Purpose The purpose of this study is to measure and analyze the national innovation efficiency of organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) countries. This is to determine to what extent OECD countries efficiently use the elements that enable innovation activities possible in generating innovation outputs. Design/methodology/approach An input–output model was constructed to measure efficiency. The inputs and outputs in the research model are the input and output sub-indices of the Global Innovation Index. Data envelopment analysis was used to measure the national innovation efficiency levels of OECD countries. Findings The results show that national innovation efficiency is generally high in OECD countries. However, some countries lag behind in innovation efficiency. OECD countries’ ability to create and provide the elements that enable innovation activities is higher than their ability to create innovation outputs. OECD countries have a good innovation environment and a high level of resources, but they should focus on how to create more innovation outputs. Originality/value This study presents a measurement of national innovation efficiency of OECD countries which contributes “Innovation Strategy” agenda. The results empirically show that overall innovation indices cannot be the only indicator of the performance of national innovation systems. In this study, an innovation efficiency/performance matrix is constructed to present the relative positions of the countries to help in examining countries’ strengths, weaknesses and potentials based on innovation efficiency and innovation performance simultaneously. This study contributes to the literature by presenting a broader perspective and measurement of national innovation efficiency by taking an extensive number of indicators into account.

Forests cover 30 per cent of the Earth’s land surface, almost four billion hectares. They are necessary to sustain human health, economic growth and the environment. Also, approximately 25 per cent of the global population depends on forests for food and work. The world population is expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. Therefore, there needs to be quick action at all levels to make sure that forests are managed in a way that is good for the environment and our way of life in the future. The Sustainable Forest Management Goals are included in the major headings of Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030. The data for the worldwide and six geographical areas were assessed using the Gray Relational Analysis (GRA) approach, which is one of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making methodologies. The major goal of the study is to use the GRA mathematical approach to assess data from 6 geographical areas, totalling 245 regions and nations, and 236 countries and regions worldwide. The second purpose is to contribute to the existing literature by expanding the geographical scope, number of indicators, and the time period covered by the study. The study also aims to provide information on new forest quality and management technologies, as well as the change of geographical areas over 30 years. South America consistently comes out on top in interregional comparisons. On the other hand, Oceania ranks last in the rankings. While the scores for 1990 increased markedly for all regions and worldwide in 2000, the performance values for the years 2000, 2010 and 2020 are fairly close to each other. The findings and methods of this study are aimed to be a useful resource for future researchers and policymakers.

Forest fires have caused irreparable environmental and economic losses in all around the world due to global warming. In order to take necessary measures and make fire prevention and response strategies, forest fire risk assessment is curial. This study aims to make forest fires risk assessment in the largest forest area in Istanbul, Turkey. Fire risk assessment was carried out by integrating Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The criteria weights were calculated using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP) methods. Forest fire risk assessment was carried out in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment by using the required data and calculated criteria weights. It is found that although the fire risk limit values differs in some areas, the evaluation results based on the AHP and Fuzzy AHP methods overlap to a large extent. The AHP and Fuzzy AHP methods provided valid, reliable and very useful results in the forest fire risk assessment. This study shows that integrating the AHP and Fuzzy-AHP methods with GIS for forest fire risk assessment provides very important guidance in making the necessary planning and taking measures for forest fires.

Science, technology and innovation (STI) policies are of great importance for countries to reach their sustainable development goals. Numerous global databases have many indicators that measure and compare the performance of STI policies of countries. However, many problems arise regarding how to identify, classify and systematically analyze these indicators in order to measure, monitor and improve the performance of STI. The study includes a literature review on global problems and new trends in STI policies, while mentioning the necessity of an internationally comparable STI indicator set, current STI indicator studies and efforts, and studies for each continent. In light of these, all the indicators selected are introduced in detail. The strengths and weaknesses of the countries in the study in terms of evaluation indicator values are indicated. After determining the indicator weights objectively with the entropy method, 40 countries are compared with TOPSIS, VIKOR, PROMETHEE I-II, ARAS, COPRAS, MULTIMOORA, ELECTRE, SAW and MAUT methods. In addition, countries that show similarities with each other are evaluated by cluster analysis, which is one of the data mining classification methods. This study offers a new and original approach with MCDM methods on this subject. Considering all the results obtained in the study together, these rankings are compared among themselves and with the rankings specified in the Global Innovation (2019) and Global Competitiveness (2019) indices, and it is seen that the results are consistent. In addition, it is possible to update and publish this study every year with updated data.

Fires all around the world have caused irreparable environmental and economic losses due to the increase in global warming.Risk assessments are curial for taking measures to keep negative effects of natural hazards to a minimum and to ensure sustainability of the nature.In this regard, the aim of this study is to evaluate rural area fire risk in the seven geographical regions of Turkey.Since fire sensitive areas in rural regions are generally composed of forest areas, data on the size of forest areas, number of forest fires and temperatures are the main starting points of this study.Analysis was carried out using the Analytical Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Logic approaches.In this study the Analytical Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Logic approaches were integrated with the Geographical Information Systems.The results obtained from the AHP and Fuzzy Logic approaches were compared and evaluated.The results of the study show that the Aegean, Mediterranean and Marmara regions have the highest rural area fire risk levels.The fire risk assessments results obtained by the AHP and Fuzzy Logic approaches overlap on the basis of geographical regions.Integrating the AHP and Fuzzy Logic with GIS for rural area fire risk assessment provide valid, reliable and very important results in making the necessary planning and ensuring sustainability of the environment.

Rapid population growth, unplanned settlements, destruction of nature and water basins, and negative impacts of global climate changes arc among the factors that aggravate the problem of finding sources of water favorable for human health. Hence, the research directed at problems regarding the administration of water resources gains greater importance throughout the world and in our country. If water administration is considered as a decision-making problem, it can be defined by multiple decision-making variables. The quantity and quality of favorable water to be obtained in a basin are directly related to the basin's flora and topography. In this study, "Chen approach with triangular membership functions", a technique of fuzzy goal programming, is used to evaluate the changes in parameters of water quality obtained İn a sheltered basin when its natural soil has been modified. BULANIK HEDEF PROGRAMLAMA ve SU HAVZASINDA BİR UYGULAMA Hızlı nüfus artışı, plansız yerleşim, doğanın ve su havzalarının tahribi, son zamanlarda yaşanan küresel iklim değişikliklerinin yarattığı olumsuzluklar, insan sağlığına uygun su bulma sorunlarını ağırlaştırmaktadır. Bu nedenlerle ülkemizde ve dünyada su kaynaklarının işletilmesi problemlerine yönelik araştırmalar büyük önem taşımaktadır. Su kaynaklarının işletilmesi bir karar verme problemi olarak kabul edilirse, sorun çok sayıda karar verme değişkeniyle tammlanabilir. Bir havzadan elde edilecek insan sağlığına uygun içme suyunun miktarı ve kalitesi havzanın bitki örtüsü ve topografık yapısı ile doğrudan ilgilidir. Bu araştırmada İçme suyu üretimi için konman doğal bir havzanın toprak örtüsüne müdahale edilmesi durumunda su kalitesi parametrelerindeki değişikliklerin, bulanık hedef programlama tekniklerinden "üçgensel üyelik fonksiyonlarıyla Chen yaklaşımı" kullanılarak değerlendirilmesi yapılmıştır.

Significant efforts are being performed to make cities smarter and more sustainable. Therefore, there is a need to compare these efforts using evaluation frameworks. According to the literature review, the basic dimensions of smart cities are generally evaluated with the criteria of regional competitiveness, transportation, information and communication technology, economy, natural resources, human and social capital, quality of life and participation of citizens in the management of cities. In this paper, Analytical Network Process (ANP) is used to weight smart and sustainable city criteria. According to the results, while 'smart living' is the most important characteristic with a 35,459% priority, 'smart governance' is the last with 5,738%. The study covers 44 cities around the world and comparisons were made by TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). According to the results, Tokyo, London and New York are in the top three in the overall ranking. But none of these cities is among the top five in terms of smart governance, mobility and environmental dimensions. According to the results obtained, the article provides some recommendations for the cities. These results aim to help cities understand their situation relative to other cities and to see areas where policymakers need to strengthen.

The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper [...]

All successful cities are the most developed and productive cities in their regions and countries in terms of economy and quality of life. In addition, it is observed that there are strong industries and enterprises in these regions and cities. Therefore, this study tries to evaluate the quality of life and the development of the industry together. The proposed method can be considered as a combination of operational research and GIS (Geographical Information System). The results of both approaches support each other. In addition, the innovative approaches of the sectors are evaluated by TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). Also, the article recommends SMEs (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) for sustainable economic growth. According to the results, the quality of life and socio-economic development has a very close relationship with the existence of investments and manufacturing companies. If the current development policy continues, the regions with low quality of life will continue to lag behind the other cities in terms of development. The study indicates that there are remarkable differences between eastern and western Turkey in terms of living standards and the contribution of SMEs to economic development.

Forest fires create an increasingly severe and negative impact on ecosystem services such as carbon storage, climate balancing and water supply as a result of global warming threatening our planet. One of the steps to fight forest fires is to perform a risk assessment. Forest fire risk assessment allows the identification of locations at high risk of forest fire and estimate its sphere of influence. In this way, it provides decision-making support to the fire-fighting organization The purpose of this study was to conduct a forest fire risk assessment in forests located in Bucak Forest Enterprise in Turkey that is vulnerable to fire at the first degree. In the study, the weights of the criteria that lead to fire risk were computed with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The risk classes of the criteria were exported to the raster layer of the Geographical Information System (GIS). The results showed that 25% of forests in Bucak region were at high risk, while 32% were at medium fire risk. We believe that the approach adopted in this study may contribute to forest fire risk assessments and risk mapping of Mediterranean forest ecosystems that have similar climate, topographic structure and vegetation.

The standards of development and life quality of cities play an important role in the investment and career planning of the investors and the qualified people who will work in R&D and Technoparks. Also, all the leading cities in the world are the most developed cities in the regions and countries in terms of R&D and innovation. Therefore, all cities in Turkey are compared by using the R&D investment data and TurkStat “Quality of Life Index for Cities''. The criteria are weighted by the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). Then 81 cities are compared with the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method. The article aims to provide information about the current situation of Turkey's cities regarding R&D, Technology Development Zones and quality of life. According to the results, the quality of life and socio-economic development has a very close relationship with the existence of R&D investments. If the current development policy continues, the regions with low quality of life will continue to lag behind the other cities in terms of development. The study indicates that there are remarkable differences between eastern and western Turkey in terms of living standards and the contribution of R&D and Technoparks to economic development.

Forests cover 30 percent of the Earth’s land surface, almost four billion hectares, and they are necessary to sustain human health, economic growth, and environmental health. Approximately 25 percent of the global population depends on forests for food and work. The world population is expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. Therefore, there is a need for urgent action plans at all levels to ensure sustainable forest management and policy collaboration among all stakeholders, in order for forests to continue to serve our ecosystem and life in the future. The study compares 30 countries using 15 indicators related to forest and air quality. This was performed with TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) and VIKOR (VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje, meaning Multi-Criteria Optimization and Compromise Solution), which are among the most used multi-criteria decision-making methods in the literature. According to the analysis results, Denmark, Luxembourg, Lithuania, and Germany are the best performing countries in terms of indicators, whereas Slovakia, Estonia, Turkey, Latvia, Chile, and Canada are the worst performing. The paper aims to present the current situation of some developed and developing countries and compare them to each other in terms of forest and air quality indicators. In addition, the article aims to inform all stakeholders and raise awareness to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Global Forest Goals of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030 targets.

Vulnerability, which is one of the criteria used in the preparation of the World Risk Index, is the measure of the damage and loss that a community or structure can suffer when a hazard occurs. In this research, a region with a high fire hazard was selected, and a model was created to determine the extent to which spatial objects (assets) could be damaged when the expected danger occurs in the selected region, using AHP in a GIS environment. Since GIS-based AHP analysis is based on the comparison of different layers with each other and determining the weight values of the layers, the Terrestrial Measurement, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing techniques, which are used as data sources in the evaluation of spatial data, are also discussed in the study.

In Turkey, current energy generations are not sufficient for the existing energy needs and besides, energy demand is expected to increase by 4–6 percent annually until 2023. Therefore, the government aims to increase the ratio of renewable energy resources (RES) in total installed capacity to 30 percent by 2023. By this date, total energy investments are expected to be approximately $110 billion. Turkey is the fastest growing energy market among the OECD countries. Therefore, Turkey is an attractive market for energy companies and investors. At this stage, site selection and deciding appropriate RES are the most important feasibility parameters for investment. In this study, “Site Selection in Turkey” issue for RES (solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass) is evaluated by the ELECTRE which is one of the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. In addition, the reasons for choosing this method are explained according to the literature. The study emphasizes the importance of energy generation from renewable and sustainable sources and is concerned with improving the position of the country. The Turkish government offers many purchasing guarantees and high incentives, especially in the renewable energy sector. As a result of the analysis, the most suitable energy sources are presented according to the geography and energy potential of the regions. The study aims to inform energy firms and everyone related with RES about Turkey’s RES opportunities.

Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques are increasingly being used for the problem of location selection, which directly affects the long-term success of a company. Besides these techniques, with the advantage of handling both spatial and non-spatial data, geographic information systems (GIS) also represent a useful method for selecting the appropriate location for different kinds of facilities and sites. In this respect, this study aims to compare the results of a MCDM technique, fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and GIS for the location selection of shopping malls in Turkey. According to the results of both fuzzy TOPSIS and GIS, the Marmara region was determined as the best alternative for shopping malls in Turkey.

İşletmelerde eleman seçimi çok kriterli karar verme süreçlerinden biridir. Hizmet ağırlıklı ortak yaşam alanlarından biri olan site yönetiminde görev alabilecek yöneticinin seçimi de aynı nitelikte bir süreçtir. Belirli kriterleri taşıyan kişinin bu göreve seçimi, ekonomik ve huzurla yaşanabilir bir ortam yaratılmasında çok önemli etkendir. Seçim kararının verilmesinde yapılacak tercihlerin çoğu nitelikseldir. Bu çalışmada; tam ve kesin değeri olmayan sözel kavramlar, bulanık kümeler kuramlarına göre tanımlanmış ve site yöneticisi seçiminde adaylar üçgen bulanık sayılar ile Bulanık TOPSIS (Technique For Order Performance By Similarity To Ideal Solution) yöntemiyle değerlendirilmiştir. 1250 bağımsız bölüm, 300 000 m2 alana yaygın, yaklaşık 5000 kişinin yaşadığı bir site için, başvuran 8 aday arasından, karar vericiler (site yönetim kurulu üyeleri) tarafından belirlenen kriterler göz önüne alınarak en uygun yönetici seçimi gerçekleştirilmiştir.

İhracat ve ithalat yönlü büyüme hipotezleri doğrultusundaki değerlendirmelerde, son 30 yılda Türkiye’nin GSYİH’sının artışının en güçlü etmenleri ihracat ve ithalattır. Dolayısıyla, Türkiye ekonomik daralma dönemlerinden genişleme dönemine geçişini ihracat payını arttırarak başarmıştır. Ayrıca, genişleme dönemlerinin sürdürülebilirliği de ithalat ve ihracatın dengeli ilerlemesiyle mümkün olmuştur. Türkiye, 2023 ekonomi ve sosyal refah hedeflerini sürdürülebilir bir yapıda gerçekleştirme amacıyla ihracat hacmini ve katma değer yaratan ürünlerin çeşitliliğini arttırmayı hedeflemektedir. Türkiye, bulunduğu pazarlarda işlem hacmini arttırmaya çalışırken alternatif pazarların da arayışı içindedir. Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TUİK) 2016 verilerine göre, Türkiye ihracatının %49.5’i Avrupa Birliği (AB-28) ülkelerine gerçekleşirken ikinci sırada %26.5 oranla Asya ülkeleri gelmektedir. TUİK 2015 verileri ile karşılaştırıldığında, AB ülkeleri ile ihracat değerimiz genel ihracat oranlarında %42.7’den %49.5’a yükselmiş gibi görünse de değer olarak %9.7 düşmüştür. Asya ülkelerine gerçekleşen ihracat 2015 yılına göre %26.2 azalmıştır. TUİK 2016 verilerine göre, Türkiye’nin ithalat yaptığı ülkeler arasında % 35,9 ile Asya ülkeleri ilk sırada bulunurken, ikinci sırada %35 ile AB ülkeleri yer almaktadır. Türkiye’nin sürüdürülebilir ekonomik büyümesi ve 2023 hedeflerine ulaşması için Avrupa kadar Asya’nın da dikkate alınması gerektiği görülmektedir. Çalışmada, 1967’de ekonomik, sosyal, kültürel, teknik, eğitim ve diğer alanlarda işbirliği amacıyla kurulan ve Endonezya, Malezya, Tayland, Filipinler ve Singapur (kurucu üyeler), Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos (1997), Myanmar (1997) ve Kamboçya (1999)’dan oluşan Güneydoğu Asya Ülkeleri Birliği (ASEAN) ile birliğin diyalog ortağı Türkiye’nin Dünya Bankası 2016 Gelişmişlik Raporu’ndaki veriler çerçevesinde sürdürülebilir çevre (15 kriter), sürdürülebilir ekonomi (25 kriter), sürdürülebilir sosyal gelişim (18 kriter) ve sürdürülebilir gelişmişlik (58 kriter) kapsamında karşılaştırılması amaçlanmaktadır. ASEAN ülkeleri ile 2002 yılından günümüze ticaret hacminin 1,3 milyar Dolar’dan 10 milyar Dolar seviyelerine ulaştığı düşünüldüğünde çalışmanın gerekçesi daha iyi anlaşılacaktır. Dünya Bankası verileri, Çok Kriterli Karar Verme (ÇKKV) yöntemlerinden TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) yöntemiyle analiz edilerek 11 ülkenin dört başlık altında gelişmişlik seviyelerine göre sıralanması amaçlanmaktadır.

Being a part of social life, Shopping Centers become more popular and they represent the environments where consumption comes into prominence. However, in the recent years, Shopping Centers are seen as places combining consumption activities and time killing activities. Since number of Shopping Centers is at peak in big cities, attempts are made to open Shopping Centers in places other than big cities in accordance with population density, economic and social data. However, it is observed that geographical location and neighborhood relations are not taken into consideration in location surveys in cities other than major cities. Yet, such variables have major role at decision making stage. In this study a model based on geographical information system (GIS) was created and decision making process was analysed with the purpose of location survey of Shopping Centers to be opened across the geographical regions by taking population density, economic and social data, quality of life, geographical and spatial data. In analysis, ESRI software, ArcGIS software pack, ArcCatalog, ArcMap, ArcToolbox tool boxes and software required for topology development, data conversion and geographical (spatial) analysis. Paper type: Research paper