Futures studies an Innovative strategy in educational promotion of universities

Futures studies is a new field of exploration that involves explicit and systematic thinking about alternative futures.  A change in higher education seems to be essential, and all education experts agree. One way to make a difference is to study futures studies. Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to review futures studies as an innovative strategy in educational promotion of universities. In this review article, articles published during 2003 to 2019 were studied in Persian and English journals from databases in Google Scholar, ProQuest, Elsevier, Pubmed, ISI (Web of Science), Science Direct, SID, Magiran, IranDoc, Iran Medex, Scopus. The search for articles was mainly done using keywords; Futures studies, Innovative Strategy, Educational Promotion, Medical Education, Medical Sciences University. The process of selecting articles was based on this strategy: At the end of the search, 23 papers met the criteria for entering the study. The findings showed that the futures studies is not only a mysterious and magical knowledge and approach to comment on the future, but also makes human attention to the future more rational and therefore more successful. Considering the role of futures studies in building a better future for the countrychr('39')s medical and health education system, as well as the time-consuming nature; expensive and participatory studies; creating the necessary intellectual, scientific and cultural contexts in the field of medical education is a necessity. The ultimate goal of many futures studies in the field of educational management and planning is to help improve education systems to train capable generations. The time has come for the universities of medical sciences to develop the necessary capacity building for futures studies and to enable the participation and extensive support of researchers and faculty members in future research and programs in the field of medical education and health research across the country.