System Dynamics: Insights and Policy Innovation

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Systems invites you to revive the original purpose of system dynamics – to bring new insights into understanding persistent problems and create policy innovations that make those problems go away. The models we encourage you to present need not precisely replicate history and give point forecasts of the future but should highlight a specific feature of reality representing a system appropriate for a purposeful analysis of a pervasive problem. Your models should be parsimonious, yet they should effectively highlight a problematic pattern – like in impressionist art. The policy innovations these models deliver should be operational, meaning they should not just be normative statements but should be able to be implemented through the policy levers available in the system.

Jay Forrester emphasized representing models in an integral format, since integration happens in real life and is a verifiable process. The differential equation format is equivalent but not verifiable. A non-verifiable representation leads to non-verifiable models that can often deviate from reality and offer unrealistic remedies, like system change, that cannot be implemented. We encourage you to represent your models in the verifiable integral format yet communicate them effectively so people unfamiliar with our software can understand and replicate them.

Forrester also encouraged us to address ubiquitous problems, with transferrable structure, so the insights our models provide can be widely applied and our work can make a difference in the complex world we live in. We encourage you to follow that lead.

We aim to collect 10–12 articles in this issue that are above expectations and can help us revive the insightful traditional practice of system dynamics. We look forward to receiving your submissions for consideration.

Prof. Dr. Khalid Saeed
Dr. Karim J. Chichakly
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-blind 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.