System Dynamics Review and publications 1985–2017: analysis, synthesis and contributions

System Dynamics Review (SDR) is an important journal for the system dynamics field and its researchers. This article offers a systematic review of the system dynamics articles published in SDR and other related academic journals between 1985 and 2017. The study classifies the material by using a bibliometric analysis of 498 articles in SDR and 943 articles in other journals that are included in the Web of Science database. The results suggest that the most cited authors within SDR have published research in three broad areas: (i) model validity (confidence), tests, and other similar formal procedures; (ii) the modeling of dynamic problems of wide interest; and (iii) group model building. In other journals, an additional stream of system dynamics research proves to be highly influential. This stream focuses on better understanding and improving the process of dynamic decision making, addressing topics such as organizational learning and feedback misperceptions.