IJF CFP | The Future of Forecasting: Bridging Theory and Practice

 Call for Papers

International Journal of Forecasting

Special Issue in Celebration of Rob J. Hyndman's 60th Birthday

The Future of Forecasting: Bridging Theory and Practice

 

Guest Editors

George Athanasopoulos, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University

Tao Hong, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Yanfei Kang, School of Economics and Management, Beihang University

 

Forecasting is a discipline rooted in the interplay between methodological innovations and decision making in practice. While the advances in statistical modeling, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and computational methods continue to expand the frontiers of forecasting research, the complex societal and business challenges seek forecasting solutions that are accurate, interpretable, scalable, and actionable.

Throughout his distinguished career, Professor Rob J. Hyndman has exemplified this synergy between theory and practice. His work has fundamentally reshaped modern forecasting by providing unified statistical frameworks for exponential smoothing and state space models, establishing practical methodologies for hierarchical and grouped forecasting, and advancing probabilistic forecasting and forecast evaluation. Equally important, Rob has played a unique role in democratizing forecasting research and practice through the development of widely adopted open-source software, leadership in reproducible research, influential educational resources, and close engagement with practitioners across diverse business sectors. His work has shaped not only the methods researchers develop, but also the way forecasting is taught, implemented, and applied around the world.

To celebrate Professor Hyndman's 60th birthday, the International Journal of Forecasting invites submissions to a special issue entitled "The Future of Forecasting: Bridging Theory and Practice." This special issue seeks to honor Rob's remarkable contributions by bringing together research that reflects both the breadth of his scientific impact and the future directions of the forecasting discipline. We welcome papers that build upon the research areas to which Rob has made foundational contributions, demonstrate how forecasting creates value in practice, and explore emerging ideas that will shape forecasting research and applications in the years to come.

Scope

We welcome original research articles, methodological advances, comprehensive reviews, and impactful application studies that advance the theory, practice, and future development of forecasting. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

Foundations of Forecasting

• Exponential smoothing

• State space models

• Time series analysis

• Hierarchical and grouped forecasting

• Probabilistic forecasting

• Count, intermittent, and discrete-valued time series forecasting

• Forecast evaluation and accuracy measures

• Forecast combinations

Forecasting in Practice

• Tourism forecasting

• Retail supply chain forecasting

• Economics and macroeconomic forecasting

• Demographic forecasting

• Energy and utilities forecasting

• Environmental and climate forecasting

• Forecasting software ecosystems and reproducible workflows

• Other industrial and societal applications

The Future of Forecasting

• Machine learning and deep learning for forecasting

• Foundation models and large language models for forecasting

• Human-AI collaboration

• Explainable and trustworthy forecasting

• Decision-driven forecasting and forecasting for optimization

• Adaptive and online forecasting

• AI agents and automated forecasting systems

• Open science and benchmarking

• New application domains and interdisciplinary methodologies and applications

Important Dates

• Call for Papers announced: August, 2026

• Submission deadline: January 15, 2027

• First-round decisions: April 15, 2027

• Final acceptance: June, 2027

• Publication of the Special Issue: December, 2027

Manuscript submission information:

Authors should prepare manuscripts according to the International Journal of Forecasting Guide for Authors. All submissions will undergo the journal's standard rigorous peer-review process and should represent original, unpublished work that is not under consideration elsewhere. To submit a paper for consideration for the special section, please upload your paper online and include a cover letter indicating that the paper is for the special section “The Future of Forecasting: Bridging Theory and Practice”.

Please select 'SI: The Future of Forecasting' as the article type in the submission system of the journal.