Journal profile · SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
European Journal of Futures Research
ISSN 2195-4194 · eISSN 2195-2248 · SpringerOpen · United Kingdom
European Journal of Futures Research: CAS Zone 2 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.03; fully open access; APC about USD 1,890; median 121 days to acceptance (48 articles, last 24 months); 18 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
European Journal of Futures Research is published by SpringerOpen and is in Zone 2 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Sustainability and Climate Change Governance, Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social Development and Climate Change Communication and Perception, together about 33.8% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
There is a significant need for European futures research as European countries face numerous substantial problems; at the same time they seek to make a contribution to solving global challenges. European regions “share” common experiences, divisions and conflicts – which altogether build a rich resource for critical examination as well as forward-looking renewal. European integration after World War II has reshaped political, economic and social relations in Europe and beyond. Therefore, the future of Europe will also depend on the further development of the European Union in its wider transnational and global contexts. Consequently, the journal seeks to foster thorough analysis of key European policies, such as those for research and education. Nonetheless, topics addressed in the journal are not limited to the (development of the) European Union; we invite articles that raise questions about European futures more generally. Interdisciplinary research is as welcome as are disciplinary studies, ranging from the social sciences and humanities to the natural sciences and engineering. Besides its empirical focus the journal promotes discussions about European traditions and perspectives in futures research. Another objective is to advance the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of futures studies. Possible fields of research and topics include but are not limited to: Society: demographic change; migration; gender and social relations; welfare society; inclusion and exclusion Politics: economic, financial, and political integration in the European Union; political participation and citizenship; European identity building; EU research, innovation, and (higher) education policies; Economy and Business Sectors: futures of work and labour, production and consumption; competitiveness and technological innovations; growth and sustainable development; social environment and entrepreneurship; futures of leisure, sports and tourism; Science and Technology: technology foresight and technology assessment; technoscience; radical technologies; logistics, transport and mobility; media and telecommunication; human enhancement; young generations and new technologies; European citizens and the broadband society; X-cutting Issues: gender-specific and diversity perspectives; sustainability; environmental challenges and the greening of Europe; climate change policies; Methodology and Methods: futures studies in comparative perspective; new research methods; integration
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
Editor-in-chief Anna Jank-HumannPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Germany 20, Finland 7, Netherlands 6, Austria 6, United Kingdom 4 (65 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Sustainability and Climate Change GovernanceEnvironmental Science19.8%
- Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social DevelopmentBusiness, Management and Accounting7.5%
- Climate Change Communication and PerceptionSocial Sciences6.5%
- Complex Systems and Decision MakingDecision Sciences6.5%
- Delphi Technique in ResearchSocial Sciences5.1%
- University-Industry-Government Innovation ModelsBusiness, Management and Accounting4.8%
- Smart Cities and TechnologiesEngineering3.8%
- Innovation and Knowledge ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting3.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEINSPECCASCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 2.03LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.71LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.21LetPub ·
- h-index
- 39OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 153OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.96OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 10%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 17LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 349,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 289 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 32 | 32 | 8 |
| 2025 | 18 | 18 | 63 |
| 2024 | 22 | 22 | 142 |
| 2023 | 10 | 10 | 84 |
| 2022 | 26 | 26 | 654 |
| 2021 | 17 | 17 | 499 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
121 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 92 days – 159 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 21 days (48 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 147 days
- Sample
- 48 articles with submission and acceptance dates (50 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 14 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 20 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 14 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | EUR 1,590 / USD 1,890 / GBP 1,190 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 1,790 / EUR 1,490 / GBP 1,140 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,090 / USD 1,690 / EUR 1,390 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 1,190 / USD 1,890 / EUR 1,590 | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Article types accepted3
- commentary and discussionFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Article Reviews Commentary and DiscussionLength not stated
- research articleFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Article Reviews Commentary and DiscussionLength not stated
- reviewsFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Article Reviews Commentary and DiscussionLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY licence; authors retain copyright. Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. European Journal of Futures Research articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Common…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- SpringerOpen
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2195-4194
- Electronic ISSN
- 2195-2248
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about European Journal of Futures Research
What CAS zone is European Journal of Futures Research in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, European Journal of Futures Research is in Zone 2 of Sociology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of European Journal of Futures Research?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.03; CiteScore 8.1, h-index 39.
How long does peer review take at European Journal of Futures Research?
Based on the dates recorded on 48 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 121 days (interquartile range 92–159 days); authors report an average review time of about 14 weeks. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Where are the editorial board members of European Journal of Futures Research based?
Of the 65 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Germany (20), Finland (7) and Netherlands (6). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index European Journal of Futures Research?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, European Journal of Futures Research is indexed in SSCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists SCIE, INSPEC, CAS and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is European Journal of Futures Research open access, and what is the APC?
European Journal of Futures Research is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 1,890.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .