The Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management: first reflections

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the editorial operations underpinning the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management in light of the review process and the quality of articles. It further outlines the articles in the special issue and relates them to the scope of the journal. Design/methodology/approach - The editorial processes of the journal are analysed and reviewed. Findings - The journal draws on a variety of research streams in humanitarian logistics; it is concluded that there is a need to stress the importance of research with managerial insights for humanitarians still further. Research limitations/implications - Humanitarian logistics is an emerging field and, unsurprisingly, there is still a lack of good empirical research and research with rigor as well as relevance. Based on submission statistics it can be concluded that the field has already reached a global dimension. Practical implications - There is still a lack of empirical studies in humanitarian logistics research regardless of methods. However, an explicit discussion of managerial implications alongside theoretical conclusions would be essential in order to lead to any social and practical implications of the research. Social implications - These reflections on the editorial processes of JHLSCM as a new journal are used to raise the transparency of these processes. Originality/value - The article shows how global the field of humanitarian logistics research has become, already, throughout the first year of the journal.