Systems Thinking and Systems Practice
A Special Issue of Systems (ISSN 2079-8954).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 2256
Editors
Interests: system dynamics; macroeconomics; history
2. Department of Philosophy, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NZ, UK
3. Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine and Public Health, University of Johannesburg, Corner Kingsway and University Road Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2092, South Africa
Interests: problem-structuring methods; viable systems model; soft systems methodology; philosophy of operational research; inquiring systems; systems ethics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The editors of Systems are delighted to extend this invitation to researchers, scholars, and practitioners to submit original contributions to our open call on the theme of “Systems Thinking and Systems Practice”. This is a genuinely exciting moment for the systems thinking community — an opportunity to bring rigorous, reflective, and innovative work to one of the field’s dedicated publication platforms, and to contribute to a growing body of knowledge that bridges theory and real-world application. We warmly welcome submissions from across the full breadth of systems inquiry, whether rooted in organisational practice, policy, engineering, social systems, or any domain where systemic approaches illuminate complexity and enable meaningful change.
As a theme, systems thinking and systems practice sits at the heart of what makes systems thinking so vital and distinctive as a discipline. It encompasses the methods, frameworks, interventions, and reflective processes through which systemic ideas are translated into action—and through which practitioners learn, adapt, and generate new knowledge in return. We are particularly interested in contributions that engage critically and creatively with this dynamic relationship between thinking and doing; in short, papers that challenge assumptions, surface emergent insights, or demonstrate the transformative potential of systemic approaches to address the complex challenges of our time.
Dr. Roberto Palacios Rodriguez
Dr. Graeme A. Forbes
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Systems is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- systems practice
- systems thinking
- soft systems
- problem solving
- system consulting
- system dynamics
- organisational cybernetics
- systemic intervention
- systemic design
- systemic innovation
- critical systems
- complex adaptive systems
- systems multimethodology/metamethodology
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