SYSTEM DYNAMICS REVIEW
Report of Executive Editor to Policy Council (February 2003)
1. Volume 19
19:1 Is in press with advance copies at Wiley’s by 18 February. We are now making use of Early View whenever possible so three of the articles in this issue can already be read (and downloaded) from the Wiley InterScience website.
19:2 Three articles already accepted which can ‘fill’ this issue. It may be a somewhat lower page count than normal but we have to compensate for the huge budget excess on 18:2.
19:3 No problems
anticipated. One article already
accepted which
19:4 could go into 19:3.
2. Article Backlog
The article backlog is very healthy. The Managing Editors report it to be the best they have ever known in terms of quality and quantity. According to my records there are 23 articles either being revised or in the process of first review. Within the past fortnight a further 5 manuscripts have come into this office.
3. Special Issues
Andy Ford and Bob Cavana report that the issue on Modelling of Environmental and Resource Issues (2004) is over-subscribed by potential authors. They have urged some authors to re-direct their submissions (where a full paper already exists) to this office for possible inclusion in a normal issue.
Two additional proposals are in embryonic form: one on Security and one on Supply Chain Modelling.
4. Journal of Economic Literature
In response to a request from an author, in September 2002 I submitted the details of SDR for inclusion in this bibliographic index run by the American Economic Association located in Pittsburgh. In December 2002 they replied that they could not include it because it did not cover economics predominantly enough.
5. Meeting with representatives from Wiley
In October 2002 Roberta Spencer visited the U.K. and we attended a meeting at Wiley’s splendid new premises – the Atrium in Chichester. This was Diane Taylor’s valedictory acquaintance with us as she is now retired. She introduced Steve Hardman who is taking over her duties. A wide range of topics were covered during the course of a full day. A major initiative was a campaign to increase the number of institutional subscribers to SDR. Thus has since been implemented with a covering letter from Jim Hines.
Confidential data on impact factors was presented. SDR’s for 2001 is good (and above such as the Journal of Forecasting, the Journal of Information Technology and the Journal of the Operational Research Society) but not in the same league as, say, Management Science, the Administrative Science Quarterly – the best in 2001 – or the California Management Review.
6. Models with Papers
Arising from the Palermo editors’ meeting it was decided to phase in the requirement for authors to make available models and/or data to support empirically-grounded papers. This is being instituted by the editorial office but there is, as yet, no agreement as to a repository for such non-print content, although the sentiment of the meeting with Wiley was that the SD Society should host such a repository and Wiley will establish hyperlinks from the online abstracts at Wiley InterScience. The Policy Council might wish to consider this matter. It is quite separate to the current discussions concerning making available specimen models for those new to the field or eager to enhance their modelling skills. Links would need to be included to authors’ own websites in instances where the reported work was ongoing and the model thus subject to change and/or enhancement.
7. The Electronic Conference Paper Review System and SDR Manuscript Submission
The opportunity now exists for conference paper reviewers to flag potentially strong papers for submission to SDR.
The Managing Editors thought that, on balance, extending the system to include the submission of regular articles to SDR (i.e. to make the review process for SDR entirely electronic) would not necessarily produce great benefits since the main time lag was that taken by referees in submitting their reports.
Brian Dangerfield
February 2003