Ten simple rules for principled simulation modelling

[...]the term “model” is often defined in terms of its aim. Models of evolutionary processes are similar—they often focus on mechanistic insight, as scientific researchers are often most interested in “why” questions, and many branches of evolutionary theory were also developed with real-world, precise prediction in mind (see, e.g., [8]; see also [9] and citations therein for a discussion of prediction in evolution). Assuming that some mechanistic insight is the aim, based on knowledge of the system and precise formulation of the research question, a good strategy is to identify putative interactions or mechanisms that could underlie the behaviour or phenomenon under investigation and model those mechanisms. Alongside the mathematical and technical details of each part of the model, careful consideration should be given to the order in which these parts or processes are executed and what effect that ordering (or scheduling) has on the output.