A Systematic Literature Review of Green and Sustainable Logistics: Bibliometric Analysis, Research Trend and Knowledge Taxonomy

Rui Ren, Wanjie Hu, Jianjun Dong, Bo Sun, Yicun Chen and Zhilong Chen
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Rui Ren: College of Defense Engineering, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing 210042, China
Wanjie Hu: College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Jianjun Dong: College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Bo Sun: College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Yicun Chen: Research Institute for National Defense Engineering of Academy of Military Science PLA China, Beijing 100850, China
Zhilong Chen: College of Defense Engineering, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing 210042, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-25

Abstract: Ever-growing globalization and industrialization put forward impending requirements for green and sustainable logistics (G&SL). Over the past decades, G&SL initiatives triggered worldwide deliberations, aiming at easing negative transport externalities and improving supply chain performance. This review-based paper attempts to offer a joint quantitative and qualitative understanding for the overall evolutionary trend, knowledge structure, and literature gaps of the G&SL research field. Employing the science mapping approach, a total of 306 major paper published from 1999 to 2019 were retrieved, elaborated on, and synthesized. Visualized statistics regarding publication years, journal allocation/co-citation, inter-country/institution collaboration, influential articles, co-occurred keywords, and time view clusters of research themes were analyzed bibliographically. On this basis, a total of 50 sub-branches of G&SL knowledge were classified and thematically discussed based on five alignments, namely (i) social-environmental-economic research, (ii) planning, policy and management, (iii) application and practice, (iv) technology, and (v) operations research. Finally, the current knowledge obstacles and the future research opportunities were suggested. The findings contribute to portray a systematic intellectual prospect for the state quo, hotspots, and academic frontiers of G&SL research. Moreover, it provides researchers and practitioners with heuristic thoughts to govern transportation ecology and logistics service quality.

Keywords: sustainable logistics; freight transportation; green initiative; transport and environment; supply chain management; literature review; bibliometric; taxonomy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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