Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Operations: Risks, Rebuck, and Resilience

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue, whose aim is to provide in-depth insights into logistics and supply chain operations. This Special Issue will focus on the risks, challenges, and vulnerabilities associated with logistics and supply chain resilience. Additionally, it will present leadership strategies for enhancing resilience in logistics and supply chain management, thereby ensuring continuity of operations.

In the 21st century, nations are struggling with fragmented supply chains amid growing unpredictability in meeting their national needs. This century has introduced significant challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a wave of political upheaval that has disrupted decades of meticulously established logistics and supply chains. Disruptions persisted into 2023 and 2024, impacting over 90% of goods transported via maritime routes (Global Guardian, 2024). The Panama Canal's susceptibility to extreme weather, along with forty attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, has sent shockwaves through the logistics industry.

These incidents have necessitated the rerouting of maritime transportation from the Suez Canal to the Cape of Good Hope, resulting in shipment delays of 9 to 17 days and a USD 400 million increase in trade costs per hour. Adding to these challenges, the competitive trade landscape in 2025 features trade barriers and new regulations that demand strict compliance in logistics and supply chains. This situation has revealed vulnerabilities and highlights the fragility of the world’s interconnected logistics systems. Addressing these issues has become a top priority for leaders worldwide.

For this Special Issue, manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering. Once you are registered, please proceed to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted before the provided deadline. All submissions that pass pre-checks are peer-reviewed (single-blind). Once accepted, the papers will be listed together on this Special Issue’s website. Research articles, review articles, and short communications are invited for submission. For planned papers, a title and a brief abstract (approximately 100 words) can be submitted to the Editorial Office for an announcement on the website.

Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or considered for publication elsewhere (excluding conference proceedings papers). A guide for authors, along with other relevant information regarding manuscript submission, is available on the “Instructions for Authors” page. Sustainability is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by MDPI that is released semi-monthly.

The deadline for this Special Issue is 8 months after a corresponding announcement appears online. The deadline is subject to minor adjustments based on requests.

The authors can submit original research, literature review, commentary, case studies, etc., related to the following categories:

1. Review of logistics and supply chain resilience—infrastructure; operations; technical, financial, and market shares; and human resources.
2. Logistics and supply chain mapping.
3. Logistics and supply chain challenges and risks (internal and external risks).
4. Risk management—identifying, assessing, strategic planning, and mitigating.
5. Logistics and supply chain leadership for resiliency, agility, responsiveness, and sustainability.
6. Logistics and supply chain analytical models.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Prof. Dr. Al Ansari
Dr. Batoul Modarress-Fathi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• logistics
• supply chain
• resilience
• sustainability
• risks
• challenges
• models
• leadership