Article
Maritime Transportation Research: Topics and Methodologies
The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze maritime transportation academic
research. For articles published in Maritime Policy & Management (MPM) in the
period 2001 to 2012, the most frequent topics addressed include shipping performance/
management and shipping finance. For articles published in Maritime Economics &
Logistics (MEL) in the period 2002 to 2012, the most frequent topics addressed
include port performance and shipping performance/management. MPM articles are
more likely than MEL articles to utilize the institutional (IS) methodology and MEL
articles are more likely than MPM articles to utilize the optimization (OP) methodology.
Maritime transportation proposition theoretical research may be particularly useful
in undertaking research in maritime transportation areas for which data are unavailable,
insufficient, difficult to obtain, or of poor quality. Future maritime transportation
research needs to include focus on: (i) maritime shippers, (ii) maritime transport
chains, (iii) maritime transportation as a service, (iv) the quality of maritime transportation,
and (v) maritime theoretical proposition research.