The Contribution of Scientific Productions at the Beginning of the Third Millennium (2001 – 2014) for Humanitarian Logistics: A Bibliometric Analysis

The humanitarian logistics is a branch of logistics that aims to plan, schedule and control inventories of goods in an efficient and low cost way, beyond monitor the flow of goods from point of origin to point of consumption in order to meet and alleviate human suffering in vulnerable communities affected by natural disasters and complex emergencies. Humanitarian logistics plays a key role in any aid effort. Considering the importance of humanitarian logistics to the success of disaster response operations, this paper aims to capture the state of art in this field of knowledge using bibliometric methods and techniques of social network analysis. The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the studies in the field of humanitarian logistics, between the beginning of the XXI century (2001) and the present day (2014). This study aims to develop a literature review on the subject of the Humanitarian Logistics, rising information, scientific and technological knowledge, capturing the state of the art in this field of knowledge. The research is carried out by analyzing the citation and co-citation of articles leadership in humanitarian logistics research and seeks to provide valuable information about the knowledge network among studies in this area. Through the application of this statistical analysis, relevant theories, concepts and the research methods used in the area were identified, as well as topics for future research. This will enhance understanding of the subject, serving as a guide to the growth, development and dissemination of this scientific knowledge to better respond to humanitarian problems