A reference model for reputation systems

Recent advances in ICT have led to a vast and expeditious development of e-services and technology. Trust is a fundamental aspect for the acceptance and adoption of these new services. Reputation is commonly employed as the measure of the trustworthiness of users in on-line communities. However, to facilitate their acceptance, reputation systems should be able to deal with the trust challenges and needs of those services. The aim of this survey is to propose a framework for the analysis of reputation systems. We elicit the requirements for reputation metrics along with the features necessary to achieve such requirements. The identified requirements and features form a reference framework which allows an objective evaluation and comparison of reputation systems. We demonstrate its applicability by analyzing and classifying a number of existing reputation systems. Our framework can serve as a reference model for the analysis of reputation systems. It is also helpful for the design of new reputation systems as it provides an analysis of the implications of design choices. Keywords: Reputation systems; Reference model; Trust requirements