Aims and scope

Aims and Scope:    

Emerging challenges to infrastructure systems, industry, government, and society exhibit complexity, interconnectedness, uncertainties, and a variety of stakeholder perspectives. The Springer journal Environment, Systems & Decisions addresses diverse interests and perspectives of infrastructure owners, engineers, environmental professionals, regulators, policy makers, scholars, educators, and managers through technical articles, editorials, and review articles. The journal advances theory, methodology, and applications to address these challenges from a systems view, emphasizing connectedness of humans, machines, and the environment. Methods that arise in the physical, social, and information sciences and engineering are integrated or coordinated.
  

Submitted manuscripts should address interrelated social, technological, environmental, and economic systems with attention to performance, risk, costs, sustainability, and resilience. The journal provides a catalyst for research and innovation in cross-disciplinary and transdisciplinary methods, featuring decision analysis, systems engineering, risk assessment and risk management, resilience analysis, policy analysis, data science, and communication. Manuscripts in a variety of application domains (engineering, military, environment, ecology, health, regulation, policy, technologies, logistics, manufacturing, etc.) are invited, particularly to feature problems and solutions that cross domains and envision future systems and processes.

Peer Review Policy:
Manuscripts are reviewed with due respect for the author's confidentiality. At the same time, reviewers also have rights to confidentiality, which are respected by the editors. Environment Systems and Decisions uses a single-blind peer-review system whereby reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous. Single-blind peer review is a traditional model of peer review that many reviewers are comfortable with, and the process supports a dispassionate critique of a manuscript. The editors ensure both authors and reviewers alike that manuscripts sent for review are privileged communications and are the private property of the author.