The Journal of Process and Energy System Integration Models - Proposal for Consortium Discussion

Administrative, Technical, and Financial Framework in Collaboration with PSE Press

Author

François Maréchal (EPFL Valais / IEA Task Consortium)

Published

June 24, 2026

Warning

This is a preliminary DRAFT version

πŸ“œ Executive Summary

The The Journal of Process and Energy System Integration Models is proposed as a peer-reviewed, open-access platform for sharing validated process and energy system integration models.

The journal is available here.

Key features:

  • DOIs for all models via PSE Press and Crossref.
  • Standardized documentation (inputs, outputs, validation, metadata).
  • Models shared as supplementary electronic information
  • Editorial Board by the partners of the IETS Task XXIV consortium
  • Peer review to ensure scientific rigor and reproducibility.
  • Budget: $26,000–$50,000/year for administrative and technical costs.
  • LLM bot integration for natural language queries.

Next Steps:

  1. Validate concept, budget and framework with the consortium.
  2. Finalize agreement with PSE Press.
  3. Launch pilot phase (Q4 2026).

🎯 Objectives & Scope

Sharing models is not just sharing the data files for a calculation engine and the associated data values needed to run the model and generate useful results, it also means documenting the model, defining its inputs (or manipulable variables), reporting the data used by the models and their assumptions, explaining how to use the model and how to interpret and report the model results and how to share the data generated.

The goal of the journal is publish this set of information that defines a shared model.

Our work inspired by the Alan Turing way, a web site that comments and documents the reproducible, ethical and collaborative data science methodology. Visit the site to learn more about this concept.

We propose to use (but not limit to), the quarto manuscript concept for developping articles of the journal with embedings of models.

The manuscripts website is hosted here.

Why a Dedicated Journal?

Current Challenges:

  • Models shared ad-hoc (email, private repos) with no standardized model documentation. Sometimes the use of the model is associated with a scientific publication but the model description is not the core of the paper and therefore it is difficult to reuse and to validate the models.
  • No formal recognition (no DOIs, peer reviews) β†’ limited citation and impact.
  • Reproducibility issues due to missing metadata or input data.
  • Process or Energy System integration (i.e. mass, heat and energy exchange interface) is not well reported which prevents its reuse for process and energy system engineering applications.

Solution:
A centralized, peer-reviewed journal that:
βœ… Assigns DOIs for citation and permanence.
βœ… Enforces standardized templates.
βœ… Ensures long-term accessibility (archiving by PSE Press). βœ… Gives access to the models (software tools data bases shared). βœ… Gives access to integration data sets as sets of integration data standardized and documented in the paper. βœ… Enables LLM-based discovery of models.

Scope:

  • Technology/process/equipment/system-level models (e.g., pyrolysis, heat pumps, district energy).
  • Exclusions: Non-energy models, unvalidated models, proprietary models.

πŸ’° Budget & Funding

Note

This needs to be discussed, values are LLM guesses

Estimated Annual Budget: $26,000–$50,000

Category Cost (USD/year) Notes
Journal Management (OJS) $5,000–$10,000 Hosting, maintenance, updates.
DOI Registration (Crossref) $1,000–$3,000 ~$50–$100 per DOI.
Database Hosting $3,000–$7,000 Cloud storage + vector DB (e.g., Weaviate).
Editorial Support $10,000–$15,000 Part-time assistant.
Technical Support $5,000–$10,000 GitHub/Zenodo integration, LLM bot.
Contingency $5,000 Unforeseen expenses.

Funding Options:

  1. Consortium Budget (Preferred for pilot phase).
  2. Hybrid Model: Consortium (50%) + Sponsorships (30%) + Publication Fees (20%).
  3. Publication Fees: $200–$500/model (waived for IEA members).

πŸ—οΈ Collaboration with PSE Press

Why PSE Press?

  • Proven infrastructure: Open Journal Systems (OJS) for peer-reviewed journals.
  • DOI registration: Via Crossref for permanent, citable links.
  • Long-term archiving: 10+ year preservation.
  • Technical support: Metadata standards, repository integration, LLM bot development.
  • Academic visibility: Indexing in Scopus, Google Scholar.

Proposed Agreement

  • Scope: PSE Press provides publishing infrastructure (OJS, DOI, archiving). IEA Task retains full editorial control.
  • Cost: $20,000–$30,000/year for PSE Press services.
  • IP: Authors retain copyright (default: CC-BY-4.0).
  • Term: 3-year agreement (1-year pilot phase).

πŸ“„ Publication Workflow

  1. Author Submission
  1. Peer Review
  • 2–3 reviewers nominated by the members of the editorial board (IETS Task XXIV members/external experts).
  • 4-week review period; authors have 4 weeks for revisions.
  • Criteria: Completeness, TaskXXIV methodology compliance, mass/energy balance validation, input and output parameter documentation, functionality, bibliography.
  1. Publication
  • Editorial board approval β†’ PSE Press assigns DOI and publishes.
  • Model archived in IEA Model Database; metadata indexed for LLM queries.
  1. Versioning
  • Each approved version gets a DOI.
  • Minor updates (bug fixes) β†’ patch versions (e.g., 1.0 β†’ 1.1) without peer review.
  • Major updates (new methodology) β†’ peer review + new DOI (e.g., 1.0 β†’ 2.0).

πŸ“Š Metadata Schema

Required for LLM Integration: Standardized metadata in YAML/JSON format.

Example (metadata.yaml):

---
title: "Pyrolysis Model for Biomass Conversion"
authors:
  - name: "John Smith"
    affiliation: "University X"
    orcid: "0000-0000-0000-0000"
doi: "10.5281/zenodo.1234567"
version: "1.0"
license: "CC-BY-4.0"
model_type: "Process Model"
equipment:
  - name: "Fluidized Bed Reactor"
    size: "500 kg/h"
    cost: 50000
inputs:
  - name: "Biomass Flow Rate"
    unit: "kg/h"
    range: "100-1000"
outputs:
  - name: "Biochar"
    unit: "kg/h"
  - name: "Syngas"
    unit: "mΒ³/h"
heat_exchange_interface:
  type: "Shell-and-Tube"
  hot_fluid: "Syngas"
  cold_fluid: "Water"
validation:
  mass_balance_deviation: 0.05  # %
  energy_balance_deviation: 0.8  # %
references:
  - doi: "10.xxxx/abcd"
    description: "Validation study for pyrolysis models"
publisher: "PSE Press"
journal: "IEA Task Model Journal"
repository:
  url: "https://github.com/IEA-Task/pyrolysis-model"
  doi: "10.5281/zenodo.1234568"
---

πŸ€– LLM Bot Integration

  • Purpose: Enable natural language queries (e.g., β€œShow me all pyrolysis models with a heat exchanger”).
  • Technical Stack:
    • Vector Database: Weaviate/Pinecone for semantic search.
    • RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation): Retrieves relevant models and generates responses.
  • Example Queries:
    • β€œWhat is the efficiency of the heat pump model?”
    • β€œGive me the metadata for the latest gasification model.”

πŸ“… Timeline

Phase Tasks Deadline Responsible
Consortium Validation Discuss proposal, validate budget. 2026-07-15 IEA Task Consortium
PSE Press Agreement Finalize and sign agreement. 2026-08-01 IEA Task + PSE Press
OJS Setup Configure Open Journal Systems. 2026-08-15 PSE Press
Pilot Phase Launch Open submissions, publish first models. 2026-08-16 Editorial Board
LLM Bot Development Develop and test LLM bot. 2026-09-30 PSE Press / IT Support
Full Launch Official launch and promotion. 2026-10-16 IEA Task + PSE Press

❓ Open Questions for Consortium

  1. Budget: Is the proposed budget ($26,000–$50,000/year) acceptable? Should we reduce costs (e.g., self-host database, use Zenodo for DOIs)?
  2. Funding Model: Preference for consortium budget, hybrid model, or publication fees?
  3. PSE Press Role: Comfortable with PSE Press as the publishing partner? Alternatives to consider?
  4. Editorial Roles: Who should be Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members?
  5. Versioning: Should all revisions require peer review, or only major updates?
  6. LLM Bot Access: Publicly accessible or restricted to IEA Task members?

πŸ“ Next Steps

  • Review this proposal and provide feedback by 2026-07-10.
  • Attend discussion meeting on 2026-07-15 to vote on budget, PSE Press collaboration, and workflow.
  • Volunteer for roles (Editorial Board, reviewers, technical support).

Contact: francois.marechal@epfl.ch | support@psepress.org