Mapping futures studies scholarship from 1968 to present: A bibliometric review of thematic clusters, research trends, and research gaps

Abstract

This article provides a visual, objective and comprehensive review of the academic activity in futures studies from its origin (Futures, Volume 1, 1968) to present. Several bibliometric visualizations of the cumulated 50 years of futures studies scholarship are created to show 1) thematic clusters of research, 2) research intensity, 3) recent research trends, 4) research trajectory by cluster over time, 5) relative clusters’ representation within and across journals and 6) research locations. The 6 research clusters identified by the clustering algorithm are renamed corporate foresight; past & futures; humanity at the limen; environmental futures; post-normality & complexity, and technological trends, according to their underlying themes, and discussed in depth one by one. Several objective observations on the maps’ structure uncover the main research gaps in the literature. Based on these observations, the article provides 6 recommendations on how to fill these research gaps to improve the discipline’s fragmentation. Based on the visualizations, it can also be observed that the majority of futures studies publications belong to two clusters: past & futures and corporate foresight, and that the sudden increase in the total number of futures studies articles citations after 2004 is attributable to the corresponding increase in the relative percentage of research activity in one cluster: corporate foresight.