# Trends and Recommendations for Enhancing Maturity Models in Supply Chain Management and Logistics
## 5 Conclusions  
The concept of MMs, initially applied in software management, has gained traction in various industrial processes, including SCML. However, existing reports on MMs have been either too specific or lacking in depth. To address this gap, a comprehensive literature review has been conducted in this article using a methodological and systematic approach. The review process involved several steps in answering four RQs. Firstly, a literature search was performed, resulting in the identification of 137 articles related to MMs for SCML published between 2001 and 2023. Secondly, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to objectively examine the major contributions, relationships, and dynamics among various factors, addressing RQ1 and RQ2. These factors include journals, authors, and keywords. Lastly, a content analysis delved deeper into the scope, design, and application of MMs, addressing RQ3 and providing a detailed exploration of the tools used. The discussion of the literature review yielded several important findings, including the ever-growing interest in MMs for SCML, particularly in recent years. Notably, approximately one-third of the publications were concentrated between 2021 and 2022, with a focus on digitization and the sustainability of business processes. These MMs primarily revolve around supply chain management as a core topic. However, logistics is identified as an emerging theme that has been gaining momentum, thanks to the contributions of a small group of authors. This highlights the need for further research and development in the field of logistics within the context of MMs for SCML. MMs are commonly recognized as tools that facilitate continuous improvement, guiding the transition from an initial state to an optimal state. However, the content analysis revealed that the prescriptive characteristic of tools within the SCML field is not given priority. The proposed MMs in the literature are often descriptive and comparative in nature. Closing this important research gap calls for the ambitious goal of developing detailed guidelines and improvement roadmaps. Moreover, the validation and application of MMs for SCML are frequently overlooked, despite their significance in bridging the gap between research and practice. The research gaps go beyond the domain of MM design and application; they also extend to the identification of unexplored research topics. To address these gaps and answer RQ4, the article proposes five recommendations for specific research strands. These identified strands mainly focus on the development, validation, and application of MMs for sustainable development, the circular economy, and Industry 5.0. The recommendations offer valuable contributions to the field. Furthermore, the literature review conducted in this article is up-to-date and comprehensive, making it useful for researchers and practitioners who intend to develop or apply the identified MMs. The work conducted in this study has some limitations that can be addressed in future research. First, the research was limited to a single scientific database (Scopus) and utilized a process-focused search string. As a result, the article primarily focused on SCML MMs, neglecting the inclusion of people-based, object-based, and potential integration concepts. Additionally, other important activities in industrial contexts, such as manufacturing and procurement, were not considered in terms of processes. Consequently, the presented results may not provide a completely comprehensive view. Future research should aim to overcome these limitations by incorporating a broader scope and addressing these areas of research, thus making valuable contributions to the field. Conceptualization, S.F.,