Overview

ISMtools is a comprehensive R package for Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) analysis. ISM is a methodology for identifying and summarizing relationships among specific elements which define an issue or problem.

The package provides:

Matrix operations: Create adjacency matrices, convert edge lists, and compute reachability matrices
Structured input support: Build adjacency matrices from SSIM (Structural Self-Interaction Matrix)
Level partitioning: Hierarchical decomposition of system elements
MICMAC analysis: Driving power and dependence analysis for factor classification
Visualization: Both static and interactive ISM structure diagrams

Installation

From CRAN (once available)

install.packages("ISMtools")

Quick Start

library(ISMtools)
# Create an adjacency matrix
adj_matrix <- matrix(c(
  0, 1, 0, 0, 0,
  0, 0, 1, 0, 0,
  0, 0, 0, 1, 1,
  0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
  0, 0, 0, 0, 0
), nrow = 5, byrow = TRUE)
# Compute reachability matrix
reach_matrix <- compute_reachability(adj_matrix)
# Perform level partitioning
levels <- level_partitioning(reach_matrix)
print(levels)
# Visualize the ISM structure
plot_ism(reach_matrix)
# Optional interactive visualization
if (requireNamespace("visNetwork", quietly = TRUE)) {
  plot_interactive_ism(reach_matrix)
}

Main Functions

Function	Description
`create_relation_matrix()`	Create or convert adjacency matrices
`convert_to_matrix()`	Convert edge lists to adjacency matrices
`compute_reachability()`	Calculate reachability matrix using Warshall's algorithm
`level_partitioning()`	Perform hierarchical level decomposition
`plot_ism()`	Static ISM structure visualization
`plot_interactive_ism()`	Interactive ISM visualization with drag-and-drop

Example: Converting Edge List to Matrix

# From data frame
edge_df <- data.frame(
  source = c("A", "A", "B", "C"),
  target = c("B", "C", "D", "D")
)
adj_matrix <- convert_to_matrix(edge_df, from = "source", to = "target")
# From matrix edge list
edge_mat <- matrix(c("A", "B", "B", "C", "C", "D"), ncol = 2, byrow = TRUE)
adj_matrix <- convert_to_matrix(edge_mat)

Citation

If you use ISMtools in your research, please cite:

Tang Y (2026). ISMtools: Interpretive Structural Modelling Analysis Tools.

References

Warfield, J. N. (1974). Developing interconnection matrices in structural modeling. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, SMC-4(1), 81-87. doi:10.1109/TSMC.1974.5408524

License

MIT. See LICENSE.