[Regular readers will know of my scepticism about MDPI as a publisher, as judged by my understanding of the value of their systems journals. I really conclude that something is broken here. I don’t *think* it’s me, but if it is, it might be by trying to read some of this. Trying to make it make sense, I idly followed the profile of the ‘Academic Editor, Prof. Vladimír Bure, who is a Professor (I think of Systems Engineering) at the University of Hradec Kralove – and perhaps the strangely wide range of topics in his published articles (https://sciprofiles.com/profile/255730) fits in Systems Engineering? And tried A System Dynamics Perspective on Workplace Spirituality and Employee Behavior (from the Administrative Sciences Journal – perhaps he can’t publish in Systems as he’s the Academic Editor?) – as the paper I might be most likely to make some sense of and… look, here’s a typical paragraph (the first):

“The corporate sphere has perpetually prioritized productivity and profitability. Researchers from developed nations consistently analyze potential factors impacting productivity and performance, aiming to propose strategies for optimizing resource utilization. It can be asserted that the most pivotal resource influencing organizational productivity is its human resources—the individuals comprising the organization. When organizational members experience satisfaction, their productivity and creativity tend to soar. Personal accomplishment and heightened morale are closely intertwined with superior performance, directly impacting the organization’s productivity and profitability. Conversely, a discontented work environment is prone to low morale, elevated turnover, burnout, stress-related issues, and increased absenteeism (Srivastava and Pradhan 2021).”

…which certainly is a collection of words? Then there’s the cover story of this actual journal, which is… a systematic review of papers? Which misspells “water shed” in the abstract. There’s an editorial for a special edition on public health, the articles of which appear (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/systems/special_issues/STMPH) to have been published in 2022 and 2023 (one of the two authors is from a Department of Computer Science & Software Engineer, does that make sense?), there’s at least one name I recognise, and I dunno, maybe they are all good and worthy papers but there seems to be no coherence of topics, methods, theory, citations or… anything? I suspose they do broadly all fit within the declared scope: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/systems/about

Most papers seem to be published within a month of submission – some within two weeks – and there’s a fee of CHF 2,400 (about £2,100) for publication, and apparently they are a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (did they deliberately name it COPE?!) and ‘take the responsibility to enforce a rigorous peer-review together with strict ethical policies and standards…’

Can anyone put me out of my misery? Am I just not understanding? Does it make sense? The ISSS affiliation and several names on the (apparently hundred-strong) editorial board remain]

Cover Story: Complex Systems Science (CSS) and Community-Based Research (CBR) have emerged as complementary disciplines. Yet, understanding their recent integration to tackle complex issues remains incomplete. Using DistillerSR, we conducted a scoping review of articles employing both CSS and CBR. Employing natural language processing, including a named entity recognition model and dynamic topic modeling, we analyzed the manuscript data. The findings show CBR topic frequency surpassing CSS, often utilizing CSS concepts and analytical techniques. Key topics driving this trend include social system collaboration, business management, food and land use, and watershed management. This review sheds light on the integration of CSS and CBR and its implications for addressing complex social, economic, and health-related issues. View this paper

Systems, Volume 12, Issue 3 (March 2024) – 42 articlesCover Story (view full-size image): Complex Systems Science (CSS) and Community-Based Research (CBR) have emerged as complementary disciplines. Yet, understanding their recent integration to tackle complex issues remains incomplete. Using DistillerSR, we conducted a scoping review of articles employing both CSS and CBR. Employing natural language processing, including a named entity recognition model and dynamic topic modeling, we analyzed the manuscript data. The findings show CBR topic frequency surpassing CSS, often utilizing CSS concepts and analytical techniques. Key topics driving this trend include social system collaboration, business management, food and land use, and watershed management. This review sheds light on the integration of CSS and CBR and its implications for addressing complex social, economic, and health-related issues. View this paper

Systems | March 2024 – Browse Articles

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/12/3?utm_campaign=releaseissue_systemsutm_medium=emailutm_source=releaseissueutm_term=coverlink