New Editor’s note

Citation

Saritas, O. (2009), "New Editor’s note", Foresight, Vol. 11 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/fs.2009.27311daa.001

New Editor’s note

Article Type: Editorial From: foresight, Volume 11, Issue 4

Being appointed as the new editor of foresight is both an honour and a challenge for me especially having such an experienced and widely recognised predecessor in Colin Blackman. Important research studies and developments occurring in the past eleven years have been reported in the journal under Colin’s editorship. He has provided quality stewardship for foresight since he initiated the journal in 1999, and all associated with the journal owe him much gratitude for his professional contribution and hard work. Thanks to him, foresight is now a respected journal in the field and has been followed by a wide array of audiences including policy makers, business professionals and those in academia.

Going forwards, the journal will continue and enhance its contribution to the field of Foresight. The main goals will be to improve the existing quality level and relevancy of the journal. The journal will aim to attract good quality, evidence-based articles with cutting-edge ideas in the field. It will also aim to push the traditional boundaries of the field towards more technologically, economically and socially-oriented issues and to improve the Foresight practice in order to deal with the complexity and uncertainty involved these issues. The journal will not only investigate present issues such as widely-mentioned pandemic outbreaks and financial crises, it will also function as an early warning mechanism by focusing on the Weak Signals of change, Wild Cards and Discontinuities. It will also inform the community about Foresight practice and inform wider society about their possible impacts on and implications for policy and decision making.

As the new editor, I will explore possible uses of information technologies, particularly the Internet to engage large groups of policy makers, corporate decision makers, researchers and other interested parties. The main goal is to stimulate lively discussions in electronic forums alongside the journal. Applications like online social networking and wiki type frameworks are promising and give the first weak signals of possible new arrangements in the way publications are produced, reviewed, published and shared.

All of the above can only be possible with close cooperation with authors, as the main sources of knowledge, the editorial team, and the Editoral Advisory Board (EAB) members, who are the leading scholars in the field. I would like to inform the journal audience that the editorial team has been expanded with the appointment of Jay E. Gary of the School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Regent University as the US Regional Editor. Jay will provide the journal with a stronger North American focus and remit through sourcing papers from the region. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome five new members of the EAB including Leon Fuerth (Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University), Michael Keenan (S&T Policy Division, OECD), M. Atilla Oner (Management Application and Research Centre - MARC, Yeditepe University, Istanbul), Joe Ravetz (Centre for Urban and Regional Ecology - CURE, University of Manchester), and Jack Smith (Defence R&D Canada).

My editorship starts with the present special issue on “Foresight for smart globalization: accelerating and enhancing pro-poor development opportunities” guest edited by Clem Bezold of the Institute for Alternative Futures, and Claudia Juech and Evan Michelson of the Rockefeller Foundation. I would like to express my appreciation for their contribution in bringing this issue together.

Ozcan Saritas