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28 December 2025

MLAHRec: A Multi-Layer Attention Hybrid Recommendation Model Based on Heterogeneous Information Networks

and
1
School of Data Science, City University of Macau, Macau 999078, China
2
Department of Digital Media Technology, Nanfang College Guangzhou, Guangzhou 510970, China
3
School of Information Engineering, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci.2026, 16(1), 321;https://doi.org/10.3390/app16010321 
(registering DOI)
This article belongs to the Section Computing and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

The rapid expansion of information on the Internet has rendered recommender systems vital for mitigating information overload. However, existing recommendation models based on heterogeneous information networks (HINs) often face challenges such as data sparsity and insufficient semantic utilization. Therefore, we propose a multi-layer attention hybrid recommendation model based on heterogeneous information networks (MLAHRec). Compared to traditional HIN-based recommendation models, we design a progressive three-layer attention architecture of “collaborative-node-path.” Specifically, collaborative attention first enhances the direct interaction representation between users and items. Subsequently, node attention filters important neighbor information on the same meta-path. Finally, path attention adaptively fuses the semantics of multiple meta-paths, thereby achieving hierarchical refinement from micro-level interactions to macro-level semantics. Experiments on four real datasets, including MovieLens, LastFM, Yelp, and Douban-Movie, demonstrate that MLAHRec significantly outperforms mainstream baseline algorithms, as determined by Precision@10, Recall@10, and NDCG@10 metrics, validating the effectiveness and interpretability of the model.

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