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

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