Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the “scientific identity” and “ethnocentricity” in the “top” journals of logistics management by studying the categories of papers published and the geographical affiliations of authors, editorial review boards, and editors in selected journals.

Design/methodology/approach – A sample of “top” scholarly journals in logistics management is selected on the basis of previous research, expert opinion, and journal ranking lists. The selection includes the International Journal of Logistics Management (IJLM), the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management (IJPDLM), and the Journal of Business Logistics (JBL). The study considers all available papers (a total of 657) published in these journals over an eight-year period from 2000 to 2007. The compiled results are analyzed for patterns that reveal the “scientific identity” and “ethnocentricity” of each of the selected journals.

Findings – There is a range of different categories of papers in the selected journals and there a fairly broad range of geographical affiliations of authors, editorial review boards, and editors. The overall variety of “scientific identities” and “ethnocentricity” among the journals studied here support in part the ongoing scientific exploration of logistics management, though it may be improved in the future.

Research limitations/implications – Further research of the “scientific identity” and “ethnocentricity” of individual research journals is required in other sub-disciplines of logistics.

Practical implications – Scholars will benefit from insights into the “scientific identities” and “ethnocentricity” of the “top” journals in logistics management. In particular, scholars can note the particular features of individual journals while acknowledging the paradigmatic flexibility and richness of research designs that are present in most of these journals.

Originality/value – This paper updates and extends previous research on methodological approaches in logistics management journals, but it appears to be the first study of the “scientific identity” of “top” logistics management journals in terms of categories of papers published and geographical affiliation of authors, editorial review boards, and editors. This paper provides valuable insights into the nature of academic publishing in the flourishing research field of logistics management.