About the Journal
Aims
- Publish rigorous, original research on games and game-based learning;
- Advance understanding of player behaviour, engagement, learning, and performance through data-driven approaches;
- Promote methodological and analytical innovation in the study of games and gameplay data;
- Support transparent, ethical, and reproducible research practices;
- Provide an inclusive, community-oriented publication venue for games researchers across disciplines.
Scope
J-GAMES welcomes submissions that address games and gameplay from empirical, analytical, or methodological perspectives. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:
- Game-based learning and serious games;
- Player engagement, motivation, skill development, and learning outcomes;
- Learning analytics and player analytics in games;
- Data-driven feedback, adaptation, and personalisation in games;
- Artificial intelligence and computational methods applied to games and player data;
- Assessment, measurement, and evaluation using gameplay data;
- Experimental and quasi-experimental studies involving games;
- Ethical, methodological, and reproducibility issues in games research;
Out of Scope
The journal does not consider submissions that are primarily:
- Descriptive accounts of game design without substantial data analysis;
- Purely technical system descriptions with no empirical or analytical contribution;
- Opinion pieces or essays without a research basis;
- Studies unrelated to games, gameplay, or interactive game-like systems;
- Market analyses, game reviews, or industry news articles.
Intended Audience
J-GAMES is intended for researchers, educators, learning scientists, data scientists, and practitioners with an interest in games, game-based learning, player behaviour, and data-driven approaches to understanding games.
Current APC Policy (Diamond Open Access)
J-GAMES currently operates under a diamond open-access model.
- There are no Article Processing Charges (APCs) for submission, peer review, or publication.
- Authors are not required to pay any fees to publish in the journal.
- Editorial decisions are made independently of any financial considerations.
This model ensures that neither authors nor readers face financial barriers to participation.
Future Sustainability and Cost Recovery
To ensure the long-term sustainability of the journal, J-GAMES reserves the right to introduce a modest, cost-recovery APC in the future.
Any future APC:
- Will be clearly communicated in advance
- Will be set at a low level and intended solely to offset operational costs (e.g., hosting, DOI registration, archiving)
- Will not be linked to editorial decisions or review outcomes
J-GAMES is committed to keeping any future APCs as low as possible and proportionate to actual costs.
Copyright Retention
Authors publishing in J-GAMES retain full copyright of their work. Copyright is not transferred to the journal.
Non-Exclusive License to Publish
By publishing in J-GAMES, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish, distribute, and archive the article.
This allows the journal to disseminate and preserve the work while authors remain free to share, reuse, or republish their work elsewhere, provided the original publication in J-GAMES is acknowledged.
Open Access Licensing
All articles published in J-GAMES are made openly available under a Creative Commons license.
J-GAMES recommends the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, and redistribution, provided appropriate credit is given to the original authors and source.
Alternative Creative Commons licenses may be considered where required by funders, subject to editorial approval.
Third-Party Material and Archiving
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any third-party material not covered by the article’s license. Authors are encouraged to deposit published articles in institutional or subject repositories with appropriate citation.