Introduction to the Special Issue Looking Back, Looking Forward: 40 Years of Leisure Sciences

This special 40th anniversary issue focuses on where leisure sciences (as a field) and Leisure Sciences (as a journal) started and what the future might hold for both. As such, we have provided a space for dialogue, debate, critique, and reflection relating to leisure studies' progress and future. Authors were asked to consider and write about key issues and controversies of the field, developments we should be celebrating, and directions of study we should be pursing. The call for this special issue also asked scholars to consider research gaps that exist, issues we should be thinking about, and where we are now in relation to where previous projections expected. Reflection on the progress of Leisure Sciences over the past 40 years and its role in advancing the field of leisure research was also encouraged.