Futures Research has evolved as a scientific field of knowledge since the 1960´s and taken different stances to the social environment at the time. Now futures research has reached the status of a science, multidisciplinary, inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary by nature. Since the emergence of scientific Futures Research, holistic themes such as sustainable development and global developments are the most discussed issues of applied research. There is an entire history of evolving concepts such as anticipation, futures research, forecasting and foresight, that carry a meaning which is time-specific. In the earlier stages of futures research, the three principles of futures exploration were named as possible, probable and preferred futures, as stated by Roy Amara in 1981. Futures Research manifests itself in paying attention to the other side of the coin as well: exploring the impossible (not just possible), improbable (not just probable) and non-preferred, i.e. dystopic (not just preferred, or the most probable) futures. Contrafactual futures — futures research concentrating on surprises, black swans, i.e., the unexpected events, developments, and consequences — is the newest mainstream.
What about the research on Futures research and methods? We welcome new Science studies and viewpoints on the historical, social and philosophical contexts of Futures Research.
