Intellectual structure and trends in the humanitarian operations field

Humanitarian Operations (HO) have attracted the interest of professionals and academics, mainly due to their potential to reduce human suffering in disaster situations, leading to consolidation as a research field. With the evolution of the HO research field, synthesis of the knowledge and previous discoveries has become an important task for its advancement. In this study, a literature review based on bibliometric mapping techniques was carried out in order to identify the HO intellectual structure. As main results, we visually present the general emerging structure of the HO field using the VOS viewer software to devise the networks of the principal articles. The seminal research in this field is organized into two clusters: Humanitarian Supply Chain Management, and Distribution Optimization in Humanitarian Logistics. Regarding the emerging intellectual structure, three clusters were identified: Relationship Management and Big Data, Healthcare facility location, and Network flow restoration optimization. Finally, some gaps and questions for future research are presented.