About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Jurnal Pengembangan dan Review Game (JPRG) is dedicated to advancing the scientific and engineering foundations of digital game development, interactive media technologies, serious games, and systematic game reviews. The journal explores how video games, simulation environments, gamified learning systems, and immersive technologies are conceptualized, programmed, evaluated, and applied across educational, health, cultural, and commercial domains.

JPRG welcomes original research articles, technical game engineering studies, game design frameworks, empirical player studies, and comprehensive game review assessments. The primary research clusters include, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Game Development & Game Engine Engineering: Game software architectures, custom engine design, physics engines, rendering techniques, shaders, procedural content generation (PCG), and cross-platform optimization (Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot).
• Game Design, Narrative & Mechanics: Level design methodologies, gameplay mechanics, game balancing algorithms, interactive storytelling, character design, and game audio engineering.
• Serious Games, Educational Games & Gamification: Game-based learning (GBL), simulation games for medical and military training, health/rehabilitation games, and gamification frameworks in enterprise or public services.
• Virtual, Augmented & Mixed Reality Games (VR/AR/XR): Immersive game interfaces, spatial computing, haptic feedback integration, motion tracking, and locomotion mechanics in VR/AR gaming.
• Game AI, NPC Behavior & Intelligent Gaming: Artificial intelligence in games, pathfinding algorithms (A*, NavMesh), behavior trees, adaptive game difficulty, and reinforcement learning for non-player characters (NPCs).
• Game Analytics, Telemetry & Player Experience (PX): Player telemetry modeling, user experience (UX) and usability evaluation in games, playability testing, emotion detection, and player retention analytics.
• Multiplayer Systems, Network Games & Cloud Gaming: Real-time multiplayer synchronization, matchmaking algorithms, server-client game networking, anti-cheat mechanisms, and cloud gaming streaming platforms.
• Critical Game Reviews, Cultural Studies & Game History: Analytical game reviews, game heuristics audits, cultural representation in games, preservation of classic games, and social impacts of video games.

Authorship Criteria & Standards

Authorship in JPRG is strictly reserved for individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to the published work. In alignment with COPE guidelines and the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework, all listed authors must meet four standard criteria: (1) substantial contributions to research conception, game architecture design, or experimental data collection and analysis; (2) drafting or critically revising the manuscript; (3) approving the final version to be published; and (4) agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the research. Ghost, guest, or honorary authorship is strictly prohibited. For complete details, see our Ethical Guidelines.

Language Policy

JPRG accepts and publishes manuscripts written in English or Indonesian. Every published article must feature a comprehensive bilingual abstract (both English and Indonesian) to maximize global discoverability while maintaining regional academic relevance. Submissions must be written in clear, academically rigorous language using the official JPRG article template.

Peer Review Process & Workflow

All submitted manuscripts must represent original, unpublished work that is not under consideration by another publication. JPRG enforces a rigorous double-blind peer review workflow managed through Open Journal Systems (OJS):

1. 1
   Initial Desk Screening

   The handling editor evaluates the submission for scope alignment, template compliance, document completeness, and verification of the 4 Mandatory Declarations (AI Usage, CRediT taxonomy, Funding, and Conflict of Interest).

2. 2
   Plagiarism & Integrity Screening

   Submissions are automatically checked using iThenticate, Turnitin, and Copyleaks. Manuscripts exceeding an overall 20% similarity index are returned or rejected outright.

3. 3
   Double-Blind Peer Review

   Anonymized drafts are assigned to at least two independent expert reviewers from our reviewer team. Author and reviewer identities remain strictly decoupled throughout the evaluation.

4. 4
   Editorial Decision

   The Editor-in-Chief renders an editorial decision based on reviewer reports: Accept Submission, Revisions Required (Minor), Resubmit for Review (Major), Resubmit Elsewhere, or Decline Submission.

5. 5
   Revision & Re-Evaluation

   Authors submit revised manuscripts alongside a point-by-point response matrix within specified deadlines for editorial or reviewer re-assessment.

6. 6
   Production & Publication

   Accepted papers proceed through professional copyediting, galley typesetting, DOI assignment via Crossref, and online publishing.

JPRG maintains an efficient review schedule: initial screening is completed within 5 days, peer review takes approximately 14 to 21 days, total submission-to-acceptance averages 30 days, and online publication occurs within 10 days post-acceptance. Article landing pages explicitly feature complete genesis milestones (Received, Revised, Accepted, Published).

Special Issue Policy

JPRG periodically hosts Special Issues focusing on emerging trends in game engineering, such as AI-assisted procedural content generation, XR gaming, and serious games for healthcare. Guest Editors manage the review process in strict compliance with the journal's double-blind peer review policies. Proposals may be directed to the Editorial Office.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

JPRG recognizes the constructive role of Artificial Intelligence tools in scholarly writing while safeguarding academic transparency:

• Transparent Disclosure: Authors must state prior to References whether Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Grammarly AI) were used during manuscript preparation, indicating the tool, version, and scope of use.
• AI Authorship Preclusion: Non-human AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors under COPE standards.
• Author Ownership & Integrity: Authors retain full legal and intellectual responsibility for factual accuracy, game design models, source code integrity, and original conclusions.
• Permitted Scope: AI usage is limited to proofreading, stylistic refinement, translation assistance, and structural literature review mapping.
• Prohibited Use: AI tools must not fabricate game test telemetry, generate fictitious citations, or manipulate experimental player data.
• Reviewer Confidentiality: Reviewers and editors must not upload unpublished manuscript files into public AI tools.

Publication Frequency & Scheduling

Jurnal Pengembangan dan Review Game (JPRG) is published twice a year (biannually) in March and September. Regular calls for papers are announced in the Announcements section.

Open Access Statement

JPRG is an immediate Gold Open Access journal. All published research articles are freely available online immediately upon publication without subscription fees or paywalls, in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

Article Processing Charges (APC) & Fee Policy

JPRG operates an author-pays Open Access publishing model supported by Article Processing Charges (APC). Initial manuscript submission and peer review are free of charge; fees apply only upon formal article acceptance.

Copyright and Licensing Terms

Authors retain full copyright of their work and grant the journal first publication rights under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Plagiarism & Screening Policy

All manuscripts are screened via iThenticate, Turnitin, and Copyleaks. Submissions exceeding a 20% similarity threshold are rejected or returned for rewriting.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential commercial, financial, or personal conflicts of interest. Full guidelines are provided on our Ethical Guidelines page.

Publication Ethics & Integrity

JPRG complies strictly with the publication ethics principles set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Comprehensive policies are detailed on our Publication Ethics page.

Post-Publication Discussions, Corrections & Retractions

Scientific record integrity is maintained through citable Corrigenda/Errata for significant errors, while retractions adhere strictly to COPE Retraction Guidelines.

Digital Preservation & Archiving

JPRG content is permanently preserved across distributed digital archives, including LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and the PKP Preservation Network (PKP-PN).

Ownership & Management Information

Jurnal Pengembangan dan Review Game (JPRG) is owned, managed, and published by the Research Division of Lembaga Mitra Solusi Teknologi Informasi (L-MSTI), Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Journal History & Development Timeline

• Inaugural Launch (2027): Jurnal Pengembangan dan Review Game (JPRG) was established by Divisi Riset, Lembaga Mitra Solusi Teknologi Informasi (L-MSTI), releasing Volume 1 Number 1 in March 2027 and Volume 1 Number 2 in September 2027 to foster research in digital game engine architectures, serious games, gamification, and game review methodologies.
• Publication Frequency & Workflow: Maintains a twice-yearly publication schedule in March and September, enforcing double-blind peer review protocols and Crossref DOI assignment for all published articles.
• OJS 3.4 Infrastructure: Deployed natively on Open Journal Systems (OJS) version 3.4.0-11, featuring modern responsive layouts, secure metadata handling, and structured indexing capabilities.
• Persistent Identifiers – ROR & ORCID: Integrated Research Organization Registry (ROR ID) and author ORCID iD metadata tracking.
• Standardized Template & Mandatory Declarations: Enforces 4 Mandatory Author Declarations (AI Usage, CRediT taxonomy, Funding, and Competing Interests) across all published articles.