A Systematic Literature Review: Recursive Feature Elimination Algorithms

Recursive feature elimination (RFE) is a feature selection algorithm that works by gradually eliminating unimportant features. RFE has become a popular method for feature selection in various machine learning applications, such as classification and prediction. However, there is no systematic literature review (SLR) that discusses recursive feature elimination algorithms. This article conducts a SLR on RFE algorithms. The goal is to provide an overview of the current state of the RFE algorithm. This SLR uses IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, Springer, and Scopus (publish and publish) databases from 2018 to 2023. This SLR received 76 relevant papers with 49% standard RFEs, 43% strategy RFEs, and 8% modified RFEs. Research using RFE continues to increase every year, from 2018 to 2023. The feature selection method used simultaneously or for comparison is based on a filter approach, namely Pearson correlation, and an embedded approach, namely random forest. The most widely used machine learning algorithms are support vector machines and random forests, with 19.5% and 16.7%, respectively. Strategy RFE and modified RFE can be referred to as hybrid RFEs. Based on relevant papers, it is found that the RFE strategy is broadly divided into two categories: using RFE after other feature selection methods and using RFE simultaneously with other methods. Modification of the RFE is done by modifying the flow of the RFE. The modification process is divided into two categories: before the process of calculating the smallest weight criteria and after calculating the smallest weight criteria. Calculating the smallest weight criteria in this RFE modification is still a challenge at this time to obtain optimal results.