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Technological Forecasting and Social Change (often searched as technology forecasting and social change) is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier. Founded in 1969 as Technological Forecasting before adopting its permanent serial title in August 1970, the journal serves as a foundational venue bridging futures studies, technology assessment, and systemic social transformation.
For researchers, administrators, and policy analysts, this guide provides an authoritative reference profile covering verified bibliographic identifiers, publishing models, editorial scope, submission procedures, and alternatives.
What It Is
Technological Forecasting and Social Change is an interdisciplinary journal exploring the methodology and practice of technology forecasting and technology assessment as practical planning tools. It investigates how technological dynamics interact with economic, environmental, organizational, and social systems over medium- and long-term horizons.
Key bibliographic records verified from official catalogs include:
| Field / Identifier | Verified Journal Record |
|---|---|
| Full Official Title | Technological Forecasting and Social Change |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV |
| Founding Year | 1969 (Published under current title since August 1970) |
| Print ISSN | 0040-1625 |
| Electronic ISSN (e-ISSN) | 1873-5509 |
| NLM Unique ID (PubMed/NCBI) | 101085131 |
| ISO / Medline Abbreviation | Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change |
| Scopus Source ID | 14704 |
| Publishing Model | Hybrid Open Access (Subscription or Gold Open Access) |
| Standard Article Publishing Charge (APC) | $3,490 USD (€3,260 EUR / £2,790 GBP / ¥432,860 JPY) |
| Registered Digital Objects | Over 10,260 registered DOIs tracked in scholarly metadata systems |
Every article published in the journal receives a persistent digital object identifier registered through Crossref, ensuring long-term discovery and citation tracking across global indexing services.
Who Runs It and What It Covers
Technological Forecasting and Social Change is published by Elsevier under its business, economics, and decision sciences portfolio. The journal maintains an international editorial leadership and reviewer community spanning innovation management, technology policy, and futures studies.
Thematic Scope and Core Subject Areas
The journal invites research focused on the intersection of technological advancement and society:
- Innovation Diffusion and Forecasting: Empirical and theoretical models of technology adoption, S-curve dynamics, and market penetration patterns.
- Technology Assessment and Foresight: Structured evaluations of emerging technologies, socio-technical transitions, and early warning systems for disruptive innovations.
- Innovation and Knowledge Management: How organizations anticipate technological disruption, manage collaborative innovation ecosystems, and develop strategic roadmaps.
- Intellectual Property and Patent Analytics: Patent landscaping, technological trajectory modeling, and citation network analysis used to forecast emergent research frontiers.
- Futures Methodologies: Application of consensus and forecasting methods, including the Delphi method, scenario planning, horizon scanning, and cross-impact analysis.
Editorial Scope and Desk-Rejection Triggers
The editorial team enforces a clear relevance boundary. Submissions commonly encounter immediate desk rejection under two circumstances:
- Lack of an Explicit Foresight Dimension: Manuscripts examining management practices or economic policies without a forward-looking, forecasting, or future-oriented methodology are deemed out of scope.
- Purely Technical or Engineering Studies: Submissions detailing hardware development, software algorithms, or laboratory bench experiments without evaluating broader strategic, societal, or policy consequences are redirected to engineering journals.
How to Search or Use It
Whether searching the journal archive or submitting a manuscript, authors follow a structured sequence across the publisher’s infrastructure.
Step 1: Access the Journal Repository on ScienceDirect
The backfile and current volumes are hosted digitally on ScienceDirect. Readers can inspect article tags to verify open access or subscription status; details on how hosting differentiates platform infrastructure from journal peer review are covered in our guide on ScienceDirect peer review.
Step 2: Filter by Topical Collections and Special Issues
The journal organizes papers into focused special issues addressing contemporary challenges such as artificial intelligence governance and energy transition forecasting. Users can apply ScienceDirect filters by volume, issue, and year to locate relevant research.
Step 3: Review the Official Guide for Authors
Authors should consult the journal’s formal Guide for Authors. Research manuscripts generally target 8,000 to 12,000 words, including references and tables, and require structured highlights alongside explicit societal and managerial implications.
Step 4: Assign Contributor Roles via CRediT
Elsevier journals require transparent contributor disclosures. Authors must classify team responsibilities using the standardized 14-role taxonomy; see our guide on how ORCID imports CRediT contributor roles for attribution details.
Step 5: Prepare Data Availability and Ethics Declarations
Submissions mandate a Data Availability Statement detailing where data, simulation code, or survey instruments reside, alongside standard competing interest disclosures.
Step 6: Submit via Elsevier Editorial Manager
Manuscripts are submitted online through Elsevier’s Editorial Manager portal. Authors log in with institutional credentials or ORCID, upload blinded manuscript files, and suggest qualified peer reviewers.
Step 7: Choose Publishing Track upon Acceptance
Following peer review and acceptance, authors choose between subscription publishing (with zero author fees) and Gold Open Access. The mechanics of these pathways are detailed in our guide to hybrid open access journals.
Strengths and Limits
Evaluating Technological Forecasting and Social Change requires balancing its disciplinary standing against operational and financial parameters.
Key Strengths
- Pioneering Disciplinary Authority: With continuous publication since 1969, the journal is widely recognized as a premier outlet for technology foresight and futures studies.
- Broad Indexing Coverage: The journal is indexed comprehensively in Scopus, Clarivate Web of Science, and the NLM Catalog, providing high international visibility as discussed in our guide on journal indexing in major databases.
- Hybrid Flexibility: Authors without dedicated open-access funding can publish under the subscription route at zero direct cost.
- High Citation Profile: The journal maintains a robust citation profile within the strategy and technology policy communities, with over 660,000 citations recorded across scholarly networks.
Key Limitations
- Rigorous Desk Rejection: Submissions lacking methodological foresight rigor or an explicit social change nexus are screened out prior to peer review.
- Substantial Article Processing Charges: For authors choosing Gold Open Access, the standard list APC of $3,490 USD represents a significant cost without an institutional agreement.
- Extended Review Timelines: Because interdisciplinary foresight papers require reviewers across multiple domains, multi-round revision cycles can extend over several months.
Alternatives
Researchers seeking outlets for technology policy, innovation studies, or futures research can compare Technological Forecasting and Social Change against peer journals:
| Journal Title | Publisher | Primary Publishing Model | Core Focus and Distinctive Angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technological Forecasting and Social Change | Elsevier | Hybrid (No-fee subscription or $3,490 APC) | Foresight methodologies, future-oriented planning tools, and technology-society interactions. |
| Research Policy | Elsevier | Hybrid Open Access | Innovation economics, science and technology policy, and institutional governance of R&D. |
| Futures | Elsevier | Hybrid Open Access | Long-range futures studies, philosophical and cultural aspects of human anticipation. |
| Technovation | Elsevier | Hybrid Open Access | Technological entrepreneurship, innovation management, and commercialization strategies. |
| IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management | IEEE | Hybrid Open Access | Managerial engineering, R&D operations, and engineering team leadership. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Technological Forecasting and Social Change peer-reviewed?
Yes. All original research articles and review papers submitted to the journal undergo peer review organized by the editorial board, utilizing single-blind or double-blind evaluation by independent domain experts prior to publication decisions.
Is the journal open access or subscription-based?
The journal operates as a hybrid publication. Authors may publish under the traditional subscription model at no charge, or select Gold Open Access by paying an article publishing charge to make the final article openly available under a Creative Commons license.
What is the Article Publishing Charge (APC) for the journal?
As documented in Elsevier’s published price schedule, the standard open access publishing fee is $3,490 USD (or €3,260 EUR / £2,790 GBP / ¥432,860 JPY, excluding local taxes). Authors affiliated with institutions holding transformative read-and-publish agreements with Elsevier may receive full or partial fee coverage.
What are the ISSN numbers for Technological Forecasting and Social Change?
The journal’s print ISSN is 0040-1625, and its electronic ISSN (e-ISSN) is 1873-5509. Its catalog record in the National Library of Medicine is cataloged under NLM ID 101085131.
Why do manuscripts get desk-rejected from Technological Forecasting and Social Change?
The primary cause of desk rejection is submitting research that lacks an explicit future-oriented, forecasting, or technology-society impact framework. Empirical studies that only analyze static management practices or pure technological engineering without evaluating broader societal or forecasting consequences fall outside the journal’s aims and scope.
Sources
- Crossref Metadata API. Journal Record for ISSN 0040-1625. Verified online at https://api.crossref.org/journals/0040-1625 (Read date: 2026-11-07).
- OpenAlex Scholarly Metadata Registry. Source Record for Technological Forecasting and Social Change. Verified online at https://api.openalex.org/sources?filter=issn:0040-1625 (Read date: 2026-11-07).
- National Library of Medicine. NLM Catalog: Technological forecasting and social change (Record 101085131). Verified online at https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi?db=nlmcatalog&id=101085131&retmode=json (Read date: 2026-11-07).
- Elsevier. Article Publishing Charge (APC) Price List for Hybrid Journals. Verified online at https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/pricing (Read date: 2026-11-07).
- Wikidata. Technological Forecasting and Social Change (Item Q7692476). Verified online at https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7692476 (Read date: 2026-11-07).
