From resource to innovation: A decision framework for sustainable boron research infrastructure

• First robustness-focused framework for boron research institute host selection. • Hybrid Entropy–Fuzzy AHP + 5 MCDM methods (TOPSIS, VIKOR, MOORA, COPRAS, WASPAS). • Balıkesir University ranks #1 in all 15 scenarios, showing full rank stability. • Consensus tests (Borda, Kendall W, Spearman ρ) confirm decision reliability. Turkey Turkey holds nearly 73% of the world’s boron reserves, granting it a strategic advantage in developing boron-based materials and technologies. Despite this geological wealth, the country still lacks a dedicated institutional framework that connects academic research with industrial innovation in boron chemistry. In this study, we developed a comprehensive decision-making framework to identify the most suitable university for establishing a national Boron Research Institute. Five multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods—COPRAS, TOPSIS, VIKOR, MOORA, and WASPAS—were applied under three distinct weighting schemes: Entropy, Fuzzy AHP, Hybrid combination. Eighteen criteria were evaluated, covering academic, geological, infrastructural, and environmental dimensions. The results show a fully consistent ranking across all evaluation scenarios, identifying Balıkesir University as the top alternative, followed by Uludağ, Anadolu, and Dumlupınar. Strong methodological convergence was confirmed by Kendall’s W = 0.87 and Spearman correlations of 0.89–1.00. Rank acceptability analysis indicates that Balıkesir ranked first in 87% of all scenarios and exhibited the lowest mean (0.014) and maximum (0.114) regret values, demonstrating high decision stability. The proposed framework prioritizes robustness and cross-method validation, providing a transparent and reproducible decision-support tool for strategic research infrastructure planning and its extension to other strategic material systems.