SYSTEM DYNAMICS REVIEW

 

Report of Executive Editor to SDS Policy Council (Feb. 2004) at MIT

 

1.         Issue 19:4 will have been received by members 1-2 weeks ago.

 

2.         Issue 20:1

This is filled -- 4 papers including a Research Problems paper.  It will be published late February/early March.  Three of the four papers have already been proofed.

 

            Issue 20:2

This is a Special Issue on Environmental and Resource Issues, guest – edited by Andy Ford and Bob Cavana.  They report 5 good papers in the final stages.  Copy deadline is March 23 for summer publication.

 

            Issue 20:3

One paper already accepted and it is being held over because of the Special

Issue and will be published on Early View.

 

3.            Statistics

 

Since January 2003, 53 papers have been logged at this office.  Of these 16 (30%) have been rejected, 16 are at the revision stage (although 6 of these amount to significant revisions or a complete recast), 14 are still at 1st Review; 3 have been accepted and published; 4 accepted and awaiting publication in either 20:1 or 20:3.  This analysis does not include submissions to Special Issues.

 

4.         Future Prospects

 

A reasonably healthy situation.  Managing editors report 9 papers likely to be accepted with the next 3 – 6 months.

 

The Special Issue slated for 2005 (Dynamics of Supply Chains & Networks, guest-edited by H. Akkermans & N. Dellaert) was heavily over-subscribed following the Call for Papers last year.  The editors have whittled down the list and good abstracts have resulted in their authors being encouraged to submit a full paper.  This issue looks like it will appear on schedule.

 

The Security Special Issue suggested by Jose Gonzalez has been postponed for at least a year.

 

5.            Location for non-print material.

 

The Editors’ Meeting at the New York City conference agreed that this material should be hosted at authors’ own sites.  Accordingly hot links to the relevant sites will be established from Wiley InterScience and their availability mentioned in the printed paper – usually as a footnote or reference.  Managing editors now routinely request copies of models for reviewers.

6.            Institutional Subscriptions

 

In 2002 – 03 Wiley, with the help of the Home Office, undertook a significant marketing exercise particularly directed at higher education institutions that were thought promising as potential subscribers.  This revealed a small number of sites which actually took S D Review but were not recorded as such by Wiley!

 

Because institutions often subscribe via an agency, it is not possible to state unambiguously whether a new subscription resulted from the initiative or another cause.  However the number of Enhanced Licences (a common contract option for institutions) are as follows:

 

            End 2000    9

              “    2001    28

              “    2002    41

              “    2003    45

 

            Overall individual membership (including students) is:-

           

            End 2000    779

              “    2001    842

              “    2002    884

              “    2003    952

 

Wiley comment that “the general pattern of growth over the last 4 years looks fairly healthy”.

 

Wiley’s Graham Russell has provided spreadsheets listing all the 2003 and 2004 institutional subscribers, although a number are omitted from the 2004 list because their subscriptions have not yet reached Wiley.

 

 

 

Brian Dangerfield

February 2004.