A Genetic Algorithm for Optimizing the Label Ordering in Multi-label Classifier Chains

First proposed in 2009, the classifier chains model (CC) has become one of the most influential algorithms for multi-label classification. It is distinguished by its simple and effective approach to exploit label dependencies. The CC method involves the training of q single-label binary classifiers, where each one is solely responsible for classifying a specific label in l_l, ..., l_q. These q classifiers are linked in a chain, such that each binary classifier is able to consider the labels predicted by the previous ones as additional information at classification time. The label ordering has a strong effect on predictive accuracy, however it is decided at random and/or combining random orders via an ensemble. A disadvantage of the ensemble approach consists of the fact that it is not suitable when the goal is to generate interpretable classifiers. To tackle this problem, in this work we propose a genetic algorithm for optimizing the label ordering in classifier chains. Experiments on diverse benchmark datasets, followed by the Wilcoxon test for assessing statistical significance, indicate that the proposed strategy produces more accurate classifiers.