Introducing the International Journal of Esports (IJESPORTS)

It is with great excitement that we launch the International Journal of Esports, an open access double blinded peer reviewed academic journal which takes a high-quality approach to esports research.

Our Vision

Esports is a rapidly expanding community of players, industry professionals and academics who drive the sector to new heights. Esports research is a critical part of that journey to obtain the best outcomes in terms of general development, performance and player health. In fact, quality research is needed in just about every aspect of esports from computer science and health to business and education. Our vision is for the highest quality academic work from across the globe to be published in IJESPORTS.

Our Values

Our unique selling point is the absolute focus on quality. We will only publish academic work that is novel, relevant and accurate. Research based articles will undergo double blind peer review by experts in both esports and the relevant discipline of the article. Getting this balance is key to constructive feedback and obtaining the highest quality article should it be deemed appropriate for publication. Articles once published will be open access (no fees for accessing the research), with social media coverage and translation to major languages in the near future to truly achieve maximal dissemination.

We are working closely with industry partners to understand the research needs of esports and to assist researchers in building relationships and access to data. Subsequently we will get this information out to the community and key stake holders in esports in keeping with the primary principle of research, dissemination of the findings.

We are working with students and educators across the world. This cohort represents the future of cutting edge esports research and we will be providing more opportunities for this group through awards and publications.

Our Community

Our Editorial Board and reviewer panel consists of scholars from a wide variety of disciplines and locations around the world. This is critical to appreciating the diversity that esports offers at an international level. We anticipate that with time, key areas of research focus will emerge leading to the organic growth of IJESPORTS through sub-journals in line with the needs to community.

One of the novel parameters of our approach is the creation of an Industry Board to complement our Editorial Board. While each operates with very different Terms of Reference to protect academic integrity, we have learned that an appreciation for industry needs is critical for any educational esports initiative. For this reason, we have developed a range of global advisers from the esports industry, whose work spans areas such as performance, coaching, governance, research and game publishing. We will continue to expand this and involve people from a wider community at regular intervals.

Our work with students and educators helps us learn about the gaps in awareness or areas of expertise in the next generation of academics. We will always work with our networks to provide further opportunities for academic work in esports.

Our Commitments

We are committed to the long-term growth of high quality esports research. Our technical team is motivated to keep expanding our infrastructure to improve functionality (organisation of research funding and competitions) as well as links to social media for greater discussion and dissemination. We have developed an efficient editorial management system that enables a relatively quick turnaround of articles with much more value given back to the reviewers and academics who contribute their time. This bottom up approach gives us control of the publishing pathway enabling the lowest barriers to academic publishing in esports whilst achieving the highest quality output. We are committed to reaching out to students across the globe to expand their research opportunities. Finally, we are dedicated to working with industry partners to maximise on research opportunities which in turn increases the value of goods and services within the sector.

We look forward to your readership and submissions.

With many thanks,

Editorial Board of IJESPORTS

ijesports.org