Futures

Futures: for the interdisciplinary study of futures, visioning, anticipation and foresight

Journal Overview

Futures is a forum for substantive research and knowledge at the intersections between disciplines (and beyond them) about the relationships between humanity and its possible futures. It has a long-standing commitment to analyse and challenge misuses and abuses of futures, and to build robust knowledge about the conditions for creating emancipatory, socially, responsible, and ecologically just futures.

The editors invite contributions that present:

- new knowledge about humanity's diverse anticipatory practices and how to understand, challenge, develop or enhance them

- novel futures-oriented research that provides insights from a range of relevant disciplines into the diverse aspects of society’s relationship with the future

- the highest quality interdisciplinary scholarship in the field of futures studies.

Contributions to Futures are typically motivated by a wide range of aims and objectives:

questioning the assumptions that shape how futures are imagined;

encouraging dialogue across different fields and different knowledge traditions about the futures of cultures and societies, science and technology, economics and politics, environment and the planet, individuals and humanity, organisations and their strategies, building greater understanding of anticipatory behaviours, beliefs, expectations, and practices and their implications in the present

pluralizing the worldviews and perspectives that inform scholarship on and about futures, in particular learning from the knowledges of those who have, hitherto, not been in positions of power

developing further the intellectual, ethical and empirical foundations of futures inquiry in interdisciplinary studies, the arts, humanities and social sciences, as well as in practice and policy settings

strengthening the methodological development of professional practices in the futures field - including e.g. foresight, scenario planning and horizon scanning, as well as methods with roots outside these traditions

engendering high quality, responsible approaches to futures education - in schools, universities, and professional and policy settings

animating research interest in emerging questions of significance to the futures of people and planet.

What criteria should contributions meet in order to be considered for publication?

To be considered for publication, submitted articles should make a substantive contribution to knowledge in one or more of the following areas:

Understanding how relationships between human societies and their futures are changing

Understanding anticipatory processes, and in particular the uses of ideas of the future by individuals, organisations, or systems

Contributing original insights and novel approaches to the theory, ethics, methods and practices of futures, foresight and other forms of prospective knowledge;

The research and practice of futures education and futures literacy.

Submitted articles should also:

Be transparent and reflexive about the theories, assumptions and methods that they use to make their arguments;

Have the potential to make a significant contribution to efforts to create more plural, democratic and ecologically just futures, by providing new empirical/conceptual insights and challenging assumptions

Situate their contributions in relation to existing literature on their chosen topics within the field of futures studies, and where possible, in relation to relevant literature published within Futures and other future-oriented communities journals.

We welcome in particular contributions from scholars in the global South and proposals for Special Issues from researchers seeking to create an interdisciplinary forum for topics and issues that fit within the aims and scope of the journal. We also welcome for consideration articles that adopt novel presentational strategies but which fulfil one or more of the above criteria.

What kinds of contributions will Futures not consider?

We are unable to publish papers that:

Do not refer to futures or to potential implications of the paper’s topic for the relationship between society and its futures. For example, papers that would fall into this category are ones that:

simply describe technological applications and their possible improvements and efficiencies

discuss methods, theories or innovations with no reference to their implications for humanity's relationship to futures or for developing futures-oriented research

do not explain why a proposed theory, method or innovation is of significance for human anticipatory capacities.

Do not engage with and contribute to existing scholarly work within futures studies that is relevant to a paper’s topic. Our readers expect papers published in the journal to engage with existing relevant debates within Futures and in other leading futures journals.

Expressly advocate for a vision of a particular desired, possible or probable future, without reflecting on the basis for these visions and/or without enquiring into the potential consequences of these future visions for the present.

Simply describe the outcome of a specific futures method or technique (e.g. ‘we produced these scenarios’ or 'we used method

discussion of its potential consequences for scholarship, policy or practice

reflexivity towards the assumptions and theory that underpinned it

no analysis of the contribution to the scholarship or practice already existing in the field of futures studies, broadly construed

This excludes from consideration contributions which simply set out a particular model or forecast.

History of the journal

Futures was launched in 1968 to create a forum for the emerging field of Future Studies and is internationally recognised as a leading journal in the field

Today, Futures is at the cutting edge of developments in the theory and practice of futures-oriented research across many disciplines, opening-up new ways of theorising, studying, challenging and cultivating human anticipation

Futures acts as a point of encounter between the 50+ year history of Futures Studies and emerging interests in time and futures across many fields

The journal is at the forefront of efforts to create more plural, democratic and sustainable futures through robust research, high quality scholarship and responsible practice

Papers are subject to a rigorous double blind peer review process and are published soon after final acceptance