[1] Established in 1958 as Vita Humana by Hans Thomae, the journal was published under the name Human Development from 1965.

Its scope includes disparate disciplines such as anthropology, biology, education, psychology, and sociology, among others.

Human Development publishes theoretical and metatheoretical contributions and integrative reviews of lines of research in psychological development within conceptual, historical, and methodological frameworks.

Contributions serve to raise theoretical issues, flesh out interesting and potentially powerful ideas, and differentiate key constructs.

Contributions come primarily from developmental psychology but are welcome from other relevant disciplines.