Message from former Editor-in-Chief
FRANK SCHWEITZERChair of Systems Design, ETH Zurich,
Kreuzplatz 5, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
fschweitzer@ethz.ch
Advances in Complex Systems (ACS) was founded in 1997 as a "quarterly journal that aims to provide a unique medium of communication for multidisciplinary approaches, either empirical or theoretical, to the study of complex systems."
By 2007, ACS has been successful in the market for 10 years, with an increasing number of submissions each year. In order to cope with the demands of the future, we have decided to undertake a major overhaul of the journal regarding both the organizational structure and the editorial board. A new era of ACS also begins with a new cover, to underscore these changes.
New Sections, Extended Aims and Scope
ACS extends its existing publishing activities to encompass all aspects in the field of complex systems. Papers will be organized in five research sections, each of which is handled by a section editor:
- Physics and Mathematics
(Neil Johnson, University of Oxford, UK) - Computer Science
(Kagan Tumer, Oregon State University, USA) - Biological Systems
(Peter Stadler, University of Leipzig, Germany) - Social and Economic Systems
(Frank Schweitzer, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) - Traffic and Environmental Systems
(Kai Nagel, Technical University of Berlin, Germany)
An extended list of topics for each of the five sections can be found in the front matter of each issue of ACS. This list -- which is far from being complete or even exclusive -- demonstrates that ACS continues its multi-disciplinary tradition.
Its goal is to promote cross-fertilization of ideas among all scientific disciplines dealing with their own complex systems, including biology, physics, computer science, engineering, economics, cognitive science and the social sciences. It is in fact the exchange of concepts and techniques -- developed within areas as diverse as spin glass physics, game theory, molecular biology, evolutionary optimization, or psychology -- which has proven to be a major driving force in complex systems
New Board of Editors
Having been a member of the editorial board of ACS since its foundation, with Volume 10, I have taken over the responsibilities as Editor-in-Chief from Peter Stadler (former Editor-in-Chief) and Eric Bonabeau (former Co-Editor-in-Chief). I wish to thank them as well as the former members of the editorial board for all the efforts they have made for ACS during the past years.
Now, a new board of associate editors -- listed in the front matter -- has been appointed for ACS. Their appointment also marks a generation change for ACS, as their typical age is fourty-five or younger. The twenty new associate editors, together with the five new section editors, are very active researchers in the field of complex systems, with a dedicated interest in further developing this scientific community. With their interdisciplinary background, they are able to handle submissions within the extended aims and scope and to attract new authors to ACS.
New Benefits for Authors
The major overhaul of ACS also includes some improvements on manuscript handling. With the use of Editorial Manager®, a powerful electronic system for handling manuscripts, authors have an easy way to submit their papers and to track the current status of their submissions. This system also eases the reviewing process for referees -- as ACS is a fully peer-reviewed scientific journal.
All articles published in ACS are available online to subscribers (with color figures if provided). Moreover, authors will benefit from the free PDFs of their respective published articles provided by ACS, from now on.
ACS is also working to expand its current Abstracting/Indexing Service to cover indexes from economics and the social sciences.
ACS will both increase the reliability and shorten the publishing schedule considerably in the near future. This includes a proposed change from a quarterly to a bi-monthly journal, to cope with the increasing number of submissions for both regular and special issues.
I hope that the recent changes in the aims and scope, the organizational structure and the publishing schedule of ACS will increase its visibility, strengthen its impact on the scientific community, and foster interdisciplinary research with high standards. Together with the section editors, the associate editors and the publisher, I look forward to new volumes of ACS reporting on the highest quality, original research in the field of complex systems.