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An overview of modeling and simulation using content analysis

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Abstract

Over the past six decades, Modeling and Simulation (M&S) has been used as a method or tool in many disciplines. While there is no doubt that the emergence of modern M&S is highly connected with that of Computing and Systems science, there is no clear evidence of the contribution of M&S to those disciplines. Further, while there is a growing body of knowledge (BoK) in M&S, there is no easy way to identify it due to the multidisciplinary nature of M&S. In this paper, we examine whether M&S is its own discipline by performing content analysis of a BoK in Computer Science. Content analysis is a research methodology that aims to identify key concepts and relationships in a body of text through computational means. It can be applied to research articles in a BoK to identify the prominent topics and themes. It can also be used to explore the evolution of a BoK over time or to identify the contribution of one BoK to another. The contribution of this paper is twofold; (1) the establishment of M&S as its own discipline and the examination of its relationship with the sister disciplines of Computer Science and Systems Engineering over the last 60 years and (2) the examination of the contribution of M&S to the sciences as represented in the Public Library of Science.

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  1. http://www.acm.org/about/class/ccs98-html.

  2. http://sag.sagepub.com/.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge and thank the ACM Digital Library for granting us permission to use their archives. We would like to acknowledge friends and colleagues who have helped by providing their perspective on their own discipline and how they use M&S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center, Old Dominion University, 1030 University Boulevard, Suffolk, VA, 23435, USA

    Saikou Y. Diallo, Ross J. Gore, Jose J. Padilla & Christopher J. Lynch

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  1. Saikou Y. Diallo
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  2. Ross J. Gore
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  3. Jose J. Padilla
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  4. Christopher J. Lynch
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Correspondence to Saikou Y. Diallo.

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Diallo, S.Y., Gore, R.J., Padilla, J.J. et al. An overview of modeling and simulation using content analysis. Scientometrics 103, 977–1002 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1578-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1578-6

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