Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> A total of 317 logistics and logistics-related dissertations were published in Dissertation Abstracts between 1992 and 1998. Observations about these dissertation abstracts are offered and comparisons made with earlier research studies that examined dissertations published between 1970–1986 and 1987–1991. The number of dissertations published has plateaued although the number of colleges and universities granting doctoral degrees in the area have broadened, with several “new players” entering the arena. Some traditional topics within logistics are being researched to a lesser degree, while others such as supply chain management, general logistics, customer service/satisfaction, international logistics, and human resources/organizational issues, are being examined more frequently. <s> BIB001 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> Logistics and supply chain management (SCM) are broad disciplines in which many different, cross‐functional tasks are investigated. In Scandinavia, research in logistics and SCM experienced a significant boom during the 1990s; the steadily increasing interest in participation in the annual NOFOMA Nordic Logistics Conference and the steadily growing number of PhD students enrolled in the Scandinavian research environments emphasizing the study of logistics and SCM bear witness to this intensification. In addition, a great number of doctoral dissertations in this field are completed in Scandinavia, adding greatly to the existent store of knowledge concerning a wide range of logistics and SCM phenomena. However, to date, precious little effort has been devoted to providing an overview of these dissertations. This paper is designed to fill that void. To that end, 75 doctoral dissertations published from 1990 to 2001 are identified. The framework classifies the dissertations into a series of main themes indicative of the state of Nordic research in logistics and SCM. Suggestions for future research based on this survey are likewise provided. <s> BIB002 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> A paper in one of the quality journals of Management Studies is much more important as a unit of measurement than as a contribution to knowledge. It measures academic performance and determines much academic funding. There is consequently some pressure to publish in quality journals. But quality journals are defined in terms that are themselves defined in terms of quality journals - a circularity that explains both the paper's title and the frustration of those who do not mix in these circles. We examine the gamesmanship of publishing in quality journals. Findings from a survey of heads of Management Studies departments in UK universities suggest that such gamesmanship is common. Cunning and calculation now support scholarship in Management Studies. Gamesmanship will remain common until the rewards for publishing attach to the content of papers, to "what" is published rather than "where" it is published. We propose a 'Tinkerbell Solution': without belief in the value of a paper in a quality journal, the game is no longer worth playing. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007. <s> BIB003 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> Purpose – There is a clear focus upon increasing research output, improving research quality and securing closer interaction between universities and the private market of businesses. Research should be evaluated according to usefulness and relevant criteria, where increased competition between universities and business schools for research grants should be established, such that the greatest number of publications, with the highest impact factors and most citations trigger most funding. Measurements and rankings have become hot topics for universities and business schools – this paper aims to discuss possible measurements and ranking impact for research and education.Design/methodology/approach – This paper discusses development trends in research and education based upon available research literature and analyses a brief questionnaire‐survey completed by professors from 13 different European countries, which includes quantitative and qualitative features.Findings – There is a clear trend towards publish... <s> BIB004 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide rankings of quality of peer reviewed periodicals for faculty research use, rankings of usefuless of both peer reviewed and non‐peer reviewed periodicals for teaching and outreach purposes, and rankings of usefulness of search engines for finding articles.Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was conducted during the Autumn Semester of 2006. 82 periodicals were identified as relevant to the Supply Chain Management field. Respondents were asked to rank their top used journals in terms of use for teaching, outreach and research.Findings – A total of 143 surveys were completed. Journal of Business Logistics, Harvard Business Review, and International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management were the top three ranked journals in the composite index. EBSCO Business Source Premier, ProQuest, and Google Scholar were the top three search engines used to find logistics and SCM articles.Research limitations/implications – A clear global cons... <s> BIB005 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> Purpose – Without the adoption of a uniform agreed upon definition of supply chain management (SCM), researchers and practitioners will not be able to “advance the theory and practice” of the discipline. An integrated definition of SCM would greatly benefit researchers' efforts to study the phenomenon of SCM and those practitioners attempting to implement SCM. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – Using the qualitative analysis software NVivo, this study examines 166 definitions of SCM that have appeared in the literature to determine important components of an integrated definition of SCM.Findings – Three broad themes of SCM are identified, including: activities; benefits; and constituents/components. An encompassing definition of SCM is developed from the qualitative analysis of these definitions.Research limitations/implications – While a large number of SCM definitions have been included in the research design, there may be additional definitions that are excluded given... <s> BIB006 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> Purpose ::: ::: ::: ::: – The purpose of this paper is to identify Nordic doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management (SCM) published from the years 2002 to 2008. The paper then seeks to analyze the identified dissertations by categorizing them in various dimensions, including but not limited to subject, methodology, and type of contribution. Subsequently, the paper compares the analysis of the dissertations with results obtained in a previous study that also concerned Nordic dissertations only published from 1990 to 2001, effectively opening up for longitudinal interpretations. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Design/methodology/approach ::: ::: ::: ::: – The paper is based on reviews of 70 Nordic doctoral dissertations within logistics and SCM published at relevant Nordic research institutions. All dissertations were reviewed according to a priori determined categories adopted from a similar, previous study in order to strengthen the validity of the longitudinal comparison. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Findings ::: ::: ::: ::: – This paper identifies a clear and significant trend towards: more dissertations based on a collection of articles than monographs; more dissertations focusing on manufacturing companies and fewer on carriers; a shift from a focal company perspective to more dyadic and supply chain‐related research and finally; and a decreasing focus on the philosophy in science. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Research limitations/implications ::: ::: ::: ::: – Despite the thorough method applied, there is possibility that a few dissertations might not have been identified in this paper. ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: Originality/value ::: ::: ::: ::: – This paper is a continuation of documenting the progress of doctoral work in logistics and SCM within the Nordic countries from the years 2002 to 2008. <s> BIB007 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> Purpose – This is a polemical paper challenging both the principle and practice of journal ranking. In recent years academics and their institutions have become obsessive about the star‐ratings of the journals in which they publish. In the UK this is partly attributed to quinquennial reviews of university research performance though preoccupation with journal ratings has become an international phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to examine the arguments for and against these ratings and argue that, on balance, they are having a damaging effect on the development of logistics as an academic discipline.Design/methodology/approach – The arguments advanced in the paper are partly substantiated by references to the literature on the ranking of journals and development of scientific research. A comparison is made of the rating of logistics publications in different journal ranking systems. The views expressed in the paper are also based on informal discussions with numerous academics in logistics and othe... <s> BIB008 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> Purpose – Scholarly interest in carrying out impactful research continues to remain high. Yet, given that citations of scholarly work can never decrease with time, traditional measures of research impact (such as raw counts of citations) unwittingly discriminate against early career researchers and also make it hard to identify future high impact scholars. In the current study, the paper compares several commonly used measures of research impact to identify one that best normalizes for the effect of career stage. The measure thus applies equally across most career stages, providing a usable impact benchmark for logistics scholars irrespective of seniority level. The paper also aims to present benchmarks on that metric to help logistics scholars identify their research impact vis-a-vis their peers. Design/methodology/approach – Bibliometric data on the research of 702 logistics scholars were collected and analyzed by dividing the scholars into different cohorts based on seniority. Comparisons of different ... <s> BIB009 </s> Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014 <s> Introduction <s> The purpose of this article is to examine the output of logistics and supply chain-related dissertation research during the period, 2005–2009, and compare that output with earlier published dissertations from 1970 to 2004. Doctoral students and faculty members can identify emerging areas of research based on the year-by-year trends in topical coverage. Qualitative research analysis of 609 doctoral dissertations published by Dissertation Abstracts International over a 5-year period (2005–2009) was performed. Results suggest that future prospects for additional dissertations being published in logistics and supply chain-related areas are excellent. Many dissertations are emanated from colleges of engineering and business. The prominent research methodologies employed by doctoral students are modeling, simulation, and empirical quantitative methods. More colleges/universities are graduating doctoral students in these areas. Some shift is occurring with respect to the specific colleges/universities that are leading the way in terms of generating the largest number of logistics and supply chain graduates. <s> BIB010
One way to keep track of the progress of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) discipline is to analyze the doctoral dissertations within the research area. By reviewing such dissertations, it will be possible to gain some interesting information regarding the development and direction of research within the discipline. Specifically, such a review will help us to understand the different approaches in relation to research framework, methodologies, theories applied and the empirical interpretations. Furthermore, the review could not only provide valuable insights into potential research gaps within the discipline, but also pave way for recognizing interesting topics for future research BIB002 BIB007 . Besides, given that PhD students are likely to form the next generation of established researchers, research conducted by them is important to the SCM discipline as it helps keeping the discipline on track with emerging topics as well as stimulate theory generation. The number of PhD students in the Nordic countries has increased significantly during the last decades  BIB007 . Based on the rise in the number of dissertations as well as their varying content, it is interesting to investigate the requirements that are part of completing a PhD dissertation. There has been an escalation in dissertations that are based on collections of articles instead of a monograph BIB007 . A reason for this might be an increasing pressure to publish at the universities BIB008 , which might be driving PhD students to learn and master the craft of publishing from the very start of their career. No matter what, the culture of many research departments is characterized by a high focus on performance in terms of publications in ranked journals BIB004 BIB003 BIB005 BIB009 . Therefore, by choosing an article-based dissertation, PhD students might have a better opportunity to work together with other PhD students and senior researchers; in doing so, they also learn how to ''play the game.'' The first two comprehensive digest of doctoral dissertations completed within the Nordic countries was conducted by Gubi et al. [13] and Zachariassen and Arlbjørn BIB007 . These efforts provide PhD students, other academic staff as well as practitioners with an overview of what has been researched within the logistics and SCM area. These studies have also facilitated the comparison of Nordic dissertations themes to those in the USA (e.g., compiled by Stock BIB001 and Nakhata et al. BIB010 ). Prior research has demonstrated that much confusion exists concerning SCM definitions and its overlap with logistics BIB006 . This paper extends the work of Zachariassen and Arlbjørn BIB007 that applies what Halldórsson et al. [14] call a relabeling approach between the terms of logistics and SCM. The purpose of this paper is to document the progress of doctoral work in logistics and SCM within the Nordic countries between 2009 and 2014. In all, 120 relevant dissertations were identified; however, we were unable to retrieve eight dissertations either in physical form or electronically; therefore, only 112 dissertations were reviewed. With a point of departure within the dimensions and classified categories of these two above-mentioned reviews, this paper provides two analyses: 1. An analysis of identified Nordic dissertations from the year 2009-2014; and 2. A longitudinal analysis that compares the above analysis with the result from Gubi et al. BIB002 and Zachariassen and Arlbjørn BIB007 . Accordingly, the analyses within this paper will not only reveal several important insights, but also identify new, potential research areas within the logistics and SCM discipline. Based on these insights, it will be possible to coordinate future research efforts and avoid any unnecessary replication or duplication of previous work. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Sect. 2 provides a brief literature review of earlier contributions dealing with doctoral dissertation reviews. Section 3 discusses the methodology used in this study; it also outlines the limitations concerning the chosen methodology. Subsequently, Sect. 4 discusses the results obtained from analyzing the Nordic dissertations. Finally, Sect. 5 concludes with the overall purpose of the paper and some directions for future research activities.