
This mini-compendium covers some areas of systems thinking and complex adaptive systems, mostly with a focus on safety and risk.
There are so many threads in the systems fields: systems thinking, systems engineering, systems safety, complexity, chaos, complex adaptive systems, cybernetics, variations thereof and more.
Hence, I can’t cover them all, so it’s a highly cherrypicked and selective pick of articles. I’ve omitted more than I’ve included (e.g. not much on natural sciences, ecological approaches etc). Main focus is articles I could find a full-text link for.
Note: I’ve only included a few articles from Nancy Leveson as I have a compendium dedicated to her work.
Maybe in the future I’ll break this topic into sub-themes for separate compendiums.
Included are:
· Dave Snowden & Cynefin
· Paul Salmon & team
· Russel Ackoff
· Some Dekker, Hollnagel, Cook, Woods, JCS and cognitive systems (only a little as I’ve covered their work in other compendiums)
· A little cybernetics
· Systems HF/E
· Michael Jackson
· Donella Meadows
· Don Norman + more

https://doi.org/10.1145/7474.7528
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC123629
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7556/jaoa.2019.053/pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plas.2021.100017
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1057/jors.2015.21
https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dar089
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105207
https://researchportal.hw.ac.uk/files/9966842/XX_Fitting_methods_to_paradigms_author_proof_.doc
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/11/2/92/pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00140139.2014.1001445
http://jacksonworkbench.com/resources/A%20System%20Development%20Method%20(MJ%201981).pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10803548.1999.11076420
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5164
https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105869
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2025.105621
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106754
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.11.004
https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/aviation/article/download/9589/7304
https://doi.org/10.3390/safety5040065
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2019.100031
https://doi.org/10.1097/CEH.0000000000000098
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/75696/1/530.pdf#page=203
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=4983172
http://www.ask-force.org/web/Discourse/White-Application-Systems-Thinking-1995.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14071978
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.07.599
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106237
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2025.106856
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2020.107222
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2021.108077
https://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings60th/article/download/2857/955
https://hal.science/hal-01617044/document
https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA0038223X_2990
https://pastel.hal.science/pastel-00537770/document
https://hal.science/hal-00524485/document
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00140139.2015.1009175
https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures7070090
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3233/WOR-172500
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106176
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=6650057
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/hfm.20874
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00140139.2015.1015622
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=1840230
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00140139.2015.1015621
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.07.224
https://dumit.net/wp-content/uploads/2004/12/Burri_Dumit-2007-Biomedicine-as-culture.pdf#page=132
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/5869
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00140130903521587
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/33007/1/62.Woo%20Bang%20Lee.pdf#page=42
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1071181319631538
http://www.labest.eng.ufba.br/sites/labest.eng.ufba.br/files/SAFETY%20SCIENCE.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2093791117303657
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105930
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2019.104556
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/33007/1/62.Woo%20Bang%20Lee.pdf#page=26
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00140139.2021.2005823
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.07.487
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/75696/1/530.pdf#page=203
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-62470-4_8
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0925753523000085
https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.T2024060200002091586664008
https://ojs.aaai.org/aimagazine/index.php/aimagazine/article/view/511/447
https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10123550
https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/270350/122530_FULLTEXT01.pdf?sequence=1
https://scholar.dlu.edu.vn/thuvienso/bitstream/DLU123456789/16180/1/000000mex200903.zip
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/301153.301168
https://www.academia.edu/2849941/THE_WAY_I_SEE_IT_Signifiers_not_affordances
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15516709cog0401_1
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/800045.801571
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2163.358092
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2016.01.002
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003687013000628
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/151577/greenemt_1.pdf?sequence=1
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2025.106856
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/11/2/64/pdf
https://doi.org/10.3390/systems8030023
https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc4030038
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02640414.2024.2306056
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/sres.2808
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/sres.3032
https://doi.org/10.1002/hfm.70002
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00140139.2015.1015623