20 Years of Particle Swarm Optimization Strategies for the Vehicle Routing Problem: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

This study uses bibliometric analysis to examine the scientific evolution of particle swarm optimization (PSO) for the vehicle routing problem (VRP) over the past 20 years. Analyses were conducted to discover and characterize emerging trends in the research related to these topics and to examine the relationships between key publications. Through queries of the Web of Science and Scopus databases, the metadata for these particle swarm optimization (PSO) and vehicle routing problem (VRP) solution strategies were compared using bibliographic coupling and co-citation analysis using the Bibliometrix R software package, and secondly with VOSViewer. The bibliometric study’s purpose was to identify the most relevant thematic clusters and publications where PSO and VRP research intersect. The findings of this study can guide future VRP research and underscore the importance of developing effective PSO metaheuristics.

Keywords

• particle swarm optimization
• vehicle routing problem
• bibliometric analysis
• supply chain management
• metaheuristics
• combinatorial optimization