Research orientations of the selected supply chain management periodicals: A critical review

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of 1828 articles in logistics & supply chain management, published between 1995 and 2009. Five logistics & supply chain periodicals are included in this study; they are, in alphabetical order: International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management (IJPDLM), Journal of Business Logistics (JBL), Journal of Operations Management (JOM), Supply Chain Management: An International Journal (SCMIJ) and The International Journal of Logistics Management (IJLM). The results show that the highest number of articles was published in theme synchronise supply chain, whereas, the lowest number was published in the security theme. The top five themes are synchronise supply chain, IT in supply chain, distribution and transportation, supply chain design and procurement and supply management which constitute about 63% of the total articles reviewed. The results also show that the percentage increase in publication is relatively higher in themes belonging to the emerging theme category compared to the classical theme category over the review period. Over 51% of the articles were published in the context of North America, whereas only one article was published in the context of African countries. The results also show that the percentage increase in publication is relatively higher in the context of developing and emerging economies compared to developed economies.