Abstract
Purpose: Interest in reverse logistics (RL) as a critical component of supply chain management (SCM) is gaining more traction with both practitioners and academics. Because of RL’s growing strategic importance, it is imperative to conduct a timely and comprehensive literature review and to identify associated opportunities for future research. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the researchers conduct an extensive bibliometric analysis of published academic articles on RL for the period of 1992-2015. Specifically, the CiteSpace software is utilized to conduct document co-citation analysis and burst detection analysis on 912 selected RL articles and their 22,642 references. Findings: This research identifies the most influential RL research publications/citations in each of the five periods and their research contribution. Using co-citation analysis, the authors are able to identify and illustrate major research themes, knowledge groups, and future research opportunities in the RL field. Originality/value: In contrast to existing literature review studies in the logistics field, the study uses impact factor as a key article selection criterion. The influential articles identified in this process well represent the core literature and RL body of knowledge and have important implications for future research.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 666-687 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2017 |
Keywords
- Bibliometric analysis
- Burst detection
- Closed-loop supply chain
- Co-citation analysis
- Product recovery
- Returns management
- Reverse logistics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Transportation
- Management of Technology and Innovation