The software engineering research community is productive, yet it faces a constellation of challenges: swamped review processes, metric-driven incentives, distorted publication practices, and increasing pressures from AI, scale, and outright scams. These issues are often treated in isolation, yet they arise from deep structural dynamics within the research ecosystem itself and distract us from the larger role of research in society. Meaningful progress requires a holistic system-level view. We sketch such a framework drawing on ideas from complex systems, ecosystems, and theory of change. Reframing SE's challenges through this lens reveals non-linear feedback loops that sustain current dysfunctions, and it helps to identify leverage points for reform. These are less a matter of isolated fixes and more a matter of exploring coordinated sets of fixes that operate across the SE ecosystem

翻译：软件工程研究社群成果丰硕，但仍面临一系列挑战：不堪重负的评审流程、指标驱动的激励机制、扭曲的发表实践，以及来自人工智能、规模扩张和学术欺诈的日益增长的压力。这些问题常被孤立对待，实则源于研究生态系统内部深层的结构性动力，并使我们忽视了研究在社会中的更大作用。要取得实质性进展，需要采用整体的系统级视角。我们借鉴复杂系统、生态系统和变革理论的思想，勾勒出这样一个分析框架。通过此视角重构软件工程领域的挑战，可揭示维持当前功能失调的非线性反馈循环，并有助于识别改革的关键着力点。这些着力点并非孤立修补的问题，而更在于探索贯穿软件工程生态系统的协同修复方案集。