International Journal of Operations Research
CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue on Survey Papers in Operations Research: Accomplishments and Future Promises Guest editors Ali Allahverdi
Kuwait University
Jatinder ND Gupta
The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Rubén Ruiz García
Polytechnic University of Valencia
Topic Description Operations Research (OR) has a rich history both in its development and use. While there have been several successful applications of OR, there have also been some criticisms. Therefore, it is time to take a look at the contributions that OR has made in solving practical problems and to foresee plausible future developments. This special issue is devoted to the progress that OR has made in solving managerial and technical problems. It intends to assemble high quality survey papers that describe the developments and accomplishments in OR and its applications in solving industrial, governmental, and related problems. The issue aims to provide to the reader an understanding of the OR methodologies, developments, and usefulness. In addition, this issue also intends to suggest some fruitful areas for OR developments and their future promises and applications in the future so that future research can be directed towards these goals. Of particular interest are papers surveying prolific OR areas where an extensive literature has appeared but no survey exists or those areas where there exist survey papers but are not up to date. Additionally, papers with extensive comparisons among proposed methods are also welcomed. In this way, readers will have, in one complete issue, an updated perspective of the past, present and future developments in the major and most important areas of OR. Topics for this special issue include (but are not limited to) the following: • • • • • • • • • • • • • Optimization Routing and transportation Project management and Scheduling Assignment Cutting and packing Metaheuristics Inventory and logistics Supply chain management Facility planning and layout Simulation Location Quality control Decision analysis
• • • • •
Reliability Information technology Internet and web-based systems Traffic, timetabling, etc. Other contemporary applications of OR
Important Dates Submission deadline is October 31, 2006. Early submission is encouraged. Papers will be sent for review as soon as they are received, and the decision will be made as soon as the reviewers’ reports are received. Therefore, the decision for earlier submissions may be made before the deadline. In the case more papers are accepted, the first accepted ones will appear in the special issue, and the remaining ones will appear in the next issues. The special issue will be published around August 2007. Review Process Each paper will be peer-reviewed in the same manner as for any submission to a leading international journal. Quality and originality of the contribution are the major acceptance criteria. All contributions are subject to a double-blind review process. Submission Guidelines Papers should be original, unpublished, and not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere, and should be prepared according to the instructions to authors that can be found at the journal homepage http://www.orstw.org.tw/IJOR/. Authors are strongly encouraged to send their submissions in electronic form (preferably a PDF file). There should be a separate title page giving the name and addresses of the authors. Any references that reveal the identity of the authors should be removed. The manuscript should be emailed to one of the following guest editors.
Ali Allahverdi
Dept. of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering College of Engineering and Petroleum Kuwait University, PO Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait email: allahverdi@kuc01.kuniv.edu.kw or allahverdi@alum.rpi.edu
Jatinder ND Gupta
College of Administrative Science The University of Alabama in Huntsville Huntsville, AL 35899 e-mail: guptaj@uah.edu
Rubén Ruiz García
Dept. of Applied Statistics, Operations Research and Quality, Polytechnic University of Valencia Camino de Vera S/N, 46021 Valencia, Spain e-mail: rruiz@eio.upv.es