4OR

Scope

4OR - A Quarterly Journal of Operations Research is jointly published by the Belgian, French and Italian Operations Research Societies. It publishes high quality scientific papers on the theory and applications of Operations Research. It is distributed to all individual members of the participating societies. The journal consists of several sections: · Invited Survey. This section is limited to one paper per issue, and consists of "state-of-the-art surveys" written by prominent researchers on invitation from the Editors-in-Chief. · Research Papers. This section is the core of the journal. Its aim is to publish high quality scientific papers within a short period of time, allowing OR researchers to communicate innovative results in a fast and efficient way. The emphasis on scientific rigor and on innovation implies, in particular, that: o the journal does not publish articles that simply propose disguised variants of known methods without adequate validation (e.g., metaheuristics that are claimed to be “effective” on the sole basis of metaphorical comparisons with natural or artificial systems and processes). New methods must be presented in metaphor-free language by establishing their relationship with classical paradigms. Their properties must be established on the basis of scientifically compelling arguments: mathematical proofs, controlled experiments, objective comparisons, etc.