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News — (Toronto, October 17, 2024) JMIR Publications invites submissions to a new theme issue titled “The Emergence of Medical Futures Studies” in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, the leading peer-reviewed journal for digital medicine and health and health care in the Internet age, indexed in PubMed, PMC, MEDLINE, SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.

The rapid progress of technology in health care, combined with significant cultural shifts toward digital health and the urgent need for preparedness, highlighted by events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, have brought about an increased emphasis on the future of medicine and health care within medical journals and the life science community.

This call for papers aims to shift the paradigm: traditionally, medical and health care–focused journals have featured insights and opinions about the future from professors and key opinion leaders who often do not utilize futures methods that have been widely accepted in economics and business management for over four decades. 

Traditional or past approaches are insufficient to address these challenges and take advantage of opportunities, necessitating the adoption of futures research methods and tools to navigate the evolving landscape effectively.

This theme issue seeks to popularize these methodologies and provide comprehensive guidelines for their application empowering a broader range of voices to contribute informed, methodically sound visions of the future in medicine and health care.

Despite the demonstrated effectiveness of foresight applications in diverse fields like national strategies, policy development, and global threat preparedness, their utilization in health care remains limited. Of the more than 50 available futures methods, only 8 are currently employed in this sector, indicating a significant underutilization of foresight's potential in health care [1]. By integrating these futures methods into health care planning and decision-making, we could identify emerging trends, mitigate risks, and capitalize on new opportunities, ultimately leading to the potential of better health outcomes.

This underutilization presents a compelling case for establishing medical futures studies as a distinct scientific subfield. This subfield would concentrate on analyzing emerging technological trends, assessing policy implications, and proactively anticipating and mitigating potential challenges in health care. To cultivate a new research community in this vital area, this call for papers and theme issue is dedicated to medical futures studies. 

This call for papers aims to gather contributions that will deepen the interdisciplinary dialog, promote democratic participation—including from patient scholars—and help shape alternative futures in medical science. The future of health care depends on the collaboration between medical professionals, technologists, and futurists. This approach will enable us to address complex challenges and drive innovation in the field.

Papers submitted to the theme issue for consideration may explore, but are not limited to, the following topics (sample titles):

• The history and future of using futures methods in medicine and health care
• Specific examples and case studies of using futures methods in these domains
• The role of specific futures methods, like the Delphi method and scenario planning, in preparing health care systems for pandemics and other global health emergencies
• Exploring how horizon scanning can aid in the early detection and development of new medical treatments and technologies
• Application of futures methods to explore the impacts of AI integration into medicine

For more information, please visit the .

References

[1] Meskó B, Kristóf T, Dhunnoo P, Árvai N, Katonai G. Exploring the Need for Medical Futures Studies: Insights from a Scoping Review of Healthcare Foresight. J Med Internet Res 2024; 26. doi:10.2196/57148.

About JMIR Publications:

JMIR Publications, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024, is a leading open access digital health research publisher. As a pioneer in open access publishing, JMIR Publications is committed to driving innovation in scholarly communications, advancing digital health research, and promoting open science principles. Our portfolio features 35 open access, peer-reviewed journals dedicated to the dissemination of high-quality research in the field of digital health, including the , as well as cross-disciplinary journals such as  and the new title .