Letter to the Editor—On the Nature and Form of Operations Research

Abstract

Since operations research involves the application of scientific methods and techniques to problems of organizations, and since many practitioners in the field received their education in traditional scientific disciplines, it is to be expected that the field called ‘operations research’ would have borrowed many of the trappings and appurtenances of the physical sciences. In particular, the nature and form of the Journal, O perations R esearch , appear to reflect traditional scientific patterns which, I believe, are inappropriate to a fledgling ‘applied’ discipline.