diff --git a/AUTHORS.rst b/AUTHORS.rst
index ea363fd118f..f1f6d272dea 100644
--- a/AUTHORS.rst
+++ b/AUTHORS.rst
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ Contributors
 * Pauli Virtanen -- autodoc improvements, autosummary extension
 * Rafael Fontenelle -- internationalisation
 * \A. Rafey Khan -- improved intersphinx typing
+* Rui Pinheiro -- Python 3.14 forward references support
 * Roland Meister -- epub builder
 * Sebastian Wiesner -- image handling, distutils support
 * Slawek Figiel -- additional warning suppression
diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 792f6ce2201..86d990cb846 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -132,6 +132,9 @@ Bugs fixed
   directly defined in certain cases, depending on autodoc processing
   order.
   Patch by Jeremy Maitin-Shepard.
+* #13945: sphinx.ext.autodoc: Fix handling of Python 3.14 forward references in
+  annotations by using ```annotationlib.Format.FORWARDREF``.
+  Patch by Rui Pinheiro.
 
 
 Testing
diff --git a/sphinx/util/inspect.py b/sphinx/util/inspect.py
index 65088c38d05..8dd1f32e370 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/inspect.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/inspect.py
@@ -72,6 +72,18 @@ def __call__(self, obj: Any, name: str, default: Any = ..., /) -> Any: ...
 isclass = inspect.isclass
 ismodule = inspect.ismodule
 
+# Python 3.14 added the annotationlib module to the standard library as well as the
+# 'annotation_format' keyword parameter to inspect.signature(), which allows us to handle
+# forward references more robustly.
+if sys.version_info[0:2] >= (3, 14):
+    import annotationlib  # type: ignore[import-not-found]
+
+    inspect_signature_extra: dict[str, Any] = {
+        'annotation_format': annotationlib.Format.FORWARDREF
+    }
+else:
+    inspect_signature_extra: dict[str, Any] = {}
+
 
 def unwrap(obj: Any) -> Any:
     """Get an original object from wrapped object (wrapped functions).
@@ -718,12 +730,16 @@ def signature(
 
     try:
         if _should_unwrap(subject):
-            signature = inspect.signature(subject)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            signature = inspect.signature(subject, **inspect_signature_extra)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
         else:
-            signature = inspect.signature(subject, follow_wrapped=True)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            signature = inspect.signature(
+                subject,  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+                follow_wrapped=True,
+                **inspect_signature_extra,
+            )
     except ValueError:
         # follow built-in wrappers up (ex. functools.lru_cache)
-        signature = inspect.signature(subject)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+        signature = inspect.signature(subject, **inspect_signature_extra)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
     parameters = list(signature.parameters.values())
     return_annotation = signature.return_annotation
 
diff --git a/tests/test_util/test_util_inspect.py b/tests/test_util/test_util_inspect.py
index 2ff37091fd2..0140df39c8f 100644
--- a/tests/test_util/test_util_inspect.py
+++ b/tests/test_util/test_util_inspect.py
@@ -106,6 +106,14 @@ def wrapper():
     return wrapper
 
 
+def forward_reference_in_args(x: Foo) -> None:  # type: ignore[name-defined] # noqa: F821
+    pass
+
+
+def forward_reference_in_return() -> Foo:  # type: ignore[name-defined] # noqa: F821
+    pass
+
+
 def test_TypeAliasForwardRef():
     alias = TypeAliasForwardRef('example')
     sig_str = stringify_annotation(alias, 'fully-qualified-except-typing')
@@ -164,6 +172,13 @@ def func(a, b, c=1, d=2, *e, **f):
     sig = inspect.stringify_signature(inspect.signature(func))
     assert sig == '(a, b, c=1, d=2, *e, **f)'
 
+    # forward references
+    sig = inspect.stringify_signature(inspect.signature(forward_reference_in_args))
+    assert sig == '(x: Foo) -> None'
+
+    sig = inspect.stringify_signature(inspect.signature(forward_reference_in_return))
+    assert sig == '() -> Foo'
+
 
 def test_signature_partial() -> None:
     def fun(a, b, c=1, d=2):
diff --git a/tests/test_util/test_util_inspect_py314.py b/tests/test_util/test_util_inspect_py314.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0a8e7a2884d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_util/test_util_inspect_py314.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# noqa: I002 as 'from __future__ import annotations' prevents Python 3.14
+# forward references from causing issues, so we must skip it here.
+
+import sys
+
+import pytest
+
+from sphinx.util import inspect
+
+if sys.version_info[0:2] < (3, 14):
+    pytest.skip('These tests are for Python 3.14+', allow_module_level=True)
+
+
+def forward_reference_in_args(x: Foo) -> None:  # type: ignore[name-defined] # noqa: F821
+    pass
+
+
+def forward_reference_in_return() -> Foo:  # type: ignore[name-defined] # noqa: F821
+    pass
+
+
+def test_signature_forwardref() -> None:
+    sig = inspect.stringify_signature(inspect.signature(forward_reference_in_args))
+    assert sig == '(x: Foo) -> None'
+
+    sig = inspect.stringify_signature(inspect.signature(forward_reference_in_return))
+    assert sig == '() -> Foo'