Welcome to the home page of Foundations of Science, a journal that explores cross-disciplinary connections and foundational or philosophical issues pertaining to all fields of science.
Foundations of Science is published by Kluwer Academic Press. See also the Kluwer page on Foundations of Science.
Editor-in-Chief
Diederik Aerts,
Center Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
Krijgskundestraat 33, 1160 Brussels, Belgium,
e-mail:diraerts@vub.ac.be
tel: 32 2 644 26 77,
fax: 32 2 644 07 44
Assistant Editors
- Jan Broekaert, Center Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
- Liane Gabora, Center Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Advisory Editors:
- Nancy Delaney Cartwright, Philosophy Department, London School
of Economics, London, United Kingdom.
- Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara, Dipartimento di Filosofia, Universita
Degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
- Allan Franklin, Department of Physics,University of Colorado,
Boulder, USA.
- Michael Heller, Vatican Observatory, Vatican City State.
- Paul Humphreys, Philosophy Department, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville VA, USA.
- Andrzej Lewenstam, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Abo
Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
- Fritz Rohrlich, Department of Physics, Syracuse University,
Syracuse, New York, USA.
- Patrick Suppes, Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Bastian C. van Fraassen, Dept. of Philosophy, Princeton University,
Princeton, NJ, USA.
- Ryszard Wójcicki, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology
of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
- Jan Zytkow, Computer Science Department, Wichita State University,
Wichita, KS,, USA.
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Foundations of Science investigates fundamental concepts, principles,
assumptions, and unsolved problems that characterise both the traditional
disciplines and the newly emerging interdisciplinary domains. These disciplines
include (but are not limited to): mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology,
medicine, engineering, anthropology, computer science, psychology, sociology, economics, ethics,
and linguistics. Interdisciplinary domains include (but again are not limited to): cognitive science,
cybernetics, complex adaptive systems, evolutionary epistemology, semiotics,
general systems theory, cultural studies, quantum structures, and scientific principles underlying art and aesthetics.
Approaches that integrate or unify insights from different fields of science, or results from one discipline that have important
applications to other disciplines, are particularly welcome. The journal
is addressed primarily to scientists, but also to professional philosophers.
It aims to continuously probe the latest scientific
developments in order to develop a broad, cutting-edge understanding of reality.
Its focus and approach may therefore
shift from issue to issues, or from one year to the next.
The journal publishes three issues per year.
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Foundations of Science publishes special issues consisting of papers solicited by the guest editor(s). Scientists who are interested in guest editing a topic issue of Foundations of Science are kindly requested to submit a proposal. The proposal should present the main ideas and problems to be discussed in the proposed issue. It should be written in the form of a note which might be published in the journal before the special issue appears.
Previous Special Issue topics include Foundations of Statistics, Essential Tensions in Mathematics, Truth in Science, The Precautionary Principle and its Implications for Science. Upcoming Special Issue topics include Quantum Structures, Creativity, and Deconstruction.
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Foundations of Science publishes both new
results and review articles.
Papers situated within one discipline should
be accessible to scientists working in other disciplines. This requires a
special effort on the part of the author.
In order to maintain this spirit of cross-disciplinary accessibility, we have come up with the following guidelines:
Papers that make use of the advanced technical tools
and jargon of a specific discipline must have two complementary parts.
The first part, addressed to a multidisciplinary audience, should contain
the following:
- Situation of the problem within the context of the problem domain. Ample
space may be used for this.
- Extensive reference to classical or accepted views.
- A clear, critical statement of how the (new) approach or result confirms
or questions existing results.
- A summary in non-technical language of the results described in the second
part of the paper.
It is advisable to have this section of the paper proofread by someone in a different field before it is submitted. Keep in mind that sometimes it is helpful to discuss interdisciplinary material on a meta-level -- explaining
explicitly what is understood, why and how it is understood, what is not
understood, and, if possible, why and how it is not understood. This means
that papers containing completely new and 'not-yet-understood' matter are
also welcome. In this case, the first part should make it clear that
the present status of the problem is 'not-understood', and explain why it is
nevertheless important to say something about it now.
The second part, addressed to a specialised audience, should be as self-contained
as possible, and contain
the following:
- A detailed, formal exposition of the matter, using the technical
tools and jargon of the discipline.
- References to high quality expository papers within the field.
With this double focus, Foundations of Science strives to disseminate fundamental results from one scientific discipline to another, while maintaining an advanced level of discussion. Deviations from these guidelines
are acceptable if the manuscript is accompanied by specific reasons for the deviations.
Please take special care to prepare your maniscript according to the following instructions:
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Typing should be double spaced.
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A title page is to be provided and should include the title of the
article, author's name, author's affiliation, and suggested running head.
The affiliation should comprise the department, institution, city, and
state or nation. The suggested running head should be less than 80 characters
(including spaces) and should consist of the article title or an abbreviated
version thereof. The title page should include the complete mailing address,
telephone number, and e-mail address of the author who has been
designated to review proofs.
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An abstract is to be provided, preferably not longer than 150 words.
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A list of 3-10 key words should also be provided. Key words should express the
precise content of the manuscript, as they are used for indexing purposes.
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Mathematical notation should be done either in Latex, or typewritten using a special computer program for this purpose, wherever possible. If hand-written notation must be used, it should be clear and legible, with necessary explanatory notes located in the margin.
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Illustrations should be prepared with India ink or with a computer
drawing programme, printed out with a laser printer and submitted as originals
if possible. Clear black and white reproductions are acceptable; at this time we are not able to accept color illustrations. All illustrations should be numbered in one consecutive series of Arabic numerals, and a list of captions should be typed on a separate sheet of paper. Identify each figure on the back with the author's name and number of the illustration. Separate drawings are required for diagrams that appear in the text even though they are not labelled 'figures'.
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References should be listed alphabetically at the end of the paper.
Use the author's name and year of publication for citation in the text.
References should be as complete as possible, and, for maximum clarity,
abbreviations should be avoided.
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Footnotes should be avoided. When their use is absolutely necessary,
they should be numbered consecutively using a separate set of Arabic
numerals, and should be typed on a separate sheet of paper. Use the appropriate
superscript numeral without parenthesis for citation in the text.
- The author must provide a list of five possible reviewers, of which no more than three are from one country.
Four clear, legible, complete copies of the manuscript should be submitted to the following address:
Diederik Aerts,
Editor-in-Chief, Foundations of Science,
Center Leo Apostel, Free University of Brussels,
Krijgskundestraat 33
1160 Brussels, Belgium.
Submission implies that the manuscript has not been published
previously and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.
A statement transferring copyright from the authors to Kluwer Academic
Publishers will be required before the manuscript can be accepted for publication. The editor will supply the necessary forms for this transfer.
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Foundations of Science is organising a special section called 'The Third Millennium Archive'. The goal of this archive is to provide a forum for exceptional scientists to share synthetic and perhaps speculative ideas about the state of science and the state of the world on the verge of the third millennium.
Some central questions that will be explored are:
- What is the nature of our world? How is it structured and how does it function?
- Why is the world the way it is, and not different? What kind of global, explanatory principles can we put forward?
- Why do we feel the way we feel? What is the origin of ethics and aesthetics?
- How are we to act in this world? How do our actions influence and transform it? Are there general principles by which we should organise our actions?
- What possible futures are available to us? How do we select from these possible futures?
- How does world view construction take place? What do we know about the processes of cognition, evaluation, and action?
Invited papers will be published one at a time in a special section of Foundations of Science. The Third Millennium Archive paper is planned to begin in 1999.
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Page created and maintained by Liane Gabora, November 1998.