Research of IT trends in logistics

IT trends in logistics using the analysis of information provided by leaders in the field of logistics services, consulting companies and on the basis of publications from the Scopus scientometric database are studied in this paper. To generate queries to the Scopus document database, we grouped IT logistics tools and trends, which made it possible to obtain sets of terms for analytical search of publications. The result of the analytical query on publications related to logistics management systems reflected 2188 documents with the largest number of cited works on blockchain technology. The most popular sources of publications by the number of papers, as well as the distribution of articles and conference abstracts by research area were identified. Documents from the field of computer science account for 36.2% of the total. Analyzing publications by query using a set of terms from the group of tracking and monitoring systems, we obtained the result of publications dynamics and the list of the most active universities in this area of research. In the group of IT services for automation and optimization tools, 5679 documents with the highest citation of articles on AI and machine learning were found. Similar queries, using sets of terms appropriate to the group, were made for logistics systems for information and documentation exchange, warehouse systems and facilities, cybersecurity, cloud technologies, and sustainable and smart logistics. The main areas of research based on citations are autonomous vehicles, mobile robots, automated warehouse picking and employee assistance systems, deep learning, learning algorithms, Big Data, boundary computing, green logistics, sustainable development, and supply chain management. IT trends of the leading logistics industry leaders by studying annual documents describing them were analyzed. Based on DHL’s «Trend Radar», it was established that the groups of IT logistics trends presented and analyzed actually reflect the global trends in the development of IT in the logistics industry. It was found that the research of audio AI, transformation of green cities, e-commerce, assistive technologies for employees, and ethics of AI use are promising. Other existing technologies should be updated and rethought, taking into account new IT logistics trends.