- The purpose of this paper is to analyze the keywords used in peer-reviewed literature on green supply chain management.
Design/methodology/approach
- To determine the keywords that were used in this area, an analysis of 629 papers was conducted. The papers were identified through searches of 13 keywords on green supply chains. Trends in keyword usage were analyzed in detail focusing on examining variables such as the most frequently used journals/keywords, their frequencies, citation frequency and research contribution from different disciplines/countries.
Findings
- A number of different terms have been used for research focused on the environmental impacts of supply chains, including green supply chains, sustainable supply chains, reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chains, among others. The analysis revealed that the intensity of research in this area has more than tripled in the past six years and that the most used keyword was "reverse logistics". The use of the terms "green supply chains" and "sustainable supply chains" is increasing, and the use of "reverse logistics" is decreasing.
Research limitations/implications
- The analysis is limited to 629 papers from the Scopus database during the period of 2007 and 2012.
Originality/value
- The paper presents the first systematic analysis of keywords ...