As we flip the calendar and lean into the closing of the first quarter of the 21st century, we cannot but marvel at how different our world is from just a few years ago. At the turn of the century, when both of us were young men just about entering adulthood, some hot-button items included globalization, how technology (specifically, the Y2K problem) could bottleneck human progress, and manufacturing innovations such as Lean and Just-in-Time. Fast forward to today, one of us has just returned from a conference where the first day’s keynote, partly driven by geopolitical events around the world, included a detailed discussion on deglobalization; much of the debate on technology now revolves around how artificial intelligence may make humans redundant, and some are beginning to ask if we have gone too far with lean (e.g. Richey et al., 2022; Durach and Gutierrez, 2024). Looking at things one way, an argument could be made that everything is different now and that we need to relearn everything. And that scholarly investigation now is entirely different from what it was back then. However, we take an alternate viewpoint. We believe that while the nature of challenges may appear different, they all seek to address the same underlying issues – i.e. improving the human condition. One constant thing that drives nearly all the discussion items in our discipline (and many other allied disciplines) is the need for a better tomorrow. That, we believe, is the primary motivator behind everything our community investigates – from more efficient procurement to changes in the way we manufacture to realignments in distribution, we are all looking to make (and distribute) things better.
This brings us to our polestars – i.e. our guiding principles. At its core, we believe that supply chain management (SCM) is about more than boxes on a truck. Instead, modern supply chain research covers various topics, including digital transformation (e.g. Karttunen et al., 2023), sustainability (e.g. Duan et al., 2024), global trade (e.g. Prataviera and Norrman, 2024), behavioral insights (e.g. Brockhaus et al., 2024; Paluzzi et al., 2024), policy impacts (e.g. Ahlqvist et al., 2023), and even interdisciplinary areas like healthcare (e.g. Kim et al., 2024), space exploration (e.g. Ryan et al., 2017) and humanitarian aid (e.g. Gossler et al., 2020). But most importantly, we believe that at its heart, modern SCM research is about people. It is about the people who work in SCM and those who are affected by it, as well as how SCM impacts them. It is as much about the drivers and warehouse operators who work to get our Christmas shopping delivered to us on time, as it is about the medical practitioners and emergency workers who use supplies to deliver relief to recipients in times of emergencies and also about the port operators and customs agents who facilitate the smooth movement of goods across international borders. It is as much about the process automation and drone delivery championed by the Amazons of the world as it is about the pushcart operators that bridge the last-mile connectivity problem in Base of Pyramid markets. It is as much about RFID-based sorting of boxes in automated warehouses as it is about the manual sorters who rummage through donations at Goodwill to determine what to put on the shelf and what to discard. It is as much about the growing consumer-centric supply chain, where people and their needs drive demand, influencing the redesign of supply chain strategies to create faster logistics networks or prioritize ethical sourcing; consumers play a pivotal role by making mindful decisions about purchases, returns and recycling, shaping the way goods move are consumed in our daily lives. It is also about the returns process, which is not just a logistical challenge but a critical step in closing the loop, transforming waste into opportunities, enhancing resource efficiency and supporting a more sustainable way of living.
In other words, modern SCM research includes a myriad of functions including (but not restricted to) procurement, manufacturing, distribution, retail, operations, logistics, returns, information management, personnel management and financial management. It covers many different industry sectors, job titles and roles, and today, more people than ever recognize the impact of broken supply chains, whether through delayed deliveries, shortages of essential goods or disruptions that affect daily life. But the common theme is that it involves, in some way, researching some aspect of getting things from where they are to where they need to be either in the same or different form, either directly or in supporting functions, either regularly or in one-off situations to make life better for someone. It also includes individuals who are affected, in any manner, by the actions and decisions of those who participate in any of the above activities, functions and sectors. As one of the leading international journals in SCM, IJPDLM’s research philosophy should focus on this breadth in our discipline. Therefore, we encourage submissions from any of the above (and more) areas. Incorporating insights from diverse research contexts is crucial for unraveling the hidden dynamics of complex and interconnected global supply chains. Events in one context often have far-reaching, and sometimes surprising, consequences in others. Relying solely on Western frameworks to analyze these systems can constrain our ability to fully grasp and address the nuanced challenges that arise across varied cultural and economic landscapes.
Our vision of SCM is broad, and we hope to demonstrate it by profiling a wide array of research in this journal. And because people live their lives differently in different parts of the world, we recognize that SCM practices differ in different parts of the world. What works for Coca-Cola or 3M in North America may differ significantly from what works for them in sub-Saharan Africa or India. Put simply, the nature of SCM vastly varies across countries, cultures, norms and geographies. Therefore, we do not restrict ourselves to any subset of geography, supply chain type or research methodology. We believe that IJPDLM should publish the best research from anywhere in the world, with all the supply chain idiosyncrasies present therein. And while we recognize that this means that generalizability may sometimes be a little challenging, it is a tradeoff we are willing to make.
This document outlines our vision for the journal for our term as EiCs. This includes our expectations and our commitment to our three most central constituents – (1) our authors, (2) our review team and (3) our community. In the process, we also discuss some exciting developments at IJPDLM that will be launched soon.
To our authors
At IJPDLM, we prioritize a review process that is efficient, constructive and transparent. We aim to give authors clear, actionable feedback, explaining editorial decisions while providing guidance for improvement. From our editors to reviewers and senior advisors, we support bold ideas that challenge established conventions as long as they are supported by solid evidence. We encourage all our authors to read the 2024 editorial “Navigating Excellence” before writing your paper for IJPDLM (Russo and Wong, 2024). In a nutshell though, every submission to the journal must push the field of SCM forward, whether by offering new theoretical insights, introducing methodological advancements or presenting applications to unique topic areas. Ideally, papers should bridge the gap between academic inquiry and real-world practice. We also encourage authors to explore emerging topics, propose novel frameworks or adopt innovative methodologies rather than revisiting well-explored themes. We are particularly excited about submissions that open new avenues for inquiry or application in a robust and theoretically anchored manner as opposed to those that revisit well-trodden paths.
Additionally, we would like to draw your attention specifically to two issues of great interest to us. Firstly, we want to talk about the Innovators and Transformers section of the journal – a relatively new section focused on helping scholars learn faster and innovate forward (van Hoek, 2022; van Hoek and Wong, 2025 in press). This section is dedicated to papers on the forefront of development or innovation – that is, those that might sometimes be regarded as ahead of their time. Submissions for this section should be relatively brief (4,000–6,000 words) and are expected to examine innovation at the cutting edge, ideally in direct partnership with innovators, while capturing early insights. The goal is to create a basis for inspiring further research by academics and additional innovation by practitioners. Papers submitted to this section will undergo an expedited review and publication cycle while still adhering to the rigorous standard of scholarship published in IJPDLM. For examples of papers in this section, we recommend readers’ review Jazairy et al. (2024a, b), Schramm and Lehner (2024, Trevisan et al. (2024), Purtell et al. (2025). Secondly, we want to clarify that while IJPDLM has always been at the forefront of theoretically grounded empirical research and qualitative/case-based inquiry—and will continue to strongly support such scholarship—we are also very interested in empirically grounded analytical scholarship in the journal. These papers should be inspired by or directly address real-world challenges rather than being based solely on hypothetical scenarios. Additionally, they must expand our current knowledge rather than simply applying a previously known or well-tested model in a new setting. For excellent recent examples of this type of research in the journal, we direct readers' attention to Mendonça et al. (2024), Fried et al. (2024) and Peppel et al. (2024). We are also open to different perspectives on old problems, using novel combinations of cross-functional analytical tools to improve supply chain decisions and resulting performance (i.e. Thomas, 2024). We are unequivocal that this type of research is indeed of interest to IJPDLM. In summary, IJPDLM welcomes all research approaches—qualitative, empirical, quantitative and conceptual— provided they are grounded in the realities of SCM are exciting and timely. Building upon our commitment to methodological diversity, IJPDLM actively encourages the integration of innovative research methods that address complex, real-world supply chain challenges (Russo et al., 2024). This openness to methodological evolution not only enriches our academic discourse but also enhances the practical relevance of our publications, ensuring that IJPDLM remains at the forefront of supply chain management scholarship. We see great value in hosting highly detailed guidelines to develop excellent experimental designs within our discipline and beyond, as this will significantly enhance knowledge and expertise in the field (Ta et al., 2025).
Therefore, we view IJPDLM as a journal whose laser-like focus is on publishing the best SCM scholarship in a method-agnostic manner.
Finally, we take concerns regarding academic integrity very seriously. The scholarly community has come under increased scrutiny lately with questions regarding data fraud, AI-powered writing, quid-pro-quo reviews and gift authorship (The Conversation, 2024). All these are viewed with the utmost seriousness by our team, and we do not wish ever to be in a situation where we have to sanction authors or have papers retracted for such malpractices. It goes without saying that all papers submitted to IJPDLM are expected to follow the highest standards of ethical behavior.
From our end, our first commitment to you is that we will strive to provide you with a fair, timely, rigorous and developmental review experience. We recognize that timeliness is a key focus in today’s fast-paced academic environment. Our aim is to complete most manuscript reviews within two rounds, with papers rarely needing more than three rounds. We typically expect authors to address core feedback and return revisions within 60–90 days. While we encourage responsiveness to reviewer suggestions, we value reasoned dialogue over unquestioning compliance – in other words, your reviewers are not the opposing team or your bosses. You are welcome to defend your choices with sound logic, fostering a collaborative review process. But please bear in mind that our reviewers are likely to be experts in their field. Therefore, your argumentation should be sound and robust, especially if you decide to go in a different direction from their recommendations. Additionally, while we cannot guarantee a happy outcome every time you send us a paper, more than 90% of the papers submitted to IJPDLM ultimately do not get accepted, with more than one being submitted every day (2024), we assure you that we will provide you with a developmental review. Even for papers that do not proceed beyond the editor’s desk, we are committed to providing suggestions to enhance your manuscript. Wherever possible, we will also provide you with alternate outlets to consider for your work, should you be unsuccessful in pursuing publication at IJPDLM.
To our review team
Let us start by thanking you for the countless hours you provide us every year by sharing your expertise. IJPDLM would not be a shadow of the journal that it is without your service. We wish we could recognize each of you with an award every year! But, of course, that is not how the world works! In the coming weeks and months, we will be looking to assess and potentially expand the editorial review board and move several high-contribution team members into more senior roles. This will, hopefully, ease the pressure on our senior team and the review board. It will also enhance the methodological expertise that our senior team will be able to bring to the fore. We will also be reaching out to highly active scholars around the globe who we feel can increase the global representation of our team in terms of not only geographical representation but also subject matter and domain expertise.
Additionally, to improve the quality of the review process and encourage senior doctoral students and assistant professors to submit their work to IJPDLM, we will soon launch a junior ERB (jERB). The jERB will provide these relatively new scholars to the community with the opportunity to learn about the scope of IJPDLM, our review process and reviewer best practices. Each jERB participant will be assigned one or two paper submissions per year and will be part of a team that reviews manuscripts – in no case will we rely solely on jERB members’ feedback to make the disposition regarding a manuscript. The senior associate editor assigned to the paper will provide the EICs and jERB members with feedback on their performance. At the end of 12 months, the EICs will receive feedback on the performance of the jERB members. If performance is satisfactory, these individuals will be invited to join the regular ERB upon completing their doctoral degree. We will solicit one or two highly experienced faculty colleagues to serve as the leaders and mentors of the jERB program. To those of you who are working with doctoral students and have advanced students (typically 4th year or beyond) who you would want as part of the jERB, or if you are an assistant professor who would like to be on the jERB, do not hesitate to get in touch with either of us.
There are a couple of other issues we would like to highlight. It has been our experience that one of the challenges with the peer-review process is that some reviewers may be quick to dismiss manuscripts. It is not uncommon for authors to receive a comment from a reviewer such as “I do not like the theory you have chosen” without any description regarding what alternate theory should be applied instead or even why said theory is inappropriate. Similarly, feedback like, “Further analysis is recommended,” frequently lacks detail regarding the shortcomings of the existing analysis and the nature of the suggested improvements. While such outcomes can be expected from a process that relies on volunteers, it can still be frustrating to authors, who may have to resort to a guessing exercise regarding what the reviewer is looking for. Many of you have probably experienced this same frustration in your role as an author. We kindly request that our reviewers follow the golden rule – i.e. treat others how they would want to be treated. Thus, when our reviewers raise an issue as problematic, we request that they highlight why it is so and recommend alternate courses of action that can help the authors ameliorate the problem. We would like to see this practice followed by reviewers, even if their recommendations are not doable in the current manuscript. We will also lean on the more senior members of the review team (i.e. the senior associate editors) to shape reviewer comments in this direction. We believe this is a cornerstone of a review process that prides itself on being developmental.
We liken this to a mindset shift – i.e. moving from being a hunter to being a farmer. While the hunter may look around for what they can kill and put on the dinner table right away, the farmer may take more of a nurturing and growth approach by looking at the contribution potential and long-term prospects. In other words, we request the review team to look for reasons to cultivate papers rather than reasons to reject them, recognizing that all research has limitations. Even when the paper has to be rejected, it is important that our reviewers provide authors with a pathway through which they can act as cultivators moving forward.
We kindly request our review team to recognize that if a manuscript has reached your desk, concerns regarding its “fit with the journal,” as well as its potential in terms of interest and contribution, have already been thoroughly evaluated. Manuscripts that are not aligned with IJPDLM’s scope or that exhibit significant flaws in novelty, method or potential contribution are not forwarded for review. We deeply value your time, and when we send a paper for review, it is because we believe it has the potential to improve through the review process.
Finally, it is our goal that IJPDLM have a seat at every conference’s “Meet the Editor” session. This is critical if we are to make our journal highly visible, especially in conferences and venues where it is currently not. While the two of us will try as much as possible to make this happen on our end, it is likely to be highly unsustainable if only the two of us were to do this. Therefore, we will carefully assess the availability of senior editors on a case-by-case basis to act as regional representatives for IJPDLM. We hope you will help us as ambassadors for the journal and represent IJPDLM whenever it is not possible for us to be present. We believe that this will not only increase our international representation but will also provide increased opportunities for leadership positions at IJPDLM.
To our community: a call for action and further research
At IJPDLM, we are proud to champion research that mirrors the rich diversity of our global scholarly community and addresses the complexities of the world we share. This commitment is closely aligned with Emerald’s vision of producing impactful research that supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). The SCM sector is currently facing significant challenges, including a shortage of skilled labor, difficulties in attracting new talent (e.g. Meurs et al., 2024), increasing concerns about employee safety and well-being (e.g. Roberts et al., 2024), reducing carbon footprint (e.g. Schramm and Lehner, 2024), creating representation for people with disabilities (e.g. Zhang et al., 2023) and so on. Addressing these challenges requires adopting human-centric strategies, prioritizing work-life balance, and fostering trust between employees and supervisors (e.g. Vo et al., 2023; Cole et al., 2024). Such approaches are essential for driving innovation and achieving operational success.
We believe that this is a call to action for us to publish more work related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and especially place the focus on Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), Goal 5 (Gender Equality), Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Ultimately, we seek to be an inclusive journal that embraces various perspectives, methodologies and voices. Inclusivity, as we see it, extends far beyond any single type of research topic, area or domain. It involves fostering a collaborative and welcoming space across disciplines, regions, methodologies and subject areas. Here is how we intend to bring this to IJPDLM.
- (1)
Geographic and market representation: We will encourage research that highlights emerging markets, low-income economies and communities at the base of the pyramid—areas too often overlooked in mainstream academic work (e.g. Nilakantan et al., 2019; Duarte et al., 2019).
- (2)
Interdisciplinary connections: We will encourage studies that integrate diverse fields such as marketing (e.g. Li et al., 2024), finance (e.g. Shi and Feng, 2024), organizational ecology (e.g. Fontana et al., 2023) and management information systems (e.g. Jazairy et al., 2024a,b) with our own discipline, fostering innovative cross-disciplinary dialogue.
- (3)
Innovative methodologies: We will support the use of innovative research approaches like ethnography, hermeneutics and neuro-research tools including brain imaging techniques brain imaging techniques as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracking technologies (e.g. Randall et al., 2014; Lee et al., 2020; Russo et al., 2024).
- (4)
Amplifying marginalized voices: We will promote research focusing on women, people with disabilities, minority communities and other underrepresented groups, ensuring that their experiences, voices, and insights are acknowledged and valued (e.g. Ta et al., 2024; Idug et al., 2024).
- (5)
Encouraging cross-integration of best practices and ideas: To reinforce our dedication to inclusivity, we will regularly feature perspective pieces from leading scholars and practitioners from different disciplines and geographies (e.g. Shi et al., 2023). These contributions will develop into diverse and thought-provoking topics that align with our inclusive philosophy. Through these efforts, we aim to signal to our contributors and readers that IJPDLM is a platform for innovative, boundary-breaking methods and geography-agnostic research.
Inclusivity is not just a guiding principle to our team. It is a foundational element of our long-term vision. By embracing diverse research, we will expand the horizons of academic inquiry and enhance its relevance to today’s global challenges and opportunities.
In closing
As editors, we are committed to fostering collaboration, innovation and intellectual growth. Our mission is to promote business innovation, spark meaningful debate and guide research that redefines the SCM field. Through a balanced, responsive and inclusive editorial process, we seek to ensure that IJPDLM remains a leader in advancing both academic scholarship and practical applications in SCM. A key element of this effort is leveraging social media, particularly LinkedIn, to promote engaged scholarship. Engaged scholarship, where academics and practitioners collaborate to address real-world challenges, benefits greatly from LinkedIn’s capacity for dynamic, real-time exchanges. Enhancing the relevance and practical impact of SCM research is an integral part of our vision and, by using LinkedIn strategically, IJPDLM can strengthen connections between academia and industry.
We invite authors, reviewers and the broader scholarly community to join us in this journey, embracing the challenges and opportunities of today’s rapidly evolving research landscape. Together, we can ensure that IJPDLM remains a cornerstone of academic excellence and practical impact for years to come. Thank you for your support, we look forward to doing some really exciting and fun work together!
