International Society for the Systems Sciences

Scholars are encouraged to contribute abstracts, working papers and posters to the ISSS annual meeting as a way of enriching their interactions with other meeting attendees. Early-stage work that provokes thinking and conversation can provide fruitful feedback to its orginator. Proceedings of the meeting are published, with the ISSS as a licensee under a Creative Commons license, so that the original author can continue to evolve his or her work for final publication in peer-reviewed publications.

Since in-depth discussions are generally better in smaller groups, much of the ISSS meeting -- typically afternoons -- are organized into parallel streams. These parallel streams may be sponsored by a Special Integration Group (SIG) that continues a pattern of meeting year after year, or an Exploratory Group that may be organized for a special session.

Upon submitting an abstract and/or paper to the ISSS, the author will be asked to self-classify the work into one of the streams. The review process, consultations with the SIG chair and scheduling conflicts may result in a paper being placed in a stream other than that originally requested. Since the spirit of the meeting is in integration rather than interest, variances such as these could be seen more as destiny or serendipity.

Authors with questions about streaming can consult either the SIG description or the SIG chair.

Special Integration Groups

Special Integration Groups represent the longest-running knowledge communities within the ISSS, with histories running over years or decades.

Exploratory Groups

Exploratory Groups are typically convened at an annual meeting. They may come together only once or twice and then disband, or they may self-organize for formal recognition as a Special Integration Group. A SIG chair has voting authority as a member of the ISSS Council, whereas Exploratory Groups are not represented in Council.