Editorial Statement and Area Statements

Transportation Science is the flagship journal of the Transportation Science and Logistics Society of INFORMS. As the foremost scientific journal in the cross-disciplinary field of transportation analysis, Transportation Science publishes high-quality original contributions and surveys on phenomena associated with all modes of transportation, present and prospective, including all levels of planning, design, economic, operational, and social aspects. Transportation Science focuses on fundamental theories, coupled with observational and experimental studies of transportation and logistics phenomena and processes, mathematical models, advanced methodologies and novel applications in transportation and logistics systems analysis, planning and design. The journal covers a broad range of topics, including vehicular and human traffic flow theories, models and their application to traffic operations and management, strategic, tactical, and operational planning of transportation and logistics systems; performance analysis methods and system design and optimization, theories and analysis methods for network and spatial activity interaction, equilibrium and dynamics; economics of transportation system supply and evaluation, methodologies for analysis of transportation user behavior and the demand for transportation and logistics services.  Transportation Science is international in scope, with editors from nations around the globe. The journal areas reflect the diverse interdisciplinary interests of the transportation science and logistics community, with members that hold primary affiliations in engineering (civil, industrial, and aeronautical), physics, economics, applied mathematics, and business.

Having recently celebrated its 50^th Anniversary, Transportation Science is in a period of significant growth. In January 2021, the journal introduced a new editorial structure to accommodate this growth and maintain the rigor and quality that is the hallmark of the journal and its review process. As with many INFORMS journals, Transportation Science is now divided by topical areas, each led by an Area Editor. Because the field of transportation science is inherently cross-disciplinary, there are natural overlaps between areas; for example, in common themes, problem characteristics, and methodologies. When submitting papers to the journal, authors are asked to designate an area for review; however, these overlaps may result in multiple options for a submission. Authors may suggest more than one area and the Editor-in-Chief, in consultation with Area Editors, will determine the appropriate area.

 

Areas Statements

Logistics & routing

Logistics and routing problems are a cornerstone of transportation science and have drawn the attention of researchers for many decades. In turn, research in this area has contributed to the development of both the theory and practice of operations research and management science beyond transportation and logistics. The rapid pace of supply chain and transportation innovation offer significant opportunities for new advances and continued far reaching impact for routing and logistics research. The logistics and routing area seeks to be the home for this research. The logistics and routing area features papers that advance models and solution methods for classical and novel problems arising in vehicle routing, business logistics, and humanitarian logistics. Papers that study innovative applications in ways that advance the science of logistics and routing are also encouraged. Papers should present exciting new modeling and methodological approaches to logistics and routing and bring new scientific knowledge to issues that impact the delivery of goods and services. Papers can cover broad topics in supply chain and logistics from the strategic to the operational level across all industries. The area particularly encourages contributions that integrate data-driven optimization or real-time decision-making into new and existing logistics and routing problems.

 

Modes & industries

Researchers in the field of transportation science have introduced models and methods that have significantly improved strategic, tactical and operational decisions across the many modes and industries related to transportation globally.  The modes and industries area focuses on research that is grounded in transportation modes or industries; e.g., aviation, rail, maritime, public transit.  Included in this area is the study of the economics of transportation system supply and evaluation.  While some problems of study in this area are motivated by the characteristics of a specific mode or industry, others focus on features that may be found across multiple modes or industries.  For example, many transportation systems, across different modes, involve interdependent decisions across competing parties that share resources.   We consider papers that propose novel approaches to the design and optimization of mechanisms to guide the use of these shared resources.   Papers may also consider the decisions of a single organization, covering models for service network design, planning, and scheduling.  Mode-specific topics may include safety analysis of aviation systems, econometric or machine learning models for analysis of aviation data, berth assignments in maritime ports.  We also encourage research focused on changes in modes and industries as technology continues to advance transportation and mobility broadly defined.  Such topics include research to re-envision urban air mobility and mobility-as-a-service models.  This area also includes shared transportation systems like bikes or scooters, as well as work exploring the value of drones in delivery systems.

 

Traffic, demand & network analysis

The study of human and vehicular traffic has always been core to transportation science. It aims to deepen the understanding of how travelers make travel choices and how they interact with a transportation facility or network, and how these interactions yield the performance of the facility or network. It further strives to prescribe a more desirable design, control and management of the transportation facility or network. The traffic, demand and network analysis area features papers that span the breadth of this research area, including transportation systems analysis; vehicular and human traffic flow theories, traffic operations and management; network equilibrium and dynamics; and demand modeling and analysis. We seek high-quality, scholarly research that substantially advances the associated methodologies or theories, offers important behavioral, managerial or policy insights, or provides high-impact actionable prescriptions or innovative solutions. We note that human and vehicular traffic is being fundamentally changed by new technology, the availability of real time data and innovations to dynamically adjust systems to adapt to this data at a rapid pace.  We welcome fundamental, methodological studies that explore the implications of new technologies, data sources, and mobility innovations on travel behaviors, traffic flow characteristics and the design, control, operations and management of surface transportation facilities and systems.   

 

Emerging & cross-functional topics

Recognizing that many new and/or cross-functional areas of transportation science may not fit within the other areas, papers in this area represent emerging topics, as well as cross-functional applications and activities within transportation.  Emerging topics are ones that have not yet been the topic of articles in Transportation Science, but are related to the topic of transportation.  Examples of such topics include the use of new delivery technology, new applications that require significant changes from existing models, and the use of new solution methods that can broadly impact knowledge in transportation science, such as novel applications of machine learning to leverage the massive explosion of data related to mobility.  Further examples of emerging topics include papers on humanitarian and nonprofit logistics that address new disaster types, objectives, or other major differences in features from previous work.    Cross-functional topics by definition are quite broad and varied but challenge us to consider new perspectives on existing problems, new problems or solution methods involving features from multiple disciplines, and examining the impact of various transportation policies on stakeholders.  Examples of new perspectives include modeling equity in access to transportation or developing improvements to the sustainability of transportation systems.   Papers may explore econometric and simulation models for transportation policy decisions or policy and economic analysis of environmental incentives and regulations related to transportation activities.  The review of papers in this area will heavily weigh the innovation, novelty, and societal importance of the work presented.