Scopus Journal call for paper: Kybernetes (From theory to impact – how do organizations benefit from systems research?)

As a leading journal in systems research and cybernetics, Kybernetes puts a particular emphasis on formal modelling and theory development. A theory, however, is only as strong as its application. If it does not have any impact in practice, it will eventually disappear from scientific discourse. For this reason, our special issue turns the attention to the added value of systemic and cybernetic approaches for organizational operations. We invite submissions that show how management, education, engineering, or any other domain in which formal modes of systems are relevant, benefit from theory in daily practice.

By collecting these submissions, the special issue takes a step beyond the horizon of academia to ensure that research stays in touch with the problems that organizations face in today’s society. It invites a larger variety of contributions to the scientific discourse, in line with the different types of articles allowed for publication in Kybernetes, including case studies, practitioner paper, viewpoint articles, and technical reports. All submissions are expected to present a clear argument, substantialize their claims with suitable evidence, and explain their contribution to the ongoing discourse in the journal. However, they are permitted to deviate from the standards of research papers to express their thoughts in different ways to enrich academic discourse and inspire further scientific research.

Organizational research and related disciplines have become increasingly concerned with grand challenges in society and the sustainable development goals of the United Nations (Rahimifard and Trollman, 2018; Gümüsay et al., 2022). Numerous scholars have emphasized that academia needs to put more emphasis on responding to these challenges and reaching these goals (George, et al., 2016; Czakon, 2019). This only seems possible if academia reviews its customs, traditions, and origins of knowledge (Roth, 2021; 2023; Fritzsche, 2022), opening up to more engaged scholarship and design-oriented approaches (Van de Ven, 2018; Fritzsche et al., 2025). Systems theory and cybernetics play an important role in this context, as they make it possible to look beyond unidimensional attempts for improvement and address more complex dynamics in society on different levels (Maurer and Fritzsche, 2023; Meyer and Mamédio, 2023; Barkim and Fritzsche, 2025).

Submissions to this special issue are encouraged to draw on this research and explore it from the application perspective, to see where systems research already fulfils expectations regarding impact, and where it might still be necessary to invest more effort or take different approaches to add value to research.

Articles that are concerned with the situation of the Global South or dynamic societies in the Eastern Hemisphere are particularly welcome, if they give first-hand evidence of specific questions relevant in these parts of the earth and the responses that systems research provides.

List of Topic Areas

Topics relevant for this special issue include, but are not limited to

Leading change in dynamic societies through complex-adaptive systems models
Structure, practice, and impact of educational systems on employment, income, social transformation
Added value of AI, blockchain, and other technical implementations of systems operations
Effects of systems-oriented consulting services
Limitations of systems designs and interplay with improvisation and heuristics
Leadership systems development, application, and assessment
Cultural differences and specificities affecting the application of formal systems models

Journal Information: Scopus Journal Q1, H-Index 59

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/kyb
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/k#jlp_author_guidelines
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.