Heliyon 10 (2024) e33004 Available online 18 June 2024 2405-8440/© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Heliyon journal homepage: www.cell.com/heliyon Research article Effective multi-attribute group decision-making approach to study astronomy in the probabilistic linguistic  -rung orthopair fuzzy VIKOR framework Sumera Naz a,∗ , Areej Fatima a , Shariq Aziz But b , Dragan Pamucar c,d,e , Ronald Zamora-Musa f , Melisa Acosta-Coll g a Department of Mathematics, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan b School of Systems and Technology, Department of Computer Science, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan c University of Belgrade, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Department of Operations Research and Statistics, Belgrade, Serbia d Yuan Ze University, College of Engineering, Taoyuan, Taiwan e Western Caspian University, Department of Mechanics and Mathematics, Baku, Azerbaijan f Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia UCC, Barrancabermeja 687031, Colombia g Department of Computer Science and Electronics, Universidad de la Costa, Barranquilla 080002, Colombia A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: PL-ROFS PL-ROFWPA operator PL-ROFWPG operator VIKOR model This study employs a novel fuzzy logic-based framework to address multi-attribute group decision-making problems commonly encountered in modern astronomy. Our approach utilizes the probabilistic linguistic -rung orthopair fuzzy set (PL-ROFS) to handle the inherent uncertainties associated with astronomical data. The PL-ROFS offers significant advantages over existing fuzzy sets like probabilistic hesitant, linguistic intuitionistic, and linguistic Pythagorean fuzzy sets, which comprise both stochastic and non-stochastic uncertainties simultaneously. To aggregate the probabilistic linguistic decision information effectively, we propose two novel operators: the PL-ROF weighted power average (PL-ROFWPA) and the PL-ROF weighted power geometric (PL-ROFWPG). These operators form the foundation of a novel method within the PL-ROF environment. Furthermore, this study integrates the PL-ROF framework with the VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) model, a widely used decision-making (DM) tool known for its ability to balance group utility maximization with individual regret minimization. This integration leads to the PL-ROF-VIKOR model, a novel approach for ranking alternative solutions based on the subjective preferences of decision-makers. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through a real-world case study in astronomy, accompanied by both parameter and comparative analyses. These analyses highlight the efficiency and accuracy of the PL-ROF-VIKOR model, ultimately leading to the conclusion that cosmology is the most optimal key finding in this case study. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: sumera.naz@ue.edu.pk (S. Naz), shariq2315@gmail.com (S.A. But), dpamucar@gmail.com (D. Pamucar), ronald.zamora@campusucc.edu.co (R. Zamora-Musa), macosta10@cuc.edu.co (M. Acosta-Coll). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e33004 Received 3 December 2023; Received in revised form 18 May 2024; Accepted 12 June 2024