assigning weights to variables according to rankings

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I have a survey results from 500 experts, regarding their opinion of the influence of certain variables on a dependent variable. Each of the experts ranked each variable (about 50 variables) in a scale between (-5) to 5, where (-5) implies a strong negative influence, 5 implies a strong positive influence and rank 0 means no influence. From these rankings I would like to create a weight for each variable. That is, to create 50 weights. Since ranking can be positive or negative, a regular mean doesn't feel right. I considered taking the mean of the absolute values, but then I miss the negative influences. I've also searched in the literature and didn't find much. Any help will be appreciated.