Call for papers: Thematic Issues

Details

Category: Journal thematic issue

EMS Thematic Issue on

Innovative Approaches to Global Change Modelling

Issue Editors: Mark Borsuk, Carlo Giupponi, Klaus Hasselmann, and Bert de Vries

Scope and aims

Climate change is considered to be one of the biggest challenges facing humanity and is just one of the manifestations of the ever-faster evolutionary dynamics of the Earth system, referred to collectively as Global Change. An emerging feature of such dynamics is the strong interrelation between natural and socioeconomic drivers acting at multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Traditional disciplinary studies show evident limits in their capability to cope with the complexity of the Earth system and much of the current disciplinary and multidisciplinary modelling does not consider uncertainties adequately. Thus renewed efforts toward innovative approaches, models and evaluation of their strengths and limitations are needed. In particular, cross-fertilization between Complex Systems Science, Environmental Sciences and Socioeconomics is of great interest for this Thematic Issue. Examples of topics of interest include consideration of Bayesian approaches in consolidating and evaluating modelling streams, in-depth analysis of the behaviour of human agents, and the exploration of the ecology-economy interface with innovative system dynamics models.

Rethinking and reinforcing the perspectives of sustainable development is needed through a substantial revision of traditional mainstream economic science, integrated with stronger environmental dimensions (management of resources and ecosystem services) and, importantly, with a robust social component incorporating or at least acknowledging the role of human agents (whether they be policies, managers, institutions, stakeholders and/or the wider community).

With the aim of consolidating and disseminating such research outcomes, we are planning a ‘Thematic Issue’ of the Environmental Modelling & Software journal.

The invitation

Scientists involved in global change studies and modelling are invited to contribute to the Thematic Issue with original papers dealing specifically with the integration of the three dimensions of sustainability: economics, society and the environment. The interface between science and policy/decision making is also of interest. Such studies may be at various scales but must have in common the attempt to integrate the various dimensions within a common methodological and modelling framework. The involvement of stakeholders, multiple experts and policy/decision makers is also of specific interest.

To this purpose, we are interested in receiving original submissions on topics such as: integrated frameworks and models, methodological proposals, uncertainty aspects, and case studies.

Participation and timelines

The Guest Editors would like to extend an open opportunity to the membership of iEMSs and the wider science community to participate in the development of the Thematic Issue, through either submitting or reviewing papers. Please feel free to promote the issue with colleagues unfamiliar with iEMSs and the journal EMS, noting for them that the journal has created a strong niche and has a rising Impact Factor of 3.085.

If you are interested in participating, please email your contact details and intended contribution (title, authors, abstract) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by the 15th of December 2010. After an initial selection of responses, we will ask for full papers by 30 April 2011.

We will use a three step review process:

1. Extended abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors and recommendations will be made regarding the scope of the full paper; extended abstracts should be about 1,000 words plus a strong bibliography that indicates the literature that the paper will build upon;

2. Full papers will be sent out for external peer review following Environmental Modelling & Software policy that, among other things, requires at least 3 reviewers per paper plus valuable editorial comment;

3. Revised manuscripts will be examined by the Guest Editors and, where necessary, the external reviewers.

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