Rivality index neighbourhood algorithm with density and distances weighted schemes for the building of robust QSAR classification models with high reliable applicability domain

The rivality index (<i>RI</i>) is a normalized distance measurement between a molecule and their first nearest neighbours providing a robust prediction of the activity of a molecule based on the known activity of their nearest neighbours. Negative values of the RI describe molecules that would be correctly classified by a statistic algorithm and, vice versa, positive values of this index describe those molecules detected as outliers by the classification algorithms. In this paper, we have described a classification algorithm based on the <i>RI</i> and we have proposed four weighted schemes (kernels) for its calculation based on the measuring of different characteristics of the neighbourhood of molecules for each molecule of the dataset at established values of the threshold of neighbours. The results obtained have demonstrated that the proposed classification algorithm, based on the <i>RI</i>, generates more reliable and robust classification models than many of the more used and well-known machine learning algorithms. These results have been validated and corroborated by using 20 balanced and unbalanced benchmark datasets of different sizes and modelability. The classification models generated provide valuable information about the molecules of the dataset, the applicability domain of the models and the reliability of the predictions.