ICGA Journal

The Journal of the Computer Games Community

Impact Factor
2023
0.4
CiteScore
2023
0.9

Volume

45, 4 issues

Latest issue

45:2-3 online 09 January 2024

Next issue

45:4 scheduled for April 2024

Back volumes

From volume 32, 2009

ISSN print

1389-6911

ISSN online

2468-2438

Aims & Scope

The ICGA Journal provides an international forum for computer games researchers presenting new results on ongoing work. The editors invite contributors to submit papers on all aspects of research related to computers and games. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:
 
(1) the current state of game-playing programs for board games, card games, and puzzles,
(2) the current state of virtual, casual, and video games,
(3) new theoretical developments in game-related research,
(4) theoretical and practical work on the design of games and puzzles, and
(5) general scientific contributions produced by the study of games.
 
Also welcome is research on topics such as:
(6) social aspects of computer games,
(7) cognitive research of how humans play games,
(8) capture and analysis of game data, and
(9) issues related to networked games are invited to submit their contributions.

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Prof. M. Winands
Department of Advanced Computing Sciences, Maastricht University
Maastricht, The Netherlands
Email: m.winands@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Co-Editors-in-Chief

Prof. I.-C. Wu
Department of Computer Science, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Taiwan
Email: icwu@cs.nctu.edu.tw

Prof. T. Cazenave
Université Paris-Dauphine, PSL Research University
France
Email: tristan.cazenave@lamsade.dauphine.fr

Honorary Editor

Prof. dr. H.J. van den Herik
Mathematical Institute
Leiden University

The Netherlands
Email: jaapvandenherik@gmail.com

Editor for ICGA affairs

Dr. W. Kosters
Department of Computer Science (LIACS)
Leiden University

The Netherlands
Email: w.a.kosters@liacs.leidenuniv.nl

Editorial Board

Dr. Cameron Browne
Maastricht University
The Netherlands

Dr. Aviezri S. Fraenkel
Weizmann Institute of Science
Israel

Dr. Michael Hartisch
University of Siegen
Germany

Prof. Dr. Tsan-Sheng Hsu
Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica
Taiwan

Dr. Chu-Hsuan Hsueh
Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Japan

Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki Iida
Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Japan

Dr. Akihiro Kishimoto
IBM Research
Japan

Dr. Éric Piette
UCLouvain
Belgium

Prof. Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer
University of Alberta
Canada

Dr. Matthew Stephenson
Flinders University
Australia

Dr. Yoshimasa Tsuruoka
University of Tokyo
Japan

Author Guidelines

Submission of manuscripts

By submitting my article to this journal, I agree to the Author Copyright Agreement, the IOS Press Ethics Policy, and the IOS Press Privacy Policy.

Authors are requested to submit their manuscript electronically to the online submission system: https://submissions.iospress.com/icga-journal/content/submit-manuscript Note that the manuscript should be uploaded as one file with tables and figures included.

Required files
After the article has been accepted, the following electronic files are required: a word processor file of the text, such as Word or LateX. If using LaTeX, please use the style file available at: https://vtex-soft.github.io/texsupport.iospress-icg/. Also send a pdf version of the LaTeX file as well as separate files of all figures (if any); see "Preparation of Manuscripts" for the required file formats.

Peer Review Process and Process for Appeals
The ICGA Journal operates a rigorous, timely, blinded peer review process (with an option for double-blind if requested) by experts in the field. Manuscripts submitted to the ICGA Journal will be assessed for suitability for publication in the journal by the Editor-in-Chief. Manuscripts that are deemed unsuitable may be rejected without peer review by the Editor-in-Chief and/or the Associate Editors, and the author will be informed as soon as possible. Manuscripts that are deemed suitable for peer review are forwarded to an Associate Editor with expertise in that area who then recruits appropriate anonymous referees (a minimum of two) for confidential review. Referee reports are then assessed by the Associate Editor, who makes a decision which is then subject to approval of the Editors-in-Chief. Once approved this decision is then conveyed to the author along with the referee’s anonymized reports. The initial decision will be one of the following: rejection, acceptance without revision, or potentially acceptable after minor or major revisions. Revised manuscripts will be appraised by the Associate Editor, who may seek the opinion of referees (prior or new) before making a decision, which again is subject to approval of the Editor-in-Chief. Once approved, this decision is then conveyed to the author along with the anonymized referee’s reports. Once accepted, manuscripts are normally published on-line without delay and appear in the next available print issue (published quarterly). The Editor-in-Chief has ultimate responsibility for what is published in the journal. Authors may appeal decisions by contacting the Editor-in-Chief (at editorial@iospress.com). Authors will be informed in writing of the result of their appeal.

Publication Fee
The ICGA Journal does not charge a publication fee.

Colour figures
It is possible to have figures printed in colour, provided the cost of their reproduction is paid for by the author. See Preparation of Manuscripts for the required file formats.

Open Access option
The IOS Press Open Library offers authors an Open Access (OA) option. By selecting the OA option, the article will be freely available from the moment it is published, also in the pre-press module. In the Open Library the article processing charges are paid in the form of an Open Access Fee. Authors will receive an Open Access Order Form upon acceptance of their article. Open Access is entirely optional. See also our website for more information about this option IOS Press Open Library

IOS Pre-press
This journal publishes all its articles in the IOS Press Pre-Press module. By publishing articles ahead of print the latest research can be accessed much quicker. The pre-press articles are the corrected proof versions of the article and are published online shortly after the proof is created and author corrections implemented. Pre-press articles are fully citable by using the DOI number. As soon as the pre-press article is assigned to an issue, the final bibliographic information will be added. The pre-press version will then be replaced by the updated, final version.

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Organization of the paper and style of presentation
Manuscripts must be written in English. Authors whose native language is not English are advised to consult a professional English language editing service or a native English speaker prior to submission.

Manuscripts should be prepared with wide margins and double spacing throughout, including the abstract, footnotes and references. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc., should be numbered. However, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections. Try to avoid the excessive use of italics and bold face.

Manuscripts should be organized in the following order: 

  • Title page
  • Body of text (divided by subheadings) 
  • Acknowledgements 
  • References 
  • Tables 
  • Figure captions 
  • Figures Headings and subheadings should be numbered and typed on a separate line, without indentation. SI units should be used, i.e., the units based on the metre, kilogramme, second, etc. 

Title page
The title page should provide the following information:

  • Title (should be clear, descriptive and not too long)
  • Name(s) of author(s); please indicate who is the corresponding author
  • Full affiliation(s)
  • Present address of author(s), if different from affiliation
  • Complete address of corresponding author, including tel. no., fax no. and e-mail address
  • Abstract; should be clear, descriptive, self-explanatory and not longer than 200 words, it should also be suitable for publication in abstracting services
  • Keywords.

Author contributions
Any author included in the author list should have contributed significantly to the paper, and no person who has made a significant contribution should be omitted from the list of authors. Please read the IOS Press authorship policy for further information.

Tables
Number as Table 1, Table 2 etc, and refer to all of them in the text. All tables should be contained within the manuscript itself, and embedded in the text. Each table should have a brief and self-explanatory title. Column headings should be brief, but sufficiently explanatory. Standard abbreviations of units of measurement should be added between parentheses. Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Leave some extra space between the columns instead. Any explanations essential to the understanding of the table should be given in footnotes at the bottom of the table.

Figures
Number figures as Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc and refer to all of them in the text. All figures and other graphics should be contained within the manuscript itself, and embedded in the text. Colour figures can be included, provided the cost of their reproduction is paid for by the author. For the file formats of the figures please take the following into account: - line art should be have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi, save as EPS or TIFF - grayscales (incl photos) should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (no lettering), or 500 dpi (when there is lettering); save as tiff - do not save figures as JPEG, this format may lose information in the process - do not use figures taken from the Internet, the resolution will be too low for printing - do not use colour in your figures if they are to be printed in black & white, as this will reduce the print quality (note that in software often the default is colour, you should change the settings) - for figures that should be printed in colour, please send a CMYK encoded EPS or TIFF Figures should be designed with the format of the page of the journal in mind. They should be of such a size as to allow a reduction of 50%. On maps and other figures where a scale is needed, use bar scales rather than numerical ones, i.e., do not use scales of the type 1:10,000. This avoids problems if the figures need to be reduced. Each figure should have a self-explanatory caption. The captions to all figures should be typed on a separate sheet of the manuscript. Photographs are only acceptable if they have good contrast and intensity.

References
Authors are requested to use the APA (American Psychological Association) citation style. APA in-text citations should include the author's last name followed by the year of publication. All publications cited in the text should be presented in an alphabetical list of references at the end of the manuscript. Submitted articles can be listed as (author(s), unpublished data). See their website for more information. Authors are responsible for checking the accuracy of all references. Manuscripts will not be considered if they do not conform to the APA citation guidelines.

References must be listed alphabetically in APA style:
Anderson, A. K. (2005). Affective influences on the attentional dynamics supporting awareness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 154, 258–281.
Anderson, A. K., Christoff, K., Panitz, D., De Rosa, E., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2003). Neural correlates of the automatic processing of threat facial signals. Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 5627–5633.
Armony, J. L., & Dolan, R. J. (2002). Modulation of spatial attention by fear-conditioned stimuli: An event-related fMRI study. Neuropsychologia, 40, 817–826.
Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G., & Steer, R. A. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: Psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56,893–897.
Calvo, M. G., & Lang, P. J. (2004). Gaze patterns when looking at emotional pictures: Motivationally biased attention. Motivation and Emotion, 28, 221–243.
Carretie, L., Hinojosa, J. A., Martin-Loeches, M., Mecado, F., & Tapia, M. (2004). Automatic attention to emotional stimuli: Neural correlates. Human Brain Mapping, 22, 290–299.  

COPYRIGHT

Copyright of your article
Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that they have read and agreed to the terms of the IOS Press Author Copyright Agreement.

Article sharing
Authors of journal articles are permitted to self-archive and share their work through institutional repositories, personal websites, and preprint servers. Authors have the right to use excerpts of their article in other works written by the authors themselves, provided that the original work is properly cited. The consent for sharing an article, in whole or in part, depends on the version of the article that is shared, where it is shared, and the copyright license under which the article is published. Please refer to the IOS Press Article Sharing Policy for further information.

Quoting from other publications
Authors, when quoting from someone else's work or when considering reproducing figures or tables from a book or journal article, should make sure that they are not infringing a copyright. Although in general authors may quote from other published works, permission should be obtained from the holder of the copyright if there will be substantial extracts or reproduction of tables, plates, or other figures. If the copyright holder is not the author of the quoted or reproduced material, it is recommended that the permission of the author should also be sought. Material in unpublished letters and manuscripts is also protected and must not be published unless permission has been obtained. Submission of a paper will be interpreted as a statement that the author has obtained all the necessary permission. A suitable acknowledgement of any borrowed material must always be made.

PROOFS AND PRE-PRESS

The corresponding author will receive a PDF proof and is asked to check this proof carefully (the publisher will execute a cursory check only). Corrections other than printer's errors, however, should be avoided. Costs arising from such corrections will be charged to the authors.

The corrected proof is published online in the journal’s pre-press module shortly after the proof is created and author corrections are implemented. This is not the final version. As soon as the article is assigned to an issue, the final bibliographic information will be added and the pre-press file will be replaced by the updated, final version. Pre-press articles are fully citable by using their DOI number.

PURCHASES
How to order reprints, a PDF file, journals, or IOS Press books
The corresponding author of a contribution to the journal will receive a complimentary PDF Author’s Copy of the article, unless otherwise stated. This PDF copy is watermarked and for personal use only. A free PDF copy will not be provided for conference proceedings and abstract issues. An order form for a PDF file without watermark, reprints or additional journal copies will be provided along with the PDF proof. If you wish to order reprints of an earlier published article, please contact the publisher for a quotation. IOS Press, Fax: +31 20 687 0019. Email: editorial@iospress.nl.

An author is entitled to 25 % discount on IOS Press books. See Author's discount (25%) on all IOS Press book publications.

KUDOS
Authors of published articles (non-prepress, final articles) will be contacted by Kudos. Kudos is a service that helps researchers maximize the impact and visibility of their research. It allows authors to enrich their articles with lay metadata, add links to related materials and promote their articles through the Kudos system to a wider public. Authors will receive no more than three emails: one invitation and a maximum of two reminders to register for the service and link the published article to their profile. Using and registering for Kudos remains entirely optional. For more information, please have a look at our authors section.

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK

Would you like some pointers on how to help your research achieve a wider reach and greater impact? Please consult our Promotional Toolkit for Authors for tips.

Please visit the IOS Press Authors page for further information.

Abstracted/Indexed in

Cabell's Guide or Directory
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Inspec IET
Ulrich's Periodicals
Web of Science: Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition
Web of Science: Science Citation Index-Expanded (SciSearch®)

Open Access

By default, articles published in ICGA Journal are available only to institutions and individuals with access rights. However, the journal offers all authors the option to purchase open access publication for their article as part of the IOS Press Open Library. This means that the final published version will be freely available to anyone worldwide, indefinitely, under a Creative Commons license and without the need to purchase access to the article. This is also referred to as “gold” open access.

Gold open access pricing
Authors who choose gold open access publication will be subject to an article publication charge of € 1500 / US$ 1500 for publication under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license or € 2150 / US$ 2150 for publication under the CC BY 4.0 license. Pricing is exclusive of possible taxes. After an article is accepted for publication, the corresponding author will be informed regarding the open access option during the production stages, and will have the opportunity to purchase open access for their article. It could be that the open access fee of an article is waived completely due an institutional agreement IOS Press has with the corresponding authors' institution. Please check the institutional agreements page for details.

Green open access
Authors who do not make use of the gold open access option may still make their article freely available using self-archiving, also referred to as green open access. Authors may make their final accepted manuscript available for free download from their personal or institutional website or institutional archive. This model is free for the author.

Peer Review

ICGA Journal Peer Review Policy

ICGA Journal is a peer-reviewed journal. All articles submitted to the journal undergo a rigorous, timely and single blinded peer review process. This means that the identity of the authors is known with the reviewers but the identity of the reviewers is not communicated to the authors. Upon request authors may be granted a double blinded peer review process, where the identity of the authors is not communicated to the reviewers. Please visit our reviewer guidelines for further information about how to conduct a review.

All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the acting Editor-in-Chief, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to rigorous peer-review by independent, expert referees. Reasons to reject a paper in the pre-screening process could for example be because the work does not fall within the aims and scope, the writing is of poor quality, the instructions to authors were not followed or the presented work is not novel.

Papers deemed suitable to be reviewed will be assigned a handling editor. The handling editor is an Associate Editor or one of the Editors-in-Chief for the journal, with expertise on the subject matter of the paper. The handling editor will then invite reviewers to comment on the work. Decisions are based on a minimum of two referee reports. The referee reports are then assessed by the handling editor, who makes a decision which is then subject to approval of the acting Editor-in-Chief.

Reviewers are asked to judge a paper on at least:

  • Originality, novelty and significance of results
  • Technical quality of work
  • Comprehensibility and presentation of the paper
  • Overall impression

Based on the received reviews the handling editor will propose to the Editors-in-Chief a recommendation:

  1. Accept
  2. Minor revisions required
  3. Major revisions required
  4. Reject

They mean the following:

  1. Accept: The manuscript is suitable for publication and only requires minor polishing; thus, no further reviews are requested.
  2. Minor revisions required: The authors are required to make moderate changes to their manuscript. The manuscript becomes acceptable for publication if the changes proposed by the reviewers and editors are successfully addressed. The revised manuscript will be examined by the acting Editor-in-Chief and possibly sent back to all (or a selection of) reviewers for a second round of reviews. Authors are requested to provide a letter to the reviewers detailing the improvements made for the resubmission.
  3. Major revisions required: The manuscript cannot be accepted for publication in its current form. However, a major revision which addresses all issues raised by the reviewers may be acceptable for publication. The revised manuscript will undergo a full second round of review. Authors are requested to provide a letter to the reviewers detailing the improvements made for the resubmission.
  4. Reject: The manuscript is rejected as it is deemed to be out of scope, not relevant, or not meeting the journal’s quality standards in terms of significance, novelty, and/or presentation.

Once the first decision is approved by the acting Editor-in-Chief it is then conveyed to the (corresponding) author along with the referee’s anonymized reports. Revised manuscripts will be appraised again by the handling editor, who may seek the opinion of referees (prior or new) before making a decision, Authors are eventually notified of a accept or reject decision by the acting Editor-in-Chief, whose decision is final. The acting Editor-in-Chief has ultimate responsibility for what is published in the journal.

Extra

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Sustainable Development Goals

The content of this journal relates to SDG:

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Visit the SDG page for more information.