Dear Colleagues,

Today, the business world is exceptionally concentrated on the logistics system, and a large number of companies are attempting to maintain the worldwide market and accomplish the best possible position of greatest generation and efficient sourcing. Accordingly, logistics management (LM) is an effective system for these organizations to deliver their products to the customers at the right time and at optimal cost. LM includes the planning, implementation, and control of the flow of raw materials and final products from suppliers to customers.

Logistics is regarded as the set of techniques and equipment required to organize a company or service which focuses on the quantity of products, geo-location, and stipulated time. Within logistics, different objectives are tackled mainly according to economic, environmental, and social aspects. By fulfilling the optimal levels of objectives, companies reach sustainable development. Although there are some tangible advantages for the logistics sector (e.g., cost reduction, transportation, and express delivery and information technology), its challenging disadvantages should not be neglected. The most important disadvantages are coordination, cost of transport, legality, and multinationals and large companies. On the other hand, advances in information technology (IT) have made the virtual world more effective in recent years. The Internet of Things (IoT) is progressing day by day, and its role in our lives is becoming more pronounced. Object intelligence in IoT is accomplished using devices such as radio frequency identification (RFID), global positioning systems (GPS), and other sensor equipment in networks connected to the Internet.

Operations research (OR) and other relevant topics have been considered by researchers as regards their applicability to LM. One of the most useful applications of OR is logistics modeling in terms of different optimization problems, such as the vehicle routing problem (VRP) and arc routing problem (ARP). This Special Issue seeks to contribute to the development of models and solution algorithms in logistics routing problems. Authors are cordially invited to submit original research papers, review articles, empirical studies, and case studies (for teaching and training) for the Special Issue to Logistics until 31 December 2021. Manuscripts or papers can be submitted on the following topics:

• Extended models of VRPs and ARPs;
• Applications of exact solutions and meta-heuristic algorithms in logistics;
• Uncertainty control in logistics system;
• Sustainable development of logistics system;
• Applications of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches in logistics;
• Applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the logistics system;
• Enhancement of LM during pandemics;
• Case studies in the field of logistics.

This list is not exhaustive. Other articles in the field of logistics are highly welcome. We look forward to your submissions.

References

• Tirkolaee, E. B., Abbasian, P., & Weber, G. W. (2021). Sustainable fuzzy multi-trip location-routing problem for medical waste management during the COVID-19 outbreak. Science of The Total Environment, 143607.
• Alinaghian, M., Tirkolaee, E. B., Dezaki, Z. K., Hejazi, S. R., & Ding, W. (2021). An augmented Tabu search algorithm for the green inventory-routing problem with time windows. Swarm and Evolutionary Computation, 60, 100802.
• Tirkolaee, E. B., Goli, A., Faridnia, A., Soltani, M., & Weber, G. W. (2020). Multi-objective optimization for the reliable pollution-routing problem with cross-dock selection using Pareto-based algorithms. Journal of Cleaner Production, 276, 122927.
• Sangaiah, A. K., Tirkolaee, E. B., Goli, A., & Dehnavi-Arani, S. (2020). Robust optimization and mixed-integer linear programming model for LNG supply chain planning problem. Soft Computing, 24(11), 7885-7905.
• Khan, S. A. R., Yu, Z., Golpîra, H., Sharif, A., & Mardani, A. (2020). A state-of-the-art review and meta-analysis on sustainable supply chain management: Future research directions. Journal of Cleaner Production, 123357.
• Tirkolaee, E. B., Hadian, S., Weber, G. W., & Mahdavi, I. (2020). A robust green traffic‐based routing problem for perishable products distribution. Computational Intelligence, 36(1), 80-101.
• Goli, A., & Malmir, B. (2020). A Covering Tour Approach for Disaster Relief Locating and Routing with Fuzzy Demand. International Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems Research, 18(1), 140-152.
• Khan, S. A. R., Chen, J., Zhang, Y., & Golpîra, H. (2019). Effect of green purchasing, green logistics, and ecological design on organizational performance: A path analysis using structural equation modeling. Information Technology and Intelligent Transportation Systems, 183-190.
• Tirkolaee, E. B., Mahdavi, I., & Esfahani, M. M. S. (2018). A robust periodic capacitated arc routing problem for urban waste collection considering drivers and crew’s working time. Waste Management, 76, 138-146.
• Golpîra, H., Najafi, E., Zandieh, M., & Sadi-Nezhad, S. (2017). Robust bi-level optimization for green opportunistic supply chain network design problem against uncertainty and environmental risk. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 107, 301-312.

Dr. Erfan Babaee Tirkolaee
Dr. Alireza Goli
Dr. Behnam Malmir
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Logistics is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• logistics
• supply chain management
• sustainable development
• vehicle routing problem
• meta-heuristic algorithms
• exact solutions