Why ‘GSA: a gravitational search algorithm’ is not genuinely based on the law of gravity

This letter highlights a fundamental inconsistency in the formulation of the Gravitational search algorithm (GSA) (Rashedi et al., Inf Sci 2232–48, 2009). GSA is said to be based on the law of gravity, that is, candidate solutions attract each other in the search space based on their relative distances and ‘masses’ (qualities). We show that, contrary to what is claimed, GSA does not take the distances between solutions into account, and therefore cannot be considered to be based on the law of gravity.