International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Author guidelines

Before you start

For queries relating to the status of your paper pre decision, please contact the Editor or Journal Editorial Office. For queries post acceptance, please contact the Supplier Project Manager. These details can be found in the Editorial Team section.

Author responsibilities

Our goal is to provide you with a professional and courteous experience at each stage of the review and publication process. There are also some responsibilities that sit with you as the author. Our expectation is that you will:

Respond swiftly to any queries during the publication process.
Be accountable for all aspects of your work. This includes investigating and resolving any questions about accuracy or research integrity
Treat communications between you and the journal editor as confidential until an editorial decision has been made.
Read about our research ethics for authorship. These state that you must:
- Include anyone who has made a substantial and meaningful contribution to the submission (anyone else involved in the paper should be listed in the acknowledgements).
- Exclude anyone who hasn’t contributed to the paper, or who has chosen not to be associated with the research.
- In accordance with COPE’s position statement on AI tools, Large Language Models cannot be credited with authorship as they are incapable of conceptualising a research design without human direction and cannot be accountable for the integrity, originality, and validity of the published work. The author(s) must describe the content created or modified as well as appropriately cite the name and version of the AI tool used; any additional works drawn on by the AI tool should also be appropriately cited and referenced. Standard tools that are used to improve spelling and grammar are not included within the parameters of this guidance. The Editor and Publisher reserve the right to determine whether the use of an AI tool is permissible.
If your article involves human participants, you must ensure you have considered whether or not you require ethical approval for your research, and include this information as part of your submission. Find out more about informed consent.

Emerald’s Policy on AI Usage

Emerald’s overarching principles of AI usage:

1) Authors and peer reviewers are responsible and accountable for the accuracy and integrity of their work.

2) AI tools and technology must be used responsibly and transparently.

3) AI tools and technology should not replace human involvement in the publication process but instead supplement it.

Copywriting (creating, drafting, or writing) any part of a submission using generative AI tools and technology to generate new material is not permitted.

Copy-editing (correcting, editing, formatting, modifying, or refining) all or part of an author’s own original existing work using generative AI tools and technology the content to improve its structure and the clarity of the language and grammar is permitted, ensuring users adhere to the following overarching principles.

Emerald’s full policy, including examples of use cases can be found on our Publishing Ethics page.

Research and publishing ethics

Our editors and employees work hard to ensure the content we publish is ethically sound. To help us achieve that goal, we closely follow the advice laid out in the guidelines and flowcharts on the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) website.

We have also developed our research and publishing ethics guidelines. If you haven’t already read these, we urge you to do so – they will help you avoid the most common publishing ethics issues.

A few key points:

Any manuscript you submit to this journal should be original. That means it should not have been published before in its current, or similar, form. Exceptions to this rule are outlined in our pre-print and conference paper policies. If any substantial element of your paper has been previously published, you need to declare this to the journal editor upon submission. Please note, the journal editor may use Crossref Similarity Check to check on the originality of submissions received. This service compares submissions against a database of 49 million works from 800 scholarly publishers.
Your work should not have been submitted elsewhere and should not be under consideration by any other publication.
If you have a conflict of interest, you must declare it upon submission; this allows the editor to decide how they would like to proceed. Read about conflict of interest in our research and publishing ethics guidelines.
By submitting your work to Emerald, you are guaranteeing that the work is not in infringement of any existing copyright.

Third party copyright permissions

Prior to article submission, you need to ensure you’ve applied for, and received, written permission to use any material in your manuscript that has been created by a third party. Please note, we are unable to publish any article that still has permissions pending. The rights we require are:

Non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in the article or book chapter.
Print and electronic rights.
Worldwide English-language rights.
To use the material for the life of the work. That means there should be no time restrictions on its re-use e.g. a one-year licence.

We are a member of the International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers (STM) and participate in the STM permissions guidelines, a reciprocal free exchange of material with other STM publishers. In some cases, this may mean that you don’t need permission to re-use content. If so, please highlight this at the submission stage.

Please take a few moments to read our guide to publishing permissions to ensure you have met all the requirements, so that we can process your submission without delay.

Open access submissions and information

All our journals currently offer two open access (OA) publishing paths; gold open access and green open access.

If you would like to, or are required to, make the branded publisher PDF (also known as the version of record) freely available immediately upon publication,you can select the gold open access route once your paper is accepted.

If you’ve chosen to publish gold open access, this is the point you will be asked to pay the APC (article processing charge). This varies per journal and can be found on our APC price list or on the editorial system at the point of submission. Your article will be published with a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 user licence, which outlines how readers can reuse your work.

Alternatively, if you would like to, or are required to, publish open access but your funding doesn’t cover the cost of the APC, you can choose the green open access, or self-archiving, route. As soon as your article is published, you can make the author accepted manuscript (the version accepted for publication) openly available, free from payment and embargo periods.

You can find out more about our open access routes, our APCs and waivers and read our FAQs on our open research page.

Find out about open

Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines

We are a signatory of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines, a framework that supports the reproducibility of research through the adoption of transparent research practices. That means we encourage you to:

Cite and fully reference all data, program code, and other methods in your article.
Include persistent identifiers, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), in references for datasets and program codes. Persistent identifiers ensure future access to unique published digital objects, such as a piece of text or datasets. Persistent identifiers are assigned to datasets by digital archives, such as institutional repositories and partners in the Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS).
Follow appropriate international and national procedures with respect to data protection, rights to privacy and other ethical considerations, whenever you cite data. For further guidance please refer to our research and publishing ethics guidelines. For an example on how to cite datasets, please refer to the references section below.

Prepare your submission

Manuscript support services

We are pleased to partner with Editage, a platform that connects you with relevant experts in language support, translation, editing, visuals, consulting, and more. After you’ve agreed a fee, they will work with you to enhance your manuscript and get it submission-ready.

This is an optional service for authors who feel they need a little extra support. It does not guarantee your work will be accepted for review or publication.

Visit Editage

Manuscript requirements

Before you submit your manuscript, it’s important you read and follow the guidelines below. You will also find some useful tips in our structure your journal submission how-to guide.

Format	Article files should be provided in Microsoft Word format While you are welcome to submit a PDF of the document alongside the Word file, PDFs alone are not acceptable. LaTeX files can also be used but only if an accompanying PDF document is provided. Acceptable figure file types are listed further below.
Article length / word count	Articles should be up to a maximum of 10000 words in length. This includes all text, for example, the structured abstract, references, all text in tables, and figures and appendices. Please allow 280 words for each figure or table. Innovators and Transformers section papers should be 5,000 to 7,000 words (including structured abstract, figures & tables (fixed 280 words for each), references and appendices) that detail emerging challenges, lessons, and major innovations and transformations in the logistics and supply chain management. Submissions should: 1) inform innovation and transformation; 2) create scholarly and wider societal impact; 3) inform future meaningful research; 4) inspire future leaders in the field
Article title	A concisely worded title should be provided.
Author details	The names of all contributing authors should be added to the ScholarOne submission; please list them in the order in which you’d like them to be published. Each contributing author will need their own ScholarOne author account, from which we will extract the following details: Author email address (institutional preferred). Author name. We will reproduce it exactly, so any middle names and/or initials they want featured must be included. Author affiliation. This should be where they were based when the research for the paper was conducted. In multi-authored papers, it’s important that ALL authors that have made a significant contribution to the paper are listed. Those who have provided support but have not contributed to the research should be featured in an acknowledgements section. You should never include people who have not contributed to the paper or who don’t want to be associated with the research. Read about our research ethics for authorship.
Biographies and acknowledgements	If you want to include these items, save them in a separate Microsoft Word document and upload the file with your submission. Where they are included, a brief professional biography of not more than 100 words should be supplied for each named author.
Research funding	Your article must reference all sources of external research funding in the acknowledgements section. You should describe the role of the funder or financial sponsor in the entire research process, from study design to submission.
Structured abstract	All submissions must include a structured abstract, following the format outlined below. These four sub-headings and their accompanying explanations must always be included: Purpose Design/methodology/approach Findings Originality The following three sub-headings are optional and can be included, if applicable: Research limitations/implications Practical implications Social implications You can find some useful tips in our write an article abstract how-to guide. The maximum length of your abstract should be 250 words in total, including keywords and article classification (see the sections below).
Keywords	Your submission should include up to 12 appropriate and short keywords that capture the principal topics of the paper. Our Creating an SEO-friendly manuscript how to guide contains some practical guidance on choosing search-engine friendly keywords. Please note, while we will always try to use the keywords you’ve suggested, the in-house editorial team may replace some of them with matching terms to ensure consistency across publications and improve your article’s visibility.
Article classification	During the submission process, you will be asked to select a type for your paper; the options are listed below. If you don’t see an exact match, please choose the best fit: Research Paper Invited Perspective Innovators and Transformers section You will also be asked to select a category for your paper. The options for this are listed below. If you don’t see an exact match, please choose the best fit: Research paper. Reports on any type of research undertaken by the author(s), including: The construction or testing of a model or framework Action research Testing of data, market research or surveys Empirical, scientific or clinical research Papers with a practical focus Viewpoint. Covers any paper where content is dependent on the author's opinion and interpretation. This includes journalistic and magazine-style pieces. Technical paper. Describes and evaluates technical products, processes or services. Conceptual paper. Focuses on developing hypotheses and is usually discursive. Covers philosophical discussions and comparative studies of other authors’ work and thinking. Case study. Describes actual interventions or experiences within organizations. It can be subjective and doesn’t generally report on research. Also covers a description of a legal case or a hypothetical case study used as a teaching exercise. Literature review. This category should only be used if the main purpose of the paper is to annotate and/or critique the literature in a particular field. It could be a selective bibliography providing advice on information sources, or the paper may aim to cover the main contributors to the development of a topic and explore their different views. General review. Provides an overview or historical examination of some concept, technique or phenomenon. Papers are likely to be more descriptive or instructional (‘how to’ papers) than discursive.
Headings	Headings must be concise, with a clear indication of the required hierarchy. The preferred format is for first level headings to be in bold, and subsequent sub-headings to be in medium italics.
Notes/endnotes	Notes or endnotes should only be used if absolutely necessary. They should be identified in the text by consecutive numbers enclosed in square brackets. These numbers should then be listed, and explained, at the end of the article.
Figures	All figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, webpages/screenshots, and photographic images) should be submitted electronically. Both colour and black and white files are accepted. There are a few other important points to note: All figures should be supplied at the highest resolution/quality possible with numbers and text clearly legible. Acceptable formats are .ai, .eps, .jpeg, .bmp, and .tif. Electronic figures created in other applications should be supplied in their original formats and should also be either copied and pasted into a blank MS Word document, or submitted as a PDF file. All figures should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and have clear captions. All photographs should be numbered as Plate 1, 2, 3, etc. and have clear captions. All figure/table captions should include the necessary credit line, acknowledgement, or attribution if you have been given permission to use the figure/table (e.g., “adapted from Smith, 2007”; “reproduced from Smith, 2007"); if the figure/table is the property of the author(s), this should be acknowledged in the caption (e.g., “Authors’ own elaboration”).
Tables	Tables should be typed and submitted in a separate file to the main body of the article. The position of each table should be clearly labelled in the main body of the article with corresponding labels clearly shown in the table file. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Roman numerals (e.g. I, II, etc.). Give each table a brief title. Ensure that any superscripts or asterisks are shown next to the relevant items and have explanations displayed as footnotes to the table, figure or plate.
Supplementary files	Where tables, figures, appendices, and other additional content are supplementary to the article but not critical to the reader’s understanding of it, you can choose to host these supplementary files alongside your article on Insight, Emerald’s content hosting platform, or on an institutional or personal repository. All supplementary material must be submitted prior to acceptance. If you choose to host your supplementary files on Insight, you must submit these as separate files alongside your article. Files should be clearly labelled in such a way that makes it clear they are supplementary; Emerald recommends that the file name is descriptive and that it follows the format ‘Supplementary_material_appendix_1’ or ‘Supplementary tables’. All supplementary material must be mentioned at the appropriate moment in the main text of the article, there is no need to include the content of the file but only the file name. A link to the supplementary material will be added to the article during production, and the material will be made available alongside the main text of the article at the point of EarlyCite publication. Please note that Emerald will not make any changes to the material; it will not be copyedited, typeset, and authors will not receive proofs. Emerald therefore strongly recommends that you style all supplementary material ahead of acceptance of the article. Emerald Insight can host the following file types and extensions: Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) MS Word document (.doc, .docx) MS Excel (.xls, xlsx) MS PowerPoint (.pptx) Image (.png, .jpeg, .gif) Plain ASCII text (.txt) PostScript (.ps) Rich Text Format (.rtf) If you choose to use an institutional or personal repository, you should ensure that the supplementary material is hosted on the repository ahead of submission, and then include a link only to the repository within the article. It is the responsibility of the submitting author to ensure that the material is free to access and that it remains permanently available. Please note that extensive supplementary material may be subject to peer review; this is at the discretion of the journal Editor and dependent on the content of the material (for example, whether including it would support the reviewer making a decision on the article during the peer review process).
References	All references in your manuscript must be formatted using one of the recognised Harvard styles. You are welcome to use the Harvard style Emerald has adopted – we’ve provided a detailed guide below. Want to use a different Harvard style? That’s fine, our typesetters will make any necessary changes to your manuscript if it is accepted. Please ensure you check all your citations for completeness, accuracy and consistency. Emerald’s Harvard referencing style References to other publications in your text should be written as follows: Single author: (Adams, 2006) Two authors: (Adams and Brown, 2006) Three or more authors: (Adams et al., 2006) Please note, ‘et al' should always be written in italics. A few other style points. These apply to both the main body of text and your final list of references. When referring to pages in a publication, use ‘p.(page number)’ for a single page or ‘pp.(page numbers)’ to indicate a page range. Page numbers should always be written out in full, e.g. 175-179, not 175-9. Where a colon or dash appears in the title of an article or book chapter, the letter that follows that colon or dash should always be lower case. When citing a work with multiple editors, use the abbreviation ‘Ed.s’. At the end of your paper, please supply a reference list in alphabetical order using the style guidelines below. Where a DOI is available, this should be included at the end of the reference.
For books	Surname, initials (year), title of book, publisher, place of publication. e.g. Harrow, R. (2005), No Place to Hide, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.
For book chapters	Surname, initials (year), "chapter title", editor's surname, initials (Ed.), title of book, publisher, place of publication, page numbers. e.g. Calabrese, F.A. (2005), "The early pathways: theory to practice – a continuum", Stankosky, M. (Ed.), Creating the Discipline of Knowledge Management, Elsevier, New York, NY, pp.15-20.
For journals	Surname, initials (year), "title of article", journal name, volume issue, page numbers. e.g. Capizzi, M.T. and Ferguson, R. (2005), "Loyalty trends for the twenty-first century", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp.72-80.
For published conference proceedings	Surname, initials (year of publication), "title of paper", in editor’s surname, initials (Ed.), title of published proceeding which may include place and date(s) held, publisher, place of publication, page numbers. e.g. Wilde, S. and Cox, C. (2008), “Principal factors contributing to the competitiveness of tourism destinations at varying stages of development”, in Richardson, S., Fredline, L., Patiar A., & Ternel, M. (Ed.s), CAUTHE 2008: Where the 'bloody hell' are we?, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Qld, pp.115-118.
For unpublished conference proceedings	Surname, initials (year), "title of paper", paper presented at [name of conference], [date of conference], [place of conference], available at: URL if freely available on the internet (accessed date). e.g. Aumueller, D. (2005), "Semantic authoring and retrieval within a wiki", paper presented at the European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC), 29 May-1 June, Heraklion, Crete, available at: http://dbs.uni-leipzig.de/file/aumueller05wiksar.pdf (accessed 20 February 2007).
For working papers	Surname, initials (year), "title of article", working paper [number if available], institution or organization, place of organization, date. e.g. Moizer, P. (2003), "How published academic research can inform policy decisions: the case of mandatory rotation of audit appointments", working paper, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, 28 March.
For encyclopaedia entries (with no author or editor)	Title of encyclopaedia (year), "title of entry", volume, edition, title of encyclopaedia, publisher, place of publication, page numbers. e.g. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926), "Psychology of culture contact", Vol. 1, 13th ed., Encyclopaedia Britannica, London and New York, NY, pp.765-771. (for authored entries, please refer to book chapter guidelines above)
For newspaper articles (authored)	Surname, initials (year), "article title", newspaper, date, page numbers. e.g. Smith, A. (2008), "Money for old rope", Daily News, 21 January, pp.1, 3-4.
For newspaper articles (non-authored)	Newspaper (year), "article title", date, page numbers. e.g. Daily News (2008), "Small change", 2 February, p.7.
For archival or other unpublished sources	Surname, initials (year), "title of document", unpublished manuscript, collection name, inventory record, name of archive, location of archive. e.g. Litman, S. (1902), "Mechanism & Technique of Commerce", unpublished manuscript, Simon Litman Papers, Record series 9/5/29 Box 3, University of Illinois Archives, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
For electronic sources	If available online, the full URL should be supplied at the end of the reference, as well as the date that the resource was accessed. Surname, initials (year), “title of electronic source”, available at: persistent URL (accessed date month year). e.g. Weida, S. and Stolley, K. (2013), “Developing strong thesis statements”, available at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/1/ (accessed 20 June 2018) Standalone URLs, i.e. those without an author or date, should be included either inside parentheses within the main text, or preferably set as a note (Roman numeral within square brackets within text followed by the full URL address at the end of the paper).
For data	Surname, initials (year), title of dataset, name of data repository, available at: persistent URL, (accessed date month year). e.g. Campbell, A. and Kahn, R.L. (2015), American National Election Study, 1948, ICPSR07218-v4, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (distributor), Ann Arbor, MI, available at: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07218.v4 (accessed 20 June 2018)

Submit your manuscript

There are a number of key steps you should follow to ensure a smooth and trouble-free submission.

Double check your manuscript

Before submitting your work, it is your responsibility to check that the manuscript is complete, grammatically correct, and without spelling or typographical errors. A few other important points:

Give the journal aims and scope a final read. Is your manuscript definitely a good fit? If it isn’t, the editor may decline it without peer review.
Does your manuscript comply with our research and publishing ethics guidelines?
Have you cleared any necessary publishing permissions?
Have you followed all the formatting requirements laid out in these author guidelines?
Does the manuscript contain any information that might help the reviewer identify you? This could compromise the anonymous peer review process. A few tips:
- If you need to refer to your own work, use wording such as ‘previous research has demonstrated’ not ‘our previous research has demonstrated’.
- If you need to refer to your own, currently unpublished work, don’t include this work in the reference list.
- Any acknowledgments or author biographies should be uploaded as separate files.
- Carry out a final check to ensure that no author names appear anywhere in the manuscript. This includes in figures or captions.

You will find a helpful submission checklist on the website Think.Check.Submit.

The submission process

All manuscripts should be submitted through our editorial system by the corresponding author.

A separate author account is required for each journal you submit to. If this is your first time submitting to this journal, please choose the Create an account or Register now option in the editorial system. If you already have an Emerald login, you are welcome to reuse the existing username and password here.

Please note, the next time you log into the system, you will be asked for your username. This will be the email address you entered when you set up your account.

Don't forget to add your ORCiD ID during the submission process. It will be embedded in your published article, along with a link to the ORCiD registry allowing others to easily match you with your work.

Don’t have one yet? It only takes a few moments to register for a free ORCiD identifier.

Visit the ScholarOne support centre for further help and guidance.

What you can expect next

You will receive an automated email from the journal editor, confirming your successful submission. It will provide you with a manuscript number, which will be used in all future correspondence about your submission. If you have any reason to suspect the confirmation email you receive might be fraudulent, please contact the journal editor in the first instance.

Manuscript transfer service

Emerald’s manuscript transfer service takes the pain out of the submission process if your manuscript doesn’t fit your initial journal choice. Our team of expert Editors from participating journals work together to identify alternative journals that better align with your research, ensuring your work finds the ideal publication home it deserves. Our dedicated team is committed to supporting authors like you in finding the right home for your research.

If a journal is participating in the manuscript transfer program, the Editor has the option to recommend your paper for transfer. If a transfer decision is made by the Editor, you will receive an email with the details of the recommended journal and the option to accept or reject the transfer. It’s always down to you as the author to decide if you’d like to accept. If you do accept, your paper and any reviewer reports will automatically be transferred to the recommended journals. Authors will then confirm resubmissions in the new journal’s ScholarOne system.

Our Manuscript Transfer Service page has more information on the process.

Post submission

Review and decision process

Each submission is checked by the editor. At this stage, they may choose to decline or unsubmit your manuscript if it doesn’t fit the journal aims and scope, or they feel the language/manuscript quality is too low.

If they think it might be suitable for the publication, they will send it to at least two independent referees for double anonymous peer review. Once these reviewers have provided their feedback, the editor may decide to accept your manuscript, request minor or major revisions, or decline your work.

While all journals work to different timescales, the goal is that the editor will inform you of their first decision within 60 days.

During this period, we will send you automated updates on the progress of your manuscript via our submission system, or you can log in to check on the current status of your paper. Each time we contact you, we will quote the manuscript number you were given at the point of submission. If you receive an email that does not match these criteria, it could be fraudulent and we recommend you email the journal editor.

If your submission is accepted

Open access

Once your paper is accepted, you will have the opportunity to indicate whether you would like to publish your paper via the gold open access route.

Copyright

All accepted authors are sent an email with a link to a licence form. This should be checked for accuracy, for example whether contact and affiliation details are up to date and your name is spelled correctly, and then returned to us electronically. If there is a reason why you can’t assign copyright to us, you should discuss this with your journal content editor. You will find their contact details on the editorial team section above.

Proofing and typesetting

Once we have received your completed licence form, the article will pass directly into the production process. We will carry out editorial checks, copyediting, and typesetting and then return proofs to you (if you are the corresponding author) for your review. This is your opportunity to correct any typographical errors, grammatical errors or incorrect author details. We can’t accept requests to rewrite texts at this stage.

When the page proofs are finalised, the fully typeset and proofed version of record is published online. This is referred to as the EarlyCite version. While an EarlyCite article has yet to be assigned to a volume or issue, it does have a digital object identifier (DOI) and is fully citable. It will be compiled into an issue according to the journal’s issue schedule, with papers being added by chronological date of publication.

How to share your paper

Visit our author rights page to find out how you can reuse and share your work.

To find tips on increasing the visibility of your published paper, read about how to promote your work.

Correcting inaccuracies in your published paper

Sometimes errors are made during the research, writing and publishing processes. When these issues arise, we have the option of withdrawing the paper or introducing a correction notice. Find out more about our article withdrawal and correction policies.

Need to make a change to the author list? See our frequently asked questions (FAQs) below.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a submission fee for the journal?	The only time we will ever ask you for money to publish in an Emerald journal is if you have chosen to publish via the gold open access route. You will be asked to pay an APC (article processing charge) once your paper has been accepted (unless it is a sponsored open access journal). Read about our APCs At no other time will you be asked to contribute financially towards your article’s publication. If you haven’t chosen gold open access and you receive an email which appears to be from Emerald, asking you for payment to publish, please contact the journal.
How can I become a reviewer for a journal?	Please contact the editor for the journal, with a copy of your CV. You will find their contact details on the editorial team tab on this page.
Who do I contact if I want to find out which volume and issue my accepted paper will appear in?	Typically, papers are added to an issue according to their date of publication. If you would like to know in advance which issue your paper will appear in, please contact the content editor of the journal. You will find their contact details on the editorial team tab on this page. Once your paper has been published in an issue, you will be notified by email.
Who do I contact if I have a query about my submission?	Please email the journal editor – you will find their contact details on the editorial team tab on this page. If you ever suspect an email you’ve received from Emerald might not be genuine, you are welcome to verify it with the content editor for the journal, whose contact details can be found on the editorial team tab on this page. Alternatively, you can email our Rights team.
Is my paper suitable for the journal?	If you’ve read the aims and scope on the journal landing page and are still unsure whether your paper is suitable for the journal, please email the editor and include your paper's title and structured abstract. They will be able to advise on your manuscript’s suitability. You will find their contact details on the Editorial team tab on this page.
How do I make a change to the list of authors once the manuscript has been submitted?	Authorship and the order in which the authors are listed on the paper should be agreed prior to submission. We have a right first time policy on this and no changes can be made to the list once submitted. If you have made an error in the submission process, please email the Journal Editorial Office who will look into your request – you will find their contact details on the editorial team tab on this page.

Editorial team

Editors-in-Chief
- Professor Shashank Rao
  Auburn University - USA
  [email protected]
- Professor Ivan Russo
  University of Verona - Italy
  [email protected]
Senior Associate Editors
- Frank Adams
  Mississippi State University - USA
- Ceren Altuntaş Vural
  Chalmers University of Technology - Sweden
- Lydia Bals
  University of Applied Sciences Mainz - Germany
- Jyotirmoyee Bhattacharjya
  University of Sydney - Australia
- Sakun Boon-itt
  Thammasat Business School - Thailand
- David Cantor (jERB Director)
  Iowa State University - USA
- Ilenia Confente
  University of Verona - Italy
- David Dobrzykowski
  University of Arkansas, Sam M. Walton College of Business - USA
- Christian F. Durach
  ESCP Europe Business School - Germany
- Scott C. Ellis
  Georgia Southern University - USA
- Ellie Falcone
  Texas Christian University - USA
- Robert Frankel
  University of North Florida - USA
- David Gligor
  Florida Gulf Coast University - USA
- Thomas Goldsby
  University of Tennessee - USA
- Ismail Gölgeci
  University of Auckland - New Zealand
- Jan Holmström
  Aalto University - Finland
- Baofeng Huo
  Tianjin University - People's Republic of China
- Deepak Iyengar
  Georgia Southern University - USA
- Yao Jin
  Miami University - USA
- Joakim Kembro
  Lund University - Sweden
- Jon Kirchoff
  East Carolina University - USA
- Matthias Klumpp
  Politecnico di Milano - Italy
- Herbert Kotzab
  University of North Florida - USA
- Mohsin Malik
  Swinburne University of Technology - Australia
- Suman Niranjan
  University of North Texas - USA
- Andrea Patrucco
  Florida International University - USA
- Simone Peinkofer
  Michigan State University - USA
- Adriana Rossiter Hofer
  University of Arkansas - USA
- Kirstin Scholten
  University of Groningen - Netherlands
- Alex Scott
  University of Tennessee - USA
- Stefan Seuring
  University of Kassel - Germany
- Anníbal Sodero
  Ohio State University - USA
- Ha Ta
  Florida International University - USA
- Christina W.Y. Wong
  The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - China
Innovators and Transformers Section Editors
- Professor Ivan Russo
  University of Verona - Italy
  [email protected]
- Professor Remko van Hoek
  University of Arkansas, Sam M. Walton College of Business - USA
  [email protected]
Managing Editor
- Dr. Ha Ta
  Florida International University - USA
Social Media Manager
- Dr. Matthias Klumpp
  Politecnico di Milano - Italy
Commissioning Editor
- Jessica Sturges
  Emerald Publishing - UK
  [email protected]
Journal Editorial Office (For queries related to pre-acceptance)
- Please contact the Journal Editorial Office
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Supplier Project Manager (For queries related to post-acceptance)
- Subha Sri Aneesh
  Emerald Publishing
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Editorial Advisory Board
- Chad W. Autry
  University of Tennessee - USA
- John Bell Ph.D.
  Department of Supply Chain Management, University of Tennessee, USA
- Maria Björklund
  Linköping University - Sweden
- Michael Bourlakis
  Cranfield School of Management - UK
- Christian Busse
  University of Oldenburg - Germany
- Craig R. Carter
  Arizona State University - USA
- Martin Christopher
  Cranfield School of Management - UK
- Patricia Daugherty
  Iowa State University - USA
- Alexander E. Ellinger (Former Editor of IJPDLM)
  The University of Alabama - USA
- Lisa M Ellram
  Miami University of Ohio - USA
- Nathalie Fabbe-Costes
  Aix-Marseille Université - France
- Helena Forslund
  Linnaeus University - Sweden
- Robert Frankel
  University of North Florida - USA
- Brian Fugate
  University of Arkansas - USA
- Brian Gibson
  Auburn University - USA
- Larry Giunipero
  Florida State University - USA
- Thomas J Goldsby
  University of Tennessee at Knoxville - USA
- Stanley Griffis Ph.D.
  Department of Supply Chain Management, Michigan State University, USA
- Benjamin T. Hazen (Former Editor of IJPDLM)
  University of Dayton - USA
- Patrik Jonsson (Former Editor of IJPDLM)
  Chalmers University of Technology - Sweden
- Lutz Kaufmann
  WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management - Germany
- A Michael Knemeyer
  The Ohio State University - USA
- Gyöngyi Kovács
  Hanken School of Economics - Finland
- Alan C McKinnon
  Kühne Logistics University - Germany
- R. Glenn Richey, Jr, (Former Editor of IJPDLM)
  Auburn University - USA
- Stefan Seuring
  University of Kassel - Germany
- Theodore Stank
  University of Tennessee at Knoxville - USA
- James R. Stock, (Former Editor of IJPDLM)
  University of South Florida - USA
- Rodney Thomas
  University of Arkansas - USA
- Stephan Wagner
  Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich - Switzerland
- Carl Marcus Wallenburg
  WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management - Germany
- Chee Yew Wong (Former Editor of IJPDLM)
  Leeds University - UK
Editorial Review Board
- Innocent Senyo Kwasi Acquah
  University of Cape Coast - Ghana
- John Aloysius
  University of Arkansas - USA
- Haris Aslam
  University of Lahore - Pakistan
- Valeria Belvedere
  Catholic University of the Sacred Heart - Italy
- Christopher Boone
  Mississippi State University - USA
- Rebekah Brau
  Brigham Young University - USA
- Sebastian Brockhaus
  Cleveland State University - USA
- Steve Carnovale
  Florida Atlantic University, College of Business - USA
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  Ohio State University - USA
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  Wayne State University - USA
- Hing Kai Chan
  Wenzhou-Kean University - People's Republic of China
- Lujie Chen
  Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University - People's Republic of China
- Alessandra Cozzolino
  Sapienza University of Rome - Italy
- Marina Dabić
  University of Zagreb - Croatia
- Emanuela Delbufalo
  European University of Rome - Italy
- Navin Kumar Dev
  Dayal Bagh Educational Institute - India
- Emily Dickey
  University of Tennessee - USA
- Ana-Maria Dimand
  Florida State University - USA
- Anne Dohmen
  Michigan State University - USA
- Yanji Duan
  University of North Florida - USA
- Joachim Ehrenthal
  University of St Gallen - Switzerland
- Reham Eltantawy
  University of North Florida - USA
- Ebba Eriksson Ahre
  Lund University - Sweden
- Kum Fai Yuen
  Nanyang Technological University - Singapore
- Di Fan
  Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Hong Kong
- Mengying Feng
  Chongqing Jiaotong University - People's Republic of China
- Taiwen Feng
  Harbin Institute of Technology, School of Economics & Management - People's Republic of China
- Bente Flygansvær
  BI Norwegian Business School - Norway
- Vipul Garg
  University of North Texas - USA
- Barbara Gaudenzi
  University of Verona - Italy
- Jighyasu Gaur
  Indian Institute of Management Raipur - India
- Luca Mattia Gelsomino
  Windesheim University of Applied Sciences - The Netherlands
- Stefan Genchev
  University of Central Oklahoma - USA
- Markus Gerschberger
  University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria - Austria
- Melanie Gerschberger
  University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria - Austria
- Larry C Giunipero
  Florida State University - USA
- Abhay Grover
  Iowa State University - USA
- Minhao Gu
  Tianjin University - People's Republic of China
- Laharish Guntuka
  Rochester Institute of Technology - USA
- Árni Halldórsson
  Chalmers University of Technology - Sweden
- Zhaojun Han
  Dalian University of Technology - People's Republic of China
- Graham Heaslip
  Atlantic Technological University - Ireland
- Aaron Heinrich
  Western Carolina University College of Business - USA
- Daniel Hellström
  Lund University - Sweden
- Rowan Hilend
  Colorado State University - USA
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  Lund University - Sweden
- Marlene Margarethe Hohn
  ESCP/ Free University Berlin - Germany
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  RMIT University - Australia
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  Howard University - USA
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  Universiti Putra Malaysia - Malaysia
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  Thiagarajar School of Management - India
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  Valparaiso University - USA
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  Virginia Commonwealth University - USA
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  EAESP FGV, School of Business Administration - Brazil
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  Chung-Ang University - South Korea
- Rudi Leuschner
  Rutgers University Business School - USA
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  Macau University of Science and Technology - People's Republic of China
- Jason Li
  Deakin University - Australia
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  Xi'an Jiaotong University, School of Management - People's Republic of China
- Ying Liao
  East Carolina University, College of Business - USA
- Stanley Lim
  Michigan State University - USA
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  National Taiwan Ocean University - Taiwan
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  Shanghai Tech University - People's Republic of China
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  Tianjin University - People's Republic of China
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  Central University of Finance and Economics - People's Republic of China
- Guanyi Lu
  Florida State University - USA
- Iryna Malacina
  LUT University - Finland
- Michael Maloni
  Kennesaw State University - USA
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  Newcastle University - UK
- Ila Manuj
  University of North Texas - USA
- Micah Marzolf
  Iowa State University - USA
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  Miami University - USA
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  Politecnico di Milano - Italy
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  Lehigh University - USA
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  Auburn University - USA
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  Wayne State University - USA
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  Miami University of Ohio - USA
- Khakan Najaf
  Liwa College - UAE
- Dag Naslund
  University of North Florida - USA
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  University of Wollongong - Australia
- Rahul Nilakantan
  Western Kentucky University - USA
- Mikael Ohman
  Hanken School of Economics - Finland
- Richard Oloruntoba
  Curtin University - Australia
- Henrik Palsson
  Lund University - Sweden
- Xiaodan Pan
  Concordia University - Canada
- Photis Panayides
  Cyprus University of Technology - Cyprus
- Daniel Parcheco Lacerda
  Federal University of Santa Catarina - Brazil
- Kevin H. Park
  University of Dayton - USA
- Kulwant Pawar
  University of Nottingham - UK
- Daniel Pellathy
  University of Tennessee - USA
- Sara Perotti
  Politecnico di Milano - Italy
- Francesco Pilati
  University of Trento - Italy
- Yulia Ponomareva
  Autonomous University of Barcelona - Spain
- Lorenzo Prataviera
  Università di Verona - Italy
- Kumar Pritosh
  University of Wisconsin Parkside - USA
- Günter Prockl
  Copenhagen Business School - Denmark
- Peter Ralston
  Iowa State University - USA
- Bill Rose
  Iowa State University - USA
- Dawn Russell
  University of North Florida - USA
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  Cranfield University - UK
- Zoe Schumm
  Pennsylvania State University-Erie - USA
- Matthew Schwieterman
  Miami University - USA
- Arianna Seghezzi
  Politecnico di Milano - Italy
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  University of Arkansas - USA
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  University of Nottingham Ningbo China - People's Republic of China
- Peter Shi
  Macquarie University - Australia
- Yongyi Shou
  Zhejiang University - People's Republic of China
- Dong-Wook Song
  World Maritime University - Sweden
- Gunnar Stefánsson
  Chalmers University of Technology - Sweden
- Rebecca Stekelorum
  ICN Business School - France
- Hannah J. Stolze
  Wheaton College - USA
- Martin Svanberg
  RISE Research Institutes of Sweden - Sweden
- Min Tian
  Shandong University - People's Republic of China
- Travis Tokar
  Texas Christian University - USA
- Anne Touboulic
  University of Nottingham - UK
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  Lahore University of Management Sciences - Pakistan
- Shiri D. Vivek
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  WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management - Germany
- Michael Wang
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- Robert Wiedmer
  Arizona State University - USA
- Johan Woxenius
  Gothenburg University, Handels School of Business - Sweden
- Yen-Chun Wu
  National Taiwan Normal University - Taiwan
- Biao Yang
  University of Sussex - UK
- Andrew Zeiser
  John Carroll University - USA
- Dorsaf Zouari
  Université Grenoble Alpes - France

Indexing & metrics

Citation metrics

14.1

CiteScore 2024

15.0

CiteScore Tracker 2025

(updated monthly)

7.3

2024 Impact Factor

8.2

5-year Impact Factor (2024)

Publication timeline

Time to first decision

days

Acceptance to publication

days

Acceptance rate

11.9

Usage

Downloads

38328

Articles

This journal is abstracted and indexed by

Australian Business Deans' Council (ABDC) Quality Journal List
CAS Journal Ranking (3)
SSCI: Social Science Citation Index
Scopus
Business Source Premier
Academic OneFile
Business Insights: Essentials
ABI/INFORM Complete
Research Library Complete
Web of Science
CSCMP Online Logistics Bibliography
Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Management & Marketing
Publication Forum
Qualis
ESSEC Rankings of Journals in 2016
2016 FNEGE Journals Ranking List (France)
VHB-JOURQUAL 3
FMS Journal Rating Guide - B

Reviewers

Reviewer information

Peer review process

This journal engages in a double-anonymous peer review process, which strives to match the expertise of a reviewer with the submitted manuscript. Reviews are completed with evidence of thoughtful engagement with the manuscript, provide constructive feedback, and add value to the overall knowledge and information presented in the manuscript.

Mission

The mission of the peer review process is to achieve excellence and rigour in scholarly publications and research.

Vision

Our vision is to give voice to professionals in the subject area who contribute unique and diverse scholarly perspectives to the field.

Values

The journal values diverse perspectives from the field and reviewers who provide critical, constructive, and respectful feedback to authors. Reviewers come from a variety of organizations, careers, and backgrounds from around the world.

Ethics

All invitations to review, abstracts, manuscripts, and reviews should be kept confidential. Reviewers must not share their review or information about the review process with anyone without the agreement of the editors and authors involved, even after publication. This also applies to other reviewers’ “comments to author” which are shared with you on decision.

Resources to guide you through the review process

Discover practical tips and guidance on all aspects of peer review in our reviewers' section. See how being a reviewer could benefit your career, and discover what's involved in shaping a review.

More reviewer information

Calls for papers & news

Calls for papers

From Individuals to Organizations: Unpacking Behavioral Issues in Supply Chain Risk Management

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Submit your paper hereIntroductionAt its core, supply chain risk management (SCRM) research has focused on identifying and assessing known and unknow...

Guest editor(s):

Jon F. Kirchoff, Ying Liao, Shingirai “Chris” Kwaramba

Organizing for the future – how do OSCM processes and organization design need to evolve in the wake of technological and/or geopolitical disruptions?

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Submit your paper hereIntroductionConsidering that organization design has been proposed to be contingent upon a broad spectrum of external and inter...

Guest editor(s):

Lydia Bals, Virpi Turkulainen

Beyond the Horizons of Innovation: Rethinking Logistics, Operations, and Supply Chain Management Strategies

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

OverviewThis special issue in the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management (IJPDLM) seeks to explore innovative approaches, emerging technologies, and novel frameworks that redefine traditional paradigms i...

Guest editor(s):

Christian M. Ringle, Jun-Hwa Cheah (Jacky), Wolfgang Kersten, Christian Thies

News

Virtual Issue: International Women's Day 2026 - OLQ Collection

International Women's Day 2026Operations, Logistics & QualityJournals CollectionIn honour of International Women's Day 2026, the following articles have been made free to access u...

06/03/2026

Thank you to the 2024 Reviewers of International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

The publishing and editorial teams would like to thank the following people for their invaluable service as 2024 reviewers for this journal. We are very grateful for the contributions made. With their help, the journal has been able to publish suc...

02/09/2025

New Perspective Paper on the Strategic Use of Social Media to Enhance SCM Research Dissemination

We are pleased to highlight this perspective paper, which examines the evolving role of social media in academic publishing, particularly within the supply chain management (SCM) field. It explores how journals can leverage social media to enhance...

30/06/2025

Announcement: IJPDLM Early Career Reviewer Board (ECRB)

Statement of Purpose:The Early Career Reviewer Board (ECRB) is a professional development initiative of the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management (IJPDLM) designed to enhance the success...

30/05/2025

New Section: Innovators and transformers - lessons, opportunities and co-creations in logistics and supply chain management

About the section The International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management has launched a new section dedicated to research articles that detail emerging problems, challenges, lessons learnt and the future potentia...

18/12/2024

New Co-EiC for International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management

We are delighted to announce that Shashank Rao has joined IJPDLM as our new Co-Editor-in-Chief! Shashank is the Jim W. Thompson Professor of Supply Chain Management at Auburn University and is recognized as one of the le...

27/11/2024

Thank you to the 2023 Reviewers of International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

The publishing and editorial teams would like to thank the following, for their invaluable service as 2023 reviewers for this journal. We are very grateful for the contributions made. With their help, the journal has been able to publish such high...

23/09/2024

The Fundamental Role of People in Logistics, Operations, and Supply Chain Management

Ivan Russo, University of Verona, Department of Management, Italy, Editor-in-Chief IJPDLM Introduction The importance of the human element in logistics, operations, and supply chain management ...

19/08/2024

Innovative and Interactive Communications at IJPDLM

Following up a distinct communication and social media strategy, IJPDLM has launched a new LinkedIn account in order to reach its specific community of logistics researchers, including readers, authors, reviewers and further partners of the journa...

20/11/2023

New Section: Innovators and transformers - lessons, opportunities and co-creations in logistics and supply chain management

About the sectionThe International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management has launched a new section dedicated to research articles that detail emerging problems, challenges, lessons learnt and the future potential of...

15/09/2020

Literati awards

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management - Literati Award Winners 2025

We are pleased to announce our 2025 Literati Award winners!Outstanding PaperCyber risk management strategies and integration: Towards supply chain cyber resilie...

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management - Literati Award Winners 2023

We are to pleased to announce our 2023 Literati Award winners. Outstanding Paper Communicating Supply Chain Sustain...

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management - Literati Award Winners 2022

We are pleased to announce our 2022 Literati Award winners. Outstanding Paper Overcoming the collaborativ...

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management - Literati Award Winners 2024

We are pleased to announce our 2024 Literati Award winners. Outstanding Paper The impact of social vs environmental susta...

ISSN: 0960-0035
eISSN: 1758-664X

You can choose to publish your article open access in this journal by indicating on the editorial system when you submit your paper.

Aims and scope

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management (IJPDLM) strives to provide authors and the community with "best in class" service through timeliness and fairness in the review process with an emphasis on inclusivity and fostering meaningful research impact. The Journal provides business practitioners, policymakers, consultants, and academics with leading-edge information and discussion of current developments in the field. It facilitates the interchange of information among stakeholders across the globe while providing a platform for new insights into problems and techniques related to all facets of supply chain management.

IJPDLM seeks strategically focused, theoretically grounded, empirical and conceptual, quantitative and qualitative original research studies in logistics, physical distribution, purchasing, operations and supply chain management, and associated strategic issues.

This means that papers published in IJPDLM need to rely on a rigorous empirical methodology with a strong theoretical basis and contributions. A clear discussion of the results' implications, generalizability, and contribution to knowledge, with a clear connection to the SCM/Logistics literature, is also essential.

IJPDLM encourages conceptual papers or literature reviews to advance theoretical concepts or theories. However, IJPDLM does not usually publish descriptive literature reviews or bibliometric analyses that focus solely on telling who or what topics are cited and describing past studies without adding any new knowledge.

Quantitatively oriented mathematical and modeling research papers are considered out of scope and not suitable for IJPDLM. However, a quantitative model can be included as a part of an empirical study, action research, or design science paper.

For a better understanding of the journal expectations and the most common reasons for rejection at IJPDLM, please consider reading the following editorial before submitting: Editorial: Navigating excellence: understanding and overcoming common causes of manuscript rejections in logistics and supply chain management research | Emerald Insight

IJPDLM has an article section named “Innovators and transformers - lessons, opportunities and co-creations in logistics and supply chain management”. This section aims to gain a deeper understanding of supply chain innovation and transformation in real-world scenarios. The journal encourages both academics and practitioners to collaborate on research and co-create knowledge and innovation. For more information, please read the Special Issue ‘Reimagining Supply Chain Management Practice and Research,’ which features several I&T contributions.

For additional guidance, please refer to this editorial that elucidates the recent advancements in the field of Logistics and Supply Chain Management within IJPDLM while also outlining the future directions it aims to pursue.

Russo, I. and Rao, S. (2025), “Editorial: Our polestars: articulating the vision and future of IJPDLM”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 55 No. 2, pp. 121–129.

The scope of IJPDM covers all aspects of supply chain management and includes, but is not limited to, the topics listed below.

Social and environmental sustainability
Business logistics
Omni-channel and multi-channel distribution innovations
Customer service strategy
Public, government, and international policy
Implementation of supply chain processes
Information and communication technology
Order processing and inventory management
Sourcing and procurement
Sustainable production and consumption
Risk management
Physical and cyber security
Marketing channels
Global development
Personnel recruitment and training
Collaboration and integration
International trade
Network complexity
Information and knowledge management
Legal and financial issues
Retailing
Organizational and human resource development

Latest articles

These are the latest articles published in this journal (Last updated: April 2025)

The Digital Grapevine: Team Dynamics, Task Prioritisation, and Social Interaction in Intra-Organisational Digital Platforms

Should E-returns Services be "One-Size-Fits-All" for Consumers? Segmentation Using Return Policy Promises and Constraints

End-of-life textile collection from consumers: A design science approach

Top cited

These are the top cited articles for this journal, from the last 12 months according to Crossref (Last updated: April 2025)

This title is aligned with our responsible management goal

We aim to champion researchers, practitioners, policymakers and organisations who share our goals of contributing to a more ethical, responsible and sustainable way of working.