IFORS/Elsevier
Sustainability Analytics and Modeling
Special Issue:
Sustainable Freight Transport and Logistics: Analytics,
Optimization and Real-World Applications
Decision Support for a Sustainable World at IFORS 2026
Call for Papers
AIMS AND SCOPE
Freight transportation and logistics are fundamental enablers of economic development, global trade, and resilient supply chains. The timely and efficient movement of goods is essential for industrial competitiveness, economic growth, and customer satisfaction. However, freight transportation is also a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and other environmental externalities. Consequently, improving operational efficiency alone is no longer sufficient; logistics systems must also become environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable.
Achieving sustainability in freight transportation presents significant challenges, as efficiency and sustainability objectives are often conflicting. Decisions that minimize operational costs may increase emissions or resource consumption, while environmentally preferable solutions may require additional investments or operational changes. These challenges are further exacerbated by increasing energy costs, climate change, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical conflicts, and growing uncertainty in global markets, all of which demand more resilient and adaptive logistics systems. Addressing these complex and interconnected challenges requires integrated decision-support approaches based on analytical modeling, optimization, simulation, artificial intelligence, and data-driven analytics. Such methodologies enable decision-makers to evaluate trade-offs among economic, environmental, and social objectives, design more sustainable freight systems, and support evidence-based planning under uncertainty.
This Special Issue seeks original contributions that advance the field of sustainability analytics and modeling for freight transportation and logistics. We particularly encourage research that develops innovative mathematical models, optimization methods, simulation frameworks, machine learning approaches, and decision-support systems, while demonstrating their applicability through real-world case studies, industrial collaborations, or public-sector applications. Contributions that provide measurable sustainability impacts, promote reproducible research through publicly available benchmark datasets are especially welcome, as they facilitate transparency, comparison, and further advances in the field.
Papers should include operations research, quantitative modelling and/or analytical approaches, as well as applications to sustainable supply chains that fit the scope of the journal. The research reported in the articles should be based on or inspired by real-world problems and should provide new insights into how to address the challenges associated.
This special issue is dedicated to the Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies in Vienna, Austria. Participants of the IFORS 2026 conference are encouraged to submit relevant work to this special issue. We also welcome submissions from the entire community of academics.
TOPICS COVERED
Sustainability Analytics and Modeling publishes articles that develop and apply quantitative methods of analytics and operations research to take on global sustainability challenges. These challenges are many and broad in scope. They involve poverty, hunger, health, well-being, education, equality, water, sanitation, energy, economies, industry, infrastructure systems, smart communities, consumption and production, climate, peace, and justice, among other topics, all of which are targeted by the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations
(https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/envision-2030/17goals-pwds).
Topics that are of interest for this special issue include, but are not limited to:
- Mathematical programming and optimization for sustainable freight transport
- Supply chain network design and charging stations location
- Last mile logistics and vehicle routing
- Decision-support systems for logistics planning
- Container drayage and port-hinterland transport
- Machine learning and predictive analytics for sustainable freight transport
- Rail, maritime, port and terminal logistics
- Logistics and energy management
- Collaborative logistics and circular supply chains
- Warehouse analytics and sustainable warehousing
- Humanitarian and healthcare logistics
- Intersection among logistics and energy management
- Industrial case studies and public-sector applications
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
The APC (Article Publishing Charge) will be covered by IFORS for all papers submitted by December 30th 2026. Submitted papers should be original works and should not have been previously published or currently considered for publication elsewhere. The manuscripts should be prepared according to the Guide for Authors available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/sustainability-analytics-and modeling/publish/guide-for-authors.
All manuscripts should be submitted electronically using the journal's online manuscript submission system at https://www.editorialmanager.com/samod/default.aspx. When prompted for the article type, please select, "Special issue on Sustainable Freight Transport and Logistics: Analytics, Optimization and Real-World Applications ".
On the Attach Files screen, please submit the Manuscript, Highlights, Cover Letter summarizing the contributions of the paper, and Conflict of Interest Declaration (template available at https://service.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/286/supporthub/publishing).
At the Review Preferences screen, you may suggest potential reviewers for this submission and provide specific reasons for your suggestion in the comments box for each person.
Manuscripts submitted after the deadline may not be considered for the special issue and may be transferred, if accepted, to a regular issue.
IMPORTANT DATES
Eligible submissions will be immediately submitted to the peer review process by the guest editors. Accepted papers will be published online immediately. Thus, papers submitted early will also be published well ahead of the scheduled publication date for the special issue.
Beginning of submissions: September 1st, 2026
Deadline for submissions: December 30th, 2026.
GUEST EDITORS
Rosa G. González Ramírez (Lead Guest Editor)
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of los Andes Chile, Chile.
Center of Advanced Transportation & Logistics Economic Competitiveness (CATLEC)
Email: rgonzalez@uandes.cl
Sibel A. Alumur
Department of Management Science and Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada
e-mail: sibel.alumur@uwaterloo.ca
Jana Ries
School of Organisations, Systems and People, Faculty of Business and Law, University of
Portsmouth, UK
e-mail: Jana.Ries@port.ac.uk
Yasmin Rios Solis
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico.
e-mail: yasmin.riossolis@tec.mx
Heletjé van Staden
School of Business, University College of Dublin, Ireland.
e-mail: heletje.vanstaden@ucd.ie