A visual analysis of frontiers and dynamic tendencies for humanitarian logistics

Abstract

Under the background of regular epidemic prevention and control, the frontiers and prospects of humanitarian logistics (HL) have substantial value in enhancing emergency capacity. Taking the relevant articles collected in Web of Science and Scopus databases as the research object, this study discusses the basic characteristics, hot topics, and the potential directions of HL, using the bibliometric analysis and statistical analysis methods. Results show that the number of articles presents an overall increase with fluctuation. The major driving force of HL research is from the USA and China. Although a certain cooperation size among authors has been formed, close contact among research teams from different institutions in different countries is lacking. In addition, the four main topics of HL are highlighted through the "co-occurrence"analysis of keywords by VOSviewer. Further research directions and suggestions can be identified under the analysis of each topic and the knowledge map of CiteSpace. It is expected that results will provide a theoretical reference to scholars when identifying innovative ideas in this field.