With the recent emphasis on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) by both companies, consumers and governments, selecting eco-economic partners is more important than ever. Multiple aspects play critical roles in partner selection, including so many social, environmental, and economic attributes, but considering all of them simultaneously has proved impossible due to limitations in terms of evaluating resources and efficient decision making. Hence, a crucial first step of partner selection in an SSCM context is to decide which criteria to focus on and which to disregard. However, previous literature on partner selection usually treat the establishment of criteria as a given, and also neglect the interrelationships between them. To bridge this research gap, the present study develops a systematic four-stage optimization model for constructing partner selection criteria, based on Dempster-Shafer theory, the improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. Our model integrates quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify, group, filter, and analyze potential alternative criteria for partner selection in sustainable supply chains. We demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our proposed approach with a case study of a Chinese electronic and equipment manufacturer. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.