Bequeath life to death: State-of-art review on reverse logistics

Reverse logistics is gaining attention of the industrialist and academicians due to enormous waste generation leading to increased environmental unease. The objective of this study is to perform a systematic review of the available reverse logistics literature, highlighting the research gap and setting future research directions. Content Analysis methodology is used in this literature review with Abductive research approach. 449 relevant articles are selected containing the word “reverse logistics” in their title, abstract and keywords, which were published in a well-known database. These articles are meticulously evaluated and categorized in 11 different categories according to their structural dimensions and contents. This work identifies: (i) various research design and methodology used in reverse logistics literature, (ii) most explored areas of reverse logistics, and discusses the sector where the exploration can be redirected, (iii) most explored industries, (iv) most used algorithms, Operation Research (OR)/ Mathematical tool, data analysis technique and Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods, and (v) enablers and barriers to reverse logistics. This study will help researchers to get opportunities in identifying the new dimensions of research in the field of reverse logistics.