals
I. Couso
Oviedo, Spain Fuzzy sets and Possibility theory
L.C. De Barros
Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil Differential equations
S. Díaz Vázquez
Oviedo, Spain Preference modeling
T Flaminio
Bellaterra, Spain Uncertainty and game theory in many-valued structures
J.L. García-Lapresta
Valladolid, Spain Preference Modeling & Decision Analysis
T-M. Guerra
Valenciennes, France Control Engineering
J. Gutierrez Garcia
Bilbao, Spain Topology & Category Theory
E. Hüllermeier
Paderborn, Germany Learning & Data mining
M. Inuiguchi
Toyonaka, Japan Optimisation & Mathematical Programming
B. Jayaram
Hyderabad, India Aggregation operations
R. Mesiar
Bratislava, Slovakia Aggregation Functions
C. Noguera, PhD
Praha, Czech Republic
A.M. Ojeda-Aciego
Malaga, Spain Fuzzy Formal concept analysis and fuzzy logic programming
E. Pap
Novi Sad, Serbia Measure Theory
M. Reformat
Engineering Applications
A. Rico
Lyon, France Aggregation operations
D. Sánchez
Granada, Spain Data Mining and Learning
M. Sato-Ilic
Tsukuba, Japan Clustering
S. Schockaert
Cardiff, United Kingdom Logics and Artificial Intelligence
L. Stefanini
Urbino, Italy Fuzzy Intervals
M. Stepnicka
Ostrava, Czech Republic Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems
T. Sudkamp
Dayton, Ohio, United States Engineering Applications
B. Vantaggi
Roma, Italy Probability and statistics
T. Vetterlein
Linz, Austria Algebraic Aspects of Fuzzy Sets
S. Zadrozny
Warszawa, Poland Information Systems
D. Zhang
Chengdu, Sichuan, China Topology
Book Review Editor
A. Gegov
Portsmouth, United Kingdom Email A. Gegov
Editorial Board
S. Aguzzoli
Milano, Italy
T. Allahviranloo
İstanbul, Turkey
M. Baczynski
Katowice, Poland
A. I. Ban
Oradea, Romania
M. Banerjee
Kanpur, India
T. Bilgic
İstanbul, Turkey
P. Bonissone
Schenectady, New York, United States
B. Bouchon-Meunier
Paris, France
A. Bronevich
Moscow, Russian Federation
H. Bustince
Pamplona, Spain
Y.-K. Cai
Beijing, China
C. Carlsson
ABO, Finland
G. Chen
Beijing, China
P. Cintula
Praha, Czech Republic
M. Ćirić
Nis, Serbia
D. Ciucci
Milano, Italy
C. Cornelis
Gent, Belgium
J.M. Costa Sousa
Lisboa, Portugal
G. De Tré
Gent, Belgium
M. Demirci
Antalya, Turkey
T. Denoeux
Compiegne, France
A. Di Nola
Fisciano, Italy
F. Durante
Lecce, Italy
E. Esmi
Campinas,, São Paulo, Brazil
M Ferraro
Roma, Italy
H. Frigui
Louisville, Kentucky, United States
S. Galichet
Annecy le Vieux, France
B. Gerla
Varese, Italy
M.A. Gil
Oviedo, Spain
Z. Gong
Lanzhou, Gansu, China
M. Grabisch
Paris, France
S. Greco
Catania, Italy
M. Hanss
Stuttgart, Germany
F. Herrera
Granada, Spain
E. Herrera-Viedma
Granada, Spain
U. Höhle
Wuppertal, Germany
M. Holcapek
Ostrava, Czech Republic
J. Kacprzyk
Warszawa, Poland
M. Kalina
Bratislava, Slovakia
A. Kasperski
Wroclaw, Poland
U Kaymak
Eindhoven, Netherlands
J.M. Keller
Columbia, Missouri, United States
A. Khastan
Zanjan, Iran, Islamic Republic of
F. Klawonn
Wolfenbüttel, Germany
E.P. Klement
Linz, Austria
L.T. Kóczy
Budapest, Hungary
T. Kubiak
Poznan, Poland
H. Lai
Qingyang, Sichuan, China
H.L. Larsen
Esbjerg, Denmark
J. Lawry
Bristol, United Kingdom
Z. Lendek
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
C.-J. Liau
Taipei, Taiwan
W.A. Lodwick
Denver, Colorado, United States
V. Lupulescu
Târgu Jiu, Romania
T. Marchant
Gent, Belgium
J.-L. Marichal
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
R. A. Marques Pereira
Trento, Italy
C. Marsala
Paris, France
T. Martin
Bristol, United Kingdom
S. Massanet
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
S. Miyamoto
Ibaraki, Japan
J. Montero
Madrid, Spain
S. Montes Rodríguez
Oviedo, Spain
J.N. Mordeson
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
T. Murofushi
Yokohama, Japan
S. Muzzioli
Modena, Italy
M. Navara
Praha, Czech Republic
H.T. Nguyen
Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
J.J. Nieto
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
V. Nóvak
Ostrava, Czech Republic
N. R. Pal
Kolkata, India
S.K. Pal
Kolkata, India
G. Pasi
Milano, Italy
W. Pedrycz
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
K. Peeva
Sofia, Bulgaria
I. Perfilieva
Ostrava, Czech Republic
F.E. Petry
Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, United States
O. Pivert
Lannion Cedex, France
H. Prade
Toulouse, France
D. Ralescu
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
J. Ramik
Karvina, Czech Republic
A. B. Ramos-Guajardo
Oviedo, Spain
R. Rodriguez-Lopez
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
R. O. Rodriguez
Buenos Aires, Argentina
E.H. Ruspini
S. Sessa
Napoli, Italy
Q. Shen
Aberystwyth, United Kingdom
R. Slowiński, PhD
Poznan, Poland
A. Sostaks
Rīga, Latvia
U. Straccia
Pisa, Italy
O. Strauss
Montpellier, France
A. Stupňanová
Bratislava, Slovakia
P. Sussner
Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
A. Tepavcevic
Novi Sad, Serbia
V. Torra
Bellaterra, Spain
W. Trutschnig
Mieres, Spain
Z.Y. Wang
Omaha, Nebraska, United States
R.R. Yager
New Rochelle, New York, United States
H. Ying
Detroit, Michigan, United States
J. Yoneyama
Shibuya-Ku, Japan