Guidelines for Authors: Journal of Defense Futures Studies
Dear Researcher,
Thank you for selecting the Quarterly Journal of Defense Futures Studies for the submission of your valuable manuscript. You are kindly requested to carefully review the journal’s author guidelines prior to submission and to prepare your manuscript in accordance with the specified structure and requirements. It is evident that manuscripts that do not conform to these guidelines will not proceed beyond the initial screening stage and will not be sent for peer review. Therefore, strict adherence to all provisions of these guidelines is strongly emphasized.
The Quarterly Journal of Defense Futures Studies is dedicated to publishing original research articles, review papers, theoretical contributions, and methodological studies in the field of defense futures studies.
Submitted manuscripts must demonstrate a clearly defined research problem, scientific originality, theoretical coherence, methodological rigor, and explicit theoretical or practical implications.
The journal welcomes contributions that advance the specialized literature and enhance scholarly understanding in the field of futures studies.
The journal accepts the following types of submissions:
Original research articles in defense futures studies
Systematic or analytical review articles in defense futures studies
Theoretical or methodological articles in defense futures studies
Case studies or applied reports, provided they align with the journal’s objectives
Scientific or policy notes, subject to approval by the editorial board
Submitted manuscripts must be the original work of the authors and must not have been previously published, in whole or in part, nor be under consideration by another journal simultaneously.
Authors are required to adhere to principles of academic integrity, including accurate citation practices and the avoidance of plagiarism, data manipulation, or selective reporting of results.
In studies involving human participants, confidentiality, informed consent, and—where applicable—ethical approval must be ensured.
All submissions are screened using plagiarism detection software, and manuscripts that fail to meet originality standards will be excluded from the review process.
Authors must upload the following files upon submission:
Main manuscript file, anonymized and formatted according to the journal template (download)
Author information file, including names and institutional affiliations (download)
Ethical commitment and originality statement form (download)
Conflict of interest disclosure form (download)
If applicable, appendices, supplementary materials, reporting checklists, or supporting data should be submitted as separate files.
The author information file must include:
Full title of the article in Persian and English
Full names of all authors in Persian and English
Identification of the corresponding author
Highest academic degree, academic rank, and institutional affiliation (in Persian and English)
Email addresses of all authors (use of an institutional email for the corresponding author is mandatory)
Full contact details of the corresponding author, including postal address, telephone number, email, and ORCID ID
Name of the funding institution, if applicable
The order of authors and designation of the corresponding author must be finalized at submission and cannot be changed after acceptance.
The official language of the journal is Persian; however, all articles must include an extended abstract in English.
Manuscripts must be linguistically accurate, clear, and professionally edited in terms of grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
English texts must be precise and unambiguous, while Persian texts must maintain conceptual and lexical coherence.
Manuscripts must be prepared in the journal’s Word template with the following specifications:
Page size: 17 × 24 cm
Margins: 2 cm on all sides
Line spacing: Single
Persian font: B Nazanin, size 13
English font: Times New Roman, size 11
Maximum length: 25 pages or approximately 7000–7500 words (excluding abstracts and references)
Consistency in headings, tables, figures, and citations is required.
A structured abstract in both Persian and English (150–250 words) must be included in the main manuscript file.
The abstract should contain four components: background and objective, method, findings, and conclusion.
It must not include citations, quotations, undefined abbreviations, tables, figures, or unnecessary explanations.
Keywords should consist of 4 to 7 specialized terms representing the core subject of the article.
Upon acceptance, authors must prepare an extended English abstract (with a validated translation) according to the journal’s guidelines and include it in the final manuscript. A Persian version must also be submitted as a supplementary file for translation verification if needed. Tables and figures in the extended abstract must be translated into English, and the abstract may include a maximum of five references. The journal may require a certified translation if necessary.
The main body of the manuscript must include:
Introduction
Literature review and theoretical framework
Methodology
Findings
Discussion
Conclusion
Key policy recommendations for defense policymakers
Acknowledgments
Conflict of interest statement
AI usage statement
References (Persian and English)
Appendices (if applicable)
Supplementary materials (if requested by reviewers)
The structure of qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method, and futures studies research should align with the logic of the study while maintaining coherence and logical flow.
The introduction must concisely present the research problem, its significance, the gap in the literature, and the study’s objective.
It should avoid presenting results, detailed methodology, or extensive literature review.
The main research questions or hypotheses must be clearly stated at the end of this section.
This section should situate the study within the existing literature and clarify the gap it addresses.
The review must be analytical and critical rather than descriptive.
If necessary, the conceptual framework, analytical model, or theoretical propositions should be presented here.
The methodology must be described in sufficient detail to allow evaluation, replication, and verification.
Authors should clearly specify the research type, approach, design logic, population or case, sampling method, sample size, data collection tools, validity and reliability, ethical considerations, and data analysis methods.
In futures studies, methods such as Delphi, scenario building, cross-impact analysis, driver analysis, and stakeholder analysis must be reported with clear justification and implementation logic.
Findings must be presented systematically, accurately, and without unnecessary interpretation.
Tables, charts, and figures are permitted but must be numbered and referenced in the text.
Titles must be clear, concise, and self-explanatory.
Statistical measures, indicators, and models must be transparently reported.
This section interprets the findings and compares them with previous studies.
Authors must explain the significance of the results and their relationship to existing literature.
The discussion should be analytical, coherent, and evidence-based, avoiding repetition of results.
Theoretical and practical implications, reasons for convergence or divergence with prior studies, and limitations must be clearly stated.
The conclusion must be concise and independent, providing a clear answer to the research questions or hypotheses.
It should not merely restate the discussion but offer a synthesized, evidence-based summary.
No new claims, data, or undeveloped arguments should be introduced.
Key policy implications and future research directions may be briefly noted if necessary.
Each article must provide 3 to 5 clear, actionable, and implementable recommendations for defense policymakers.
These must be directly derived from the findings and avoid generalizations.
Each recommendation should be limited to 10–15 words.
Financial support, institutional backing, or significant academic contributions should be acknowledged.
If the article is derived from a thesis or dissertation, this must be explicitly stated.
Authors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest.
If none exist, a clear statement declaring the absence of conflict of interest must be included.
Authors are encouraged to make data, code, tools, and supplementary materials available or indicate how they can be accessed.
If ethical, legal, or confidentiality constraints prevent data sharing, this must be clearly explained.
This policy aims to enhance transparency, evaluability, and reproducibility.
For systematic research—particularly quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, and systematic reviews—preregistration and adherence to reporting standards are recommended.
Authors should specify the framework used and provide registration details or links where possible.
Any use of generative AI tools in writing, translation, editing, summarization, data analysis, or figure/table generation must be transparently disclosed.
AI tools cannot be listed as authors, and full responsibility rests with human authors.
Authors should follow recognized reporting standards appropriate to their study type.
Examples include STROBE, CONSORT, PRISMA (quantitative) and SRQR or COREQ (qualitative).
Submission of completed checklists may be required.
References must be complete, accurate, and formatted وفق APA style.
All cited works must appear in the reference list and vice versa.
DOIs must be provided where available; otherwise, DOR or URL with active hyperlinks should be included.
Consistency in formatting Persian and English references is required.
Appendices should be used only when scientifically necessary.
Supplementary materials may be provided upon reviewer request.
They must not be essential for understanding the main text.
The journal reserves the right to accept or reject submissions at any stage, request revisions, and apply necessary edits.
Non-compliant manuscripts will not pass initial screening.
Submission and tracking are conducted exclusively through the journal’s official system.
Articles derived from theses are published under the supervisor’s responsibility.
Rejected or withdrawn manuscripts will be removed from the archive after three months.
The journal may request financial contribution toward publication costs if necessary; however, currently no fees are charged.
Submission implies full acceptance of these guidelines.
Authors must carefully verify all components and requirements before submission.
All submissions must be made via the journal website: www.dfsr.ir
Certificates are issued electronically through the system.
Published articles are accessible via the journal website and indexing platforms such as Google Scholar and ISC.