Submission Guidelines

The International Journal of Role-Playing (IJRP) editorial board invites scholars of all disciplines to submit articles for publication.

The IJRP is an international, double-blind peer-reviewed scholarly journal that examines all facets of role-playing games for an audience of academics, developers, and role-players themselves. Issues appear online once or twice annually, usually with a rolling deadline for submission of new content. Content is also curated from various conferences in the field. Since its first issue in 2008, the IJRP continues to serve as a platform for documentation and analysis of role-playing games as a global cultural phenomenon that straddles the traditional and the transgressive, the analog and the digital, individual and community, as well as theory and praxis. The journal is Open Access that charges neither authors nor readers any fees. Authors retain the right to use their published articles elsewhere, given the mention of the IJRP as the original publication channel.

All publications to the IJRP must be submitted in MS WORD or RTF format, submitted electronically to the editorial board (ijrp.editor [at] gmail.com). Camera-ready manuscripts must also be submitted in MS WORD format, so that the editors can make any last-second changes.

Submissions to the IJRP consists of two parts: a cover letter and the main submission:

The Cover Letter

All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter detailing:

1) Brief introduction to the paper’s contents
2) Author(s)
3) Contact details for the corresponding (submitting) author(s)
4) 5-7 Keywords

The Main Submission

The IJRP is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed academic journal. In the past, this publication has accepted submissions from the games industry, academia, the art world, and other areas. While we still encourage authors from a variety of fields and educational experiences to submit — including students and independent scholars — articles must conform to academic standards in terms of methodological rigor, formal tone, and extensive citation. Submissions will undergo both editorial and peer review.

All submissions must contain the items specified below:

Manuscript: The main article/text/design etc. All submissions to the IJRP must use Chicago Author-Date for citations. Tables, figures, and images must be submitted as large size, high resolution JPGs or PNGs, along with captions and thorough alt-text summaries for each image.

For information on Chicago Author-Date, see the Chicago Manual of Style website.

Authors will be responsible for producing manuscripts following the review process, within a deadline provided by the issue editor(s). Authors submitting articles should be prepared to perform at least one round of editorial  revisions if not more depending upon the results of peer review. The editors are committed to helping authors refine their papers throughout the review process.

The manuscript must be written in English (UK or US). Manuscripts that do not adhere to a strict standard of language quality will be rejected. We recommend consulting copy-editors before submission when possible.

Regular submissions should range between 5000-9000 words not including References. The editorial board may make exceptions for shorter submissions in the case of special issues containing papers from a role-play studies specific panel or conference.

Abstract: Each submission must contain an abstract that addresses the key points of the publication.  This abstract should be between 250-500 words in length and can include central concepts from the main text. Clarity of expression is encouraged. Disciplinary jargon should be avoided, explained, or re-phrased to be as accessible as possible.

Peer review process:

The International Journal of Role-Playing sends all articles through a rigorous review process. The steps of the process are as follows:

1) The editors review the document. They do one of the following:

a) Provide editorial revisions for the author to complete before peer review;

b) Send the article to be reviewed by 2-3 experts in role-playing game studies and other relevant interdisciplinary fields; or

c) Reject the article with comments for how to improve the article or recommendations for more suitable publication channels.

2) The editors facilitate multiple rounds of peer review and revisions as required. Double blind peer review is the norm for a standard issue. Some special issues have open peer review, e.g.,  issues containing articles from a conference where anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

3) If the editors and reviewers judge that the article is ready for publication, the article is published in the next issue of the journal. The IJRP strives to publish at least one issue each year.

If an academic article submission to IJRP does not meet the basic requirements or is unable to pass peer review, the editors will return it to the authors with suggestions on how to improve the work for later re-submission. We aim to support scholars in the field as they develop their work as much as possible.

If you have additional questions about the publication process, please contact (ijrp.editor [at] gmail.com).

Author Guidelines

Here are the publication guidelines if you would like your article considered for the rolling submissions of the International Journal of Role-playing. Note that you must successfully complete the peer review process at a sufficient quality for consideration. 

  • 5000-9000 words not including References
  • These items are excluded from word limits: References, Appendices, Acknowledgements, Conflict of Interest Statement, AI Statement, Ethical Approval Statement, and Contribution Declaration 
  • 12 point font Times New Roman
  • Single space throughout the document. 
  • Indent first line of each paragraph .5 inches except after a heading.
  • Include a cover letter with a list of all authors in the correct order. Indicate the last name(s) in bold as you wish them to be cited.
  • In your cover letter, include a Contribution Declaration, listing each author's contribution, e.g., study design, data gathering, data cleaning, data analysis, writing, citational work, and revising. Note that only participating in data gathering and cleaning is best mentioned in Acknowledgements rather than as a full author. All authors must review and approve the submitted draft.
  • Anonymize your submission document, redacting your name and any identifying information from the Title Page, Acknowledgements, References (if obvious), etc.
  • Include an ethical approval statement in your cover letter if including research from human subjects, with the institution and approval number clearly stated. If your submission was deemed exempt from review, please provide a letter from your institution with this information, including contact information.
  • Include an AI statement indicating any use of generative AI, including the relevant prompts. Excessive use is grounds for rejection and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Note that the IJRP is less likely to reject solely on grammatical errors than excessive AI use.
  • If using AI, you must check all citations before submission. Hallucinated citations are grounds for immediate rejection.
  • In your cover letter, include a statement declaring any conflict of interests relevant to the submission. 
  • In your cover letter, include Acknowledgements such as grant information and number.
  • Please do not format headings other than bold 12 point Times New Roman according to the following guidelines:

1. HEADING
1.1 Heading
1.1.1 Heading

  • Include a 300 word maximum abstract.
  • Include a 100 word maximum bio.
  • Include your affiliation and long-term correspondence email(s), ideally connected to your institution (if available), but personal emails also work.
  • After review, include a cover letter with a list of requested changes from your reviewers. Respond to each change with quotes and page numbers (where possible) indicating where you have addressed them in the text. If you chose not to address them, either due to editorial guidance or otherwise, please provide a persuasive reason.
  • In-text citations and References should be in Chicago Author-Date format. (Not in Notes-Bibliography). Use a hanging-indent of .5 inches for your References.
    • Example: Edland, Tor Kjetil, and Hanne Grasmo. 2011-. Just a Little Lovin'. [Live action role-playing game]. Denmark, Run 4, June 21–26, 2015.  
    • Example:  Groth, Anna Emilie, Hanne “Hank” Grasmo, and Tor Kjetil Edland. 2021. Just a Little Lovin’: The Larp Script. Drøbak.
    • For Ludography, use the following format: Last name of designers, first name, first name last name, first name last name, et al. Date or date range. Name of game. [Format]. Location played or publisher if available, run of game if relevant, date if relevant.
    • If you are instead citing the game text, cite as a book or website.
  • Avoid including full DOIs, links, or web addresses, as they can be difficult for people listening with screen readers. Instead, you can embed these underneath text that says: Link here.
  • We encourage you to include Appendices with relevant information, such as tables, figures, interview guides, survey questions, etc.
  • Please do not include any partial or full data sets that should be kept pseudonymized based on ethical guidelines, e.g., interviews with sensitive data.