A differential evolution algorithm for finding the median ranking under the Kemeny axiomatic approach

•An accurate (meta)heuristic solution to the rank aggregation problem is proposed.•The reference paradigm is the Kemeny–Snell axiomatic framework.•We specifically adapt the differential evolution algorithm to deal with the median ranking problem.•Simulation studies and real data applications are performed. In recent years the analysis of preference rankings has become an increasingly important topic. One of the most important tasks in dealing with preference rankings is the identification of the median ranking, namely that ranking that best represents the preferences of a population of judges. This task is known with several alternative names, such as rank aggregation problem, consensus ranking problem, social choice problem. In this paper we propose a Differential Evolution algorithm for the Consensus Ranking detection (DECoR) within the Kemeny’s axiomatic framework. The algorithm works with full, partial and incomplete rankings. A simulation study shows that our proposal is particularly feasible when working with a very large number of objects to be ranked, because it is accurate and also faster than other proposals. Some applications on real data sets show the practical utility of our proposal in helping the users in taking decisions.