by
Graham Winch
July 1996
- Generally it has been a tough year for submissions, with the necessary flow of quality articles scarcely being adequate. At one point 12,3 was in jeapardy, only by holding over an article slated for 12,2 and a quick turn-around on rewrites by a couple of authors meant we were able to produce an issue. As a result 12,2 included only three full articles, however as they were relatively long, the issue target of 88 pages was maintained. We will also hit the annual page limit, currently 352.
- The current situation is a little easier. Issue 12,4 looks covered. Though there is currently no backlog of accepted articles, there are around eight promising full articles and four Notes and Insights articles in the review process. Our acceptance rate is approximately 40%, and there are actually more articles with authors for re-writes, though usually major re-writes do not usually get resubmitted.
- Some articles were obviously submitted as a result of the urgings of the Tokyo Program Chair (Khalid), though no real surge. I hope the Program Chairs in Boston, and subsequently, will again encourage the presenters of promising looking papers to work them into a full submission to the Review. Also as a matter of routine, I believe the Jay Forrestor Prize winner, should always be asked (required?) to submit an article based on his/her/their acceptance talk at the conference. (Could this invitation please be conveyed to this year's winner.)
- Special Issues are being planned - one on Group Processes (special editor, Jac Vennix) is scheduled for Volume 13, and a further one on Sustainable Development (Khalid Saeed) for Volume 14. (Further suggestions/offers for future specials welcomed)
- No obviously succesful ways of attracting more practitioner articles have yet been discovered.
- A high proportion of accepted articles also seems to be coming from establish workers in the field, partly as a result of initial submissions, partly because they have a higher acceptance rate (newer authors are more likely to be required to undertake discouraging major re-writes). This may also suggest that the rapid growth in SD modellers (evidenced by software sales) is either leading to work being more widely accepted in other journals, or that the majority of new users are not interested in publishing at all in the academic literature.
- The suggestion has been made that the Archives section could be revitalized. Clearly only "milestone" pieces of work, and/or those whose content is still of central interest in the field should qualify. Arguably articles that have already appeared in documents of record, including Dynamica, should not need to be published again. (Dynamica had an ISSN number and copies were filed with the four British libraries of record). Ideally, archive articles should also be reviewed, perhaps to include a commentary, updating the references or pointing to derivative work. Preferably too, they should be nominated by readers, rather than resubmitted by their authors. Views/nominations welcomed.
- My conclusion regarding article flow is that four issues per year is just about sustainable, though the backlog/flow in earlier years hardly pointed to a swelling pattern. Normal unsolicited articles alone cannot satisfy needs, however, and must be complemented by special issues, archives and other forms of solicited work.
- Future SD Conference organizers should be reminded of the essential need to forward details of their upcoming conference, particularly themes and deadlines, to the News and Announcements section editors as soon as they are agreed, bearing in mind the long publishing lead times.
- On financial matters, I have little to say. The journal's finances are primarily a matter for the publisher, with issues such as subscription price and contribution to the Society being determined between Wileys and Julie Pugh. The Executive Editor's budget continues to be expended to cover the costs of supporting the administration of the production process for the Review, no increase is sought. Other membership matters, e.g. production of the membership list, is also handled directly between Wileys and the Society's Executive Officer.
- Finally, I would like to record formally my thanks to all Review editors. Andy and Jac, the main article editors, and Joel and Paal as News and Announcement editors bear the main brunt of having to support me with materials by the journal's deadlines. Thanks must also be recorded to all anonymous referees for their time and responsiveness.
