Published: 2026-10-28 | Publisher: Future Journals — the official publishing platform of The Future Association
Farms, orchards, greenhouses and research stations produce evidence that other growers, agronomists, policymakers and scientists need to read. A variety trial, an irrigation comparison, a soil-management study or a post-harvest experiment only helps the wider field when it is reported clearly and published where its readers can find it.
Future Journals publishes two titles dedicated to plant and food production: The Future of Agriculture and The Future of Horticulture. This spotlight explains what each title is for, how to choose between them, and what to check before you submit.
1. The Future of Agriculture — ISSN 2687-8151 / 2687-8216
The Future of Agriculture is the home for broad agricultural research. Work that fits here includes crop production and cropping systems, soil health and fertility, irrigation and water management, agricultural technology and mechanisation, livestock-related work where it connects to farming systems, farm economics and rural livelihoods in an agricultural context, climate adaptation in agriculture, and food-system research grounded in production.
If your paper tests a practice across a farm, a field or a production system — and asks whether it works, for whom, and under what conditions — this is likely your title. Readers of this journal include researchers, extension specialists and practitioners who need production evidence they can apply or test further, not just theory.
State your setting plainly. Agriculture is local: soil, climate, variety, season and management all shape a result. A paper that reports those details honestly travels further than one that claims a single trial proves a universal rule.
2. The Future of Horticulture — ISSN 2692-5826 / 2692-5834
The Future of Horticulture is for research centred on horticultural crops: fruits, vegetables, ornamentals and other intensively cultivated plants. Suitable work includes cultivar evaluation, protected cultivation and greenhouse production, propagation, plant nutrition for horticultural crops, pest and disease management in horticultural settings, post-harvest handling and storage, and quality, shelf-life and market-related studies tied to the crop itself.
Choose Horticulture when the crop and its cultivation are the centre of the study. Choose Agriculture when the wider farming system is the centre. If your work genuinely spans both — for example, a rotation study in which a vegetable crop is one part of a whole-farm system — pick the title whose readers will use the findings most, and explain that choice in your cover letter.
3. What good agriculture and horticulture papers share
Editors and reviewers in these fields look for the same foundations, whatever the crop:
- A clear question. What production problem or knowledge gap does the study address?
- Reproducible methods. Location, season, soil or growing medium, variety, treatments, replication and measurements — reported in enough detail for another researcher to repeat or compare the work.
- Honest results. Report yields, quality measures and failures as they occurred, including seasons or treatments that did not perform as expected.
- Fair interpretation. Separate what your data show from what you think they might mean, and name the limits: one site, one season, one variety, a small sample.
- Practical relevance. Say, carefully, who could use this finding and what they would still need to test locally before adopting it.
A paper with modest results and rigorous reporting is more useful to the field than a paper with dramatic claims and thin methods.
4. Where related work belongs in the other 16 titles
Agricultural research often crosses fields, and Future Journals has neighbouring titles for that work. Plant biology and breeding may fit The Future of Biology (2572-3006 / 2572-3111) or The Future of Genetics (2694-359X / 2694-3603). Animal-focused work may fit The Future of Zoology (2694-3417 / 2694-3425). Environmental and climate work may fit The Future of Earth & Environment (2694-3379 / 2694-3387), energy-from-biomass work The Future of Energy (2694-3158 / 2694-3166), and interdisciplinary production technology The Future of Applied Science (2767-181X online / 2767-178X print).
Future Journals publishes 18 journals in total, as the official publishing platform of The Future Association, and states editorial boards of more than 1,000 researchers and more than 100 disciplines on its main site. All titles are open access, so a published article is freely available online to any reader, with no subscription.
5. Before you submit to Agriculture or Horticulture
Work through this short checklist:
- Fit: Re-read the scope of your chosen title and confirm the paper belongs there.
- Guidelines: Follow the author guidelines linked from the submission portal for structure, formatting and references.
- Ethics and peer review: Read the ethics and peer-review pages linked from the portal, so you know the standards reviewers will apply.
- Charges: Read the article processing charge (APC) page for your title on the portal. This post does not quote APC figures or turnaround times, because those are stated on the journal’s own pages and may change.
- Originality: The manuscript must be unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere.
- File format: Manuscripts are accepted in Word (.doc/.docx) and PDF through the online submission portal, which includes a step-by-step guide.
Frequently asked questions
My study covers both a field crop and a vegetable crop. Which journal should I choose?
Choose by centre of gravity: the farming system points to The Future of Agriculture; the horticultural crop and its cultivation point to The Future of Horticulture. Explain the fit in your cover letter.
Does a single-season trial belong in these journals?
It can, if it is reported honestly as a single-season, single-site result, with methods detailed enough to compare or repeat. Do not present one season as a general recommendation.
Are these journals open access?
Yes. Future Journals is an open-access publisher, so published articles are freely available online to readers worldwide.
Where do I find submission terms and charges?
On the journal’s own pages linked from the submission portal — author guidelines, ethics, peer review and APC pages. Check them there before you submit.
Submit your agriculture or horticulture research
If you have original production research ready for peer review, submit it to the title that fits it best — and give growers and researchers everywhere the chance to read, test and build on it.
Submit your manuscript here: https://home.futurejournals.org/future-journals/submission-portal/
Browse all 18 Future Journals titles: https://www.futurejournals.org
