Introduction to the special issue on the role of operational research in future epidemics/pandemics

In this special issue, 23 research papers are published focusing on COVID-19 and operational research solution techniques. First, we detail the process from advertising the call for papers to the point where the best papers are accepted. Then, we provide a summary of each paper focusing on applications, so-lution techniques and insights for practitioners and policy makers. To provide a holistic view for read-ers, we have clustered the papers into different groups: transmission, propagation and forecasting, non-pharmaceutical intervention, healthcare network configuration, healthcare resource allocation, hospital operations, vaccine and testing kits, and production and manufacturing. Then, we introduce other possi-ble subjects that can be considered for future research. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.