Multi-Criteria Methods of Making Decisions in Editorial Processes

Decisions made while editing a publication involve a necessity to choose layout parameters which influence both a number and aesthetics of printed pages. The former of the aforesaid factors influences the amount of paper necessary for producing a given printing run, thus determining the cost of publishing a book, and is calculated using proper formulas. The latter of the factors, i.e. aesthetics, is liable to purely subjective assessment and, by that reason, is hardly measured to a publisher due to being dependant on fancies and preferences of readers. Multi-criteria decision analysis methods (AHP and DEMATEL) proposed herein deliver a preference ranking based on pair-wise comparison findings. As a consequence the optimum values for layout parameters are obtained which allows to achieve high aesthetics and readability of a published text with simultaneously optimum costs of publishing.