Journal of Model Based Research · ISSN 2643-2811 · Open Access Pub
Aims and Scope
The journal asks one question of every submission: does the model do the work?
The Journal of Model Based Research publishes peer-reviewed research in which a model — mathematical, computational, conceptual or physical — carries the scientific contribution. This page states what the journal considers and on what terms.
The test
A substantive contribution to the model
A manuscript belongs in this journal when its contribution lies in the model itself: in how the model is formulated, what it assumes, how it represents a system, how it is fitted and evaluated, what uncertainty attaches to it, what it licenses a reader to infer, or how it is interpreted and used.
Any one of those may carry a paper, and the editors weigh them by what the manuscript claims for itself. What the journal asks is that the contribution be explicit, that the reasoning be visible, and that the claims made stay inside what the model and its evidence support.
- Formulation
- The construction of a model: governing relationships, structure, state, scale and the choices that fix them.
- Assumptions and representation
- What the model takes the system to be, what it holds fixed, and what it deliberately leaves out.
- Fitting and calibration
- Parameter estimation, identification, data used, and the procedures that connect a model to evidence.
- Validation and evaluation
- Evidence bearing on whether a model behaves as claimed, by whatever test is appropriate to the claim.
- Uncertainty
- Sensitivity analysis, error propagation, and the range that a stated conclusion carries with it.
- Inference
- What follows from the model, and the conditions under which it follows.
- Interpretation and use
- What a model means for the system it stands for, and how it is carried into practice or further research.
The boundary
Central contribution, incidental use
The distinction the journal works with is not between disciplines. It is between a study whose contribution is the model and a study that happens to use one.
Central to the contribution
The manuscript advances how a system is represented, specified, fitted, evaluated or reasoned about. A reader takes away something reusable about the modeling, even where the application is specific. Work of this kind is in scope whatever field it comes from.
Incidental to the contribution
A model appears as a standard step in an argument whose real subject lies elsewhere, and the manuscript says nothing new about the model or its use. Such work is usually better served by a journal in its own subject, and the editors will say so promptly.
Fields
Where the work comes from
The journal is open to model-based research across the natural, physical, computational, engineering, health, environmental and social sciences, and to methodological work that is not tied to a single field.
Its published record already spans organizational and management modeling, neural simulation, hydrological and environmental analysis, optimization and inventory models, materials experiments, electoral statistics, cell-level analytical models, epidemic modeling and mechanical engineering design. That record illustrates the range the journal serves. It is not the boundary: a field absent from the archive is absent from the archive, and nothing more.
Evidence follows the claim
The evidence a manuscript needs is set by what it asserts. A theoretical derivation is judged on its reasoning, a simulation study on its design and reporting, an applied analysis on the fit between model, data and conclusion. The journal applies no universal requirement for experimental confirmation, predictive performance or practical deployment, and asks instead that each claim be supported in the way that claim requires.
Manuscript types
What the journal publishes
The journal considers the following manuscript types. The word figures are the journal's own guidance rather than strict limits; the editorial office will advise where a manuscript has good reason to differ.
- Original Research Articles5,000 words
- A model built and put to work on a research question, with its formulation, evidence and inference set out in full.
- Methodological and Computational Methods Papers4,000 words
- A new method, modeling approach or computational technique, with the reasoning that supports it.
- Algorithm Development Papers4,500 words
- An algorithm for optimization, simulation or analysis, with the properties claimed for it demonstrated.
- Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses6,000 words
- A structured synthesis across modeling studies, with its search and appraisal method stated.
- Review Articles6,000 words
- A critical survey of a modeling literature, a method family or a class of representations.
- Short Communications2,000 words
- A compact result, application or methodological advance that stands on its own.
- Technical Notes1,500 words
- A refinement, implementation detail or correction of technique that other modelers can reuse.
- Benchmarking Studies4,000 words
- A comparison of approaches, algorithms or tools under a stated and reproducible protocol.
- Data Descriptor Papers3,000 words
- Documentation of a dataset produced by or prepared for modeling work, written for reuse.
- Software and Tools3,500 words
- A modeling tool, package or platform, with its scope, interfaces and documentation.
- Case Studies4,000 words
- A model applied to a specific system or setting, with what the application establishes made explicit.
- Perspectives and Commentaries2,500 words
- An argued view on a modeling question, method or debate.
- Opinion Pieces2,000 words
- A scholarly position on the direction of model-based research.
- Letters to the Editor1,000 words
- Correspondence on work published in the journal or on a question the journal covers.
Where to go next
About the Journal describes the journal's purpose and readership. The pages below hold the editorial standards, the manuscript requirements and the submission routes.
About the Journal Editorial Policies Editorial Board Submit a manuscript