Current and Future Trends of Information Technology and Sustainability in Logistics Outsourcing

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an interesting  article about the applications of information technology and sustainability in logistics outsourcing. The article presents some top trends in existing literature of the subject area.  An extensive trend analysis have been done in terms of  logistics outsourcing usage infographics:

- Introduction” section needs revision. The author(s) must underline the initial assumptions of the paper and the originality of the paper – contribution to knowledge. I would suggest considering the following five (6) basic elements in the section of introduction as subheadings of Introduction:

a) research aim,

b) initial assumptions of the paper

c) reasoning for the focus of the paper,

d) research objectives,

e) originality of the paper and contribution to knowledge.

f) structure of the paper

The author should consider these remarks in the revision version

- More needs to be done to connect the relevant theoretical backdrop to the underlying purpose of the study. In particular, the significance and originality of the paper needs much argumentation and persuasion so that it is clear how the paper not only builds theory but also connects to practice in significant ways.

- The Method and Result sections need more details and elaboration - There is a need for a discussion section to clearly and directly tie the theory discussed in the introduction back into the results of the study to explain not only how theory is advanced, but also management practice. - Needs to get more references and studies related to the subject matter.- The author’s guide should be considered by the authors in the writing style in all the paper.

Author Response

Thank you for your comments

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Referee report on Paper Submitted to Sustainability

Paper #: sustainability-1685741.

Paper title: “Current and Future Trends of Information Technology and Sustainability in Logistics Outsourcing”

Unfortunately, this paper does meet the expectations of a review paper. Apart from lot of commonly known buzz words, it fails to provide the reader a state of art of current and future trends of IT and Sustainability in Logistics outsourcing either from a research or practice perspective. Even the abstract has scope for improvement and has many awkward sentences.

Most of the main Results sections is focused on trivial things such as number of documents per year, most relevant journals where articles are published, the most influential authors, the institutions from where papers are published, country collaboration map etc., rather than providing a synthesis of the literature on the current and future trends of IT and Sustainability in Logistics Outsourcing.

Other comments

1.     Page 1, Abstract, Line 15: Delete “research”.

2.     Page 1, Abstract Line 15: Add “and” after “establish”.

3.     Page 1, Abstract Line 17: Sentence “Research on ….on a growth trend”, is incomplete and awkward. It looks like the author has not taken the time to even proofread the abstract before submitting the paper.

4.     Page 1, Abstract, Line 19: Not sure of this claim, based on the extent of references provided and the analysis on the main results sections provided.

5.     Page 1, Abstract Line 20: What has “Despite the limited research on IT in logistics oursourcing” to do with the claim “LSPs are required to …” in the second part of the sentence. This again reinforces the opinion that the author has not taken the time to even proofread the abstract before submitting the paper.

6.     Page 1, Introduction, Line 31-34: The first and second sentences are nearly the same and repetitive.

7.     Page 2, Line 51-53: Why would service enterprises need logistics service?

8.     Page 2, Line 73-75 claims that there is limited research in sustainability in logistics outsourcing. However, this is contradicted in the next sentence that says prior research has examined logistics outsourcing from selection criteria including sustainable development.

9.     Page 2, Line 88-90 does not make any sense. Are these guideline sentences copied blind from somewhere and not deleted from the manuscript? AGAIN, REINFORCING THE IMPRESSION THAT THE AUTHOR HAS NOT CARED TO EVEN PROOFREAD THE PAPER ONCE.

10.  Page 3, Line 97-99. Clients are the first parties. What are “second parties”?

11.  Page 3, Section 2.2: What is the value addition of this section. The information provided here is basic and found in any textbook. This is not material expected in a state of art review.

12.  Page 3, Section 2.3: LSPs typically only provide transportation and warehousing services. If they are engaged for processing of returns, refurbishing or remanufacturing it has to be a separate or special contract.

Author Response

Thank you for your comments

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The purpose of this study was to establish trends in technology and sustainability in logistics outsourcing research. A bibliometric technique was used to search for documents in SCOPUS database using a specific search criterion. 2019 documents were analyzed using the Bibliometrix package in R. Relevant literature was reviewed to establish and identify the elements of logistics outsourcing.

Comments:

• correct on page 3 citation- (Mageto et al., 2018)
• list the cited sources for all figures and tables

Author Response

Thank you for your comments

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for considering our remarks,

There is a note in the references, the same article by the same author are cited twice in [17] and [19].

Reviewer 2 Report

None