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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">109</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="index">urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:3dc5f44e-8666-58db-bc76-a455210e8891</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title xml:lang="en">JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title xml:lang="en">jucs</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">0948-695X</issn>
      <issn pub-type="epub">0948-6968</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Journal of Universal Computer Science</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3897/jucs.2020.064</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">24119</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Research Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="scientific_subject">
          <subject>D.2.2 - Design Tools and Techniques</subject>
          <subject>H.1 - MODELS AND PRINCIPLES</subject>
          <subject>M.4 - KNOWLEDGE MODELING</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Using the Scientific Method as a Metaphor to Understand Modeling</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group content-type="authors">
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Rodríguez-Priego</surname>
            <given-names>Emilio</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:type="simple">emilio.rodriguez@unirioja.es</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>García-Izquierdo</surname>
            <given-names>Francisco J.</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Rubio</surname>
            <given-names>Ángel Luis</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="A1">
        <label>1</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Universidad de La Rioja, La Rioja, Spain</addr-line>
        <institution>Universidad de La Rioja</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">La Rioja</addr-line>
        <country>Spain</country>
      </aff>
      <author-notes>
        <fn fn-type="corresp">
          <p>Corresponding author: Emilio Rodríguez-Priego (<email xlink:type="simple">emilio.rodriguez@unirioja.es</email>).</p>
        </fn>
        <fn fn-type="edited-by">
          <p>Academic editor: </p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <year>2020</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>28</day>
        <month>09</month>
        <year>2020</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>26</volume>
      <issue>9</issue>
      <fpage>1230</fpage>
      <lpage>1264</lpage>
      <uri content-type="arpha" xlink:href="http://openbiodiv.net/F23641DF-099C-5010-9B12-EB307E8A1752">F23641DF-099C-5010-9B12-EB307E8A1752</uri>
      <uri content-type="zenodo_dep_id" xlink:href="https://zenodo.org/record/5508597">5508597</uri>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>08</day>
          <month>07</month>
          <year>2019</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="accepted">
          <day>11</day>
          <month>09</month>
          <year>2020</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Emilio Rodríguez-Priego, Francisco J. García-Izquierdo, Ángel Luis Rubio</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" xlink:type="simple">
          <license-p>This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-ND 4.0). This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <label>Abstract</label>
        <p>Although modeling is used to address complex problems, it is difficult to study modeling itself with an easy to understand model. Many authors have proposed such a model of modeling, but a consensus on the meaning of the basic modeling concepts has yet to materialize. We claim that any proposal regarding the fundamentals of modeling should address several objectives, such as to focus on the concept of model and define what it is, how a model is created and how it relates to the entities it models or to explain the relationship between model and other basic concepts such as metamodel or (modeling-)language. In this paper, we present some of the most important elements of our proposal, named Scientific Method approach to Modeling (SMM). Our proposal uses the Scientific Method as a metaphor to explain the mechanisms of modeling, since it provides well-known mechanisms constantly utilized when developing or understanding models: validation, analysis, synthesis and analogy. Inspired by these mechanisms, our proposal addresses the notion of model by including several constructors that allow us to explain better several complex modeling mechanisms extensively discussed in the literature, such as the metamodel notion.</p>
      </abstract>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
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