An analysis of research trends of the Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics

The analysis of research trends in papers published in academic journals can help establish the identity of a field by discovering the research content and characteristics conducted from the past to the present. This study aimed to establish research trends among publications in the Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics (AJSL). This study implemented the social network analysis (SNA) method using three approaches (degree centrality, closeness centrality, and betweenness centrality) to highlight the connections between research keywords published from 2009 to 2022. This study divided the publications into three periods (2009–2014, 2015–2018, and 2019–2022). The degree centrality analysis of SNA for the period 2009–2014 shows that the keywords “container shipping,” “logistics,” and “port” ranked first, second, and third, respectively. The analysis for 2015–2018 shows that the keywords “analytic hierarchy process,” “China,” and “logistics” ranked first, second, and third, respectively. Finally, the analysis for 2019–2022 shows that “DEA,” “Vietnam,” and “container terminal” ranked first, second, and third, respectively. It is noteworthy that attention in the final period switched from China to Vietnam.