Call for Papers—INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics Special Issue: In Memoriam of Professor Burcu Keskin (1979–2024) on Supply Chain Optimization and Applications

Professor Burcu Keskin passed away on November 29, 2024, at the very young age of 45.¹ As a professor at the University of Alabama, she was an exceptional operations researcher, accomplished scholar, and an associate editor of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics.

Her legacy will live on through the countless students she educated, colleagues she inspired, and papers she published in renowned journals. Her research primarily focused on supply chain optimization. Throughout her career, she contributed to a vast array of fields including, inter alia, emergency medical services, law enforcement, interruption of illicit networks, location of alternative fuel stations, sports management, and artificial intelligence. This special issue is dedicated to highlighting the expansiveness of her research by publishing papers that are based directly or indirectly on her published works. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• - Supply chain network design

• - Location selection

• - Sourcing and supplier selection

• - Inventory management

• - Vehicle routing

• - Integrated production and distribution planning

• - Omnichannel retail operations

• - Emergency medical services

• - Patrol routing

• - Alternative fuel station location

• - Disrupting sex trafficking or other illicit networks

Papers may provide a tutorial, present a literature review on the topics mentioned above, or be based on typical case studies with a verification letter.

Examples of Professor Keskin’s work published in Interfaces/INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics follow:

• Çetinkaya S, Üster H, Easwaran G, Keskin BB (2009) An integrated outbound logistics model for Frito-Lay: Coordinating aggregate-level production and distribution decisions. Interfaces 39(5):460–475.

• Keskin BB, Çapar İ, Sox CR, Freeman NK (2014) An integrated load-planning algorithm for outbound logistics at Webb Wheel. Interfaces 44(5):480–497.

• Keskin BB, Harsha P, eds (2019) Special issue of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics—Analytics behind designing and managing omni-channel supply chains. INFORMS J. Appl. Analytics 49(3):233–234.

• Freeman NK, Keskin BB, Bott GJ (2022) Collaborating with local and federal law enforcement for disrupting sex trafficking networks. INFORMS J. Appl. Analytics 52(5):446–459.

• Freeman NK, Keskin BB, McCullough C (2020) IJAA: Past, present, and future. INFORMS J. Appl. Analytics 50(6):355–372.

Papers should subscribe to the usual guide for authors, found at https://pubsonline.informs.org/page/inte/submission-guidelines

• Submission deadline: December 2025 for primary consideration

• Deadline for initial decision: May 2026

• Deadline for first-round revisions returned to authors: December 2026

• Deadline for final files: September 2027

• Online publication (estimate): October 2027

• Print publication (estimate): November 2027