In his editorial last year (44(1), p. 1), George Klir announced an editorial transition: having been the editor of this journal since its inception in 1974, George decided to step down and pass the editorship to me. When he first told me about his intention some years ago, two basic thoughts crossed my mind – honor and great responsibility. These thoughts shall remain the basic shaping factors in my acting as editor-in-chief. They make a good basis for formulating in brief my vision for the International Journal of General Systems (IJGS) in this editorial.
The honor I feel derives from the fact that I am succeeding as editor a man who founded the IJGS in 1974 and served as its editor from that time until the editorial transition in 2015, and that I am succeeding him at his own offer. Both the 43-year existence of IJGS and George’s long-term editorship represent a remarkable achievement. Particularly, the length of George’s editorship is, I believe, unmatched. The responsibility I feel derives from the fact that over the years, the IJGS has become a highly respected journal. Many of the papers published enjoy high numbers of citations; many have been authored by prominent researchers. The long tradition and high esteem of the IJGS certainly represent great value when looking ahead and considering the future of this journal.
An important question I have to ask in this regard is whether the journal’s scope, represented by its name, offers a viable path for the years ahead. I am confident it does. System-theoretic concepts, which represent the core of journal’s scope, are no fashion which would fade away. Rather, they represent crucial scientific concepts. For one, they are widely applicable – applicable to virtually all kinds of systems – which makes them useful. In addition, they allow for in-depth, rigorous approaches, which amplifies their usefulness and makes them attractive for researchers. It is my intention to keep system-theoretic concepts at the core of the journal’s scope. It is, nevertheless, logical – also because George and I represent two different generations – that I shall emphasize somewhat different topics from what George would do. In this regard, my intention is to make the IJGS a little more focused, putting emphasis on topics such as uncertainty, information, inductive and deductive reasoning, and complexity and computational aspects.
The quality of published papers is the most important matter for every journal. One key factor here is the willingness of authors to submit their good papers to the journal. Drawing on the solid base the IJGS represents in this respect, I shall be actively recruiting, with help of the editorial board members, potential good contributors. The reputation of this journal, as well as its strong record in some topics, makes a good basis for that. The other key factor is the review process. For reasons associated basically with research funding in various countries, the number of papers being submitted to scholarly journals has been rapidly increasing for the past couple of years. It is no secret that the increase is to a large extent due to many low-quality submissions. To save the precious time of our reviewers, I will be carefully examining submissions to the IJGS and will be routinely rejecting not only those which are out of the journal’s scope but also submissions that do not meet my criteria regarding clarity, grammar, style, and formatting. Thus, papers written without proper care shall not be sent out for review.
I would also like to take this opportunity to announce changes in the editorial team. Ms. Ellen Tilden, who has served for many years as the editorial assistant to the editor-in-chief, is retiring from her position. She shall, nevertheless, remain the book review editor for the IJGS. I thank Ellen for the outstanding work she has done for the journal. The important position of editorial assistant will be taken over by Dr. Eduard Bartl, my colleague for over 10 years. Associated with these changes is a new IJGS email address: [email protected].
As far as the editorial board of this journal is concerned, I intend to make changes. Some changes actually occurred in 2016 but I will announce them along with further changes, which I plan to make, in 2017. At this point, I deeply regret to announce that Professor John Holland, a long-term member of the board, passed away in 2015.
Editor-in-Chief