I. Profile and Focus

  • Acta Ludologica (hereinafter referred to as “the Journal”) is an academic journal professional scientific reflections and academic discourses in the field of digital games and games studies; specifically game theory, research, history, philosophy, psychology, marketing, design, technological interconnections and innovations, gamers, gaming communities, gaming culture, gaming industry as well as using digital games for educational and other purposes.  The Journal’s aim is to offer a multidisciplinary, focused, open-minded discussion to both the academia and the professional public. 
  • The Journal is a double-blind peer reviewed academic journal published twice a year. It includes theoretical studies, theoretical studies combined with presentations of research results or research results including their implementation into practice, as well as essays, professional publication and game reviews, and shorter add-ons articles.
  • The sections of the Journal are divided as follows: Editorial, Game Studies, Reviews and Add-ons, which consists of shorter essays and articles.
  • The Journal is registered in the List of Periodical Press administrated the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, under numbers EV 5620/18 (print) and EV 29/22/EPP (online). Its international standard serial number (ISSN) is 2585-8599. The online version of the Journal’s e-ISSN is 2585-9218. Since 2024, the Journal’s published content has been identifiable based on DOIs.

II. Publisher

  • Communication Today is published by the Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, in the Slovak Republic (hereinafter also referred to as “the Publisher”).
  • The Publisher’s full address is: University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Nám. Jozefa Herdu 2, 917 01 Trnava, Slovak Republic, Europe, www.ucm.sk. 
  • Official information on the Journal is also available at the Publisher’s website:  https://www.ucm.sk/sk/veda-vyskum/edicna-cinnost-ucm/casopisy/

III. Editorial Board, Advisory Board and Editorial Team

  • The Editorial Board of the Journal consists of Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, and five members of the Editorial Team. It also includes work positions of Publishing Consultant, English Editor, Indexing Process & Technical Editors, Guest Editors (for the Journal’s special issues), Illustrators and Graphic Production Coordinators. The list of the current Editorial Board members is available on the Journal’s website (see Editorial Board).
  • The Editorial Board is an executive body of the Journal and its members approve the form and content of the Journal. The members of the Editorial Board are appointed by the statutory representative of the Journal’s Publisher. The Editorial Board meets at least once before publishing each issue of the Journal, i.e., at least twice a year. They select texts to be published on the basis of overall quality of submitted articles and reviews, taking into account results of the double-blind peer reviews. Before approving the final version of a specific issue of the Journal, the members of the Editorial Board are obliged to read, assess and collectively discuss the content of all delivered articles, essays, interviews and peer reviews in detail.
  • The Journal’s Advisory Board consists of domestic as well as foreign experts who professionally focus on media studies and marketing or closely related scholarly issues. The Advisory Board supervises and monitors quality of the Journal’s issues and individual articles or other published materials. Its main obligation is to ensure that the published content uses proper terminological frameworks and research methodologies, applying innovative theoretical or empirical approaches to present significant findings able to contribute to further development in the fields of media studies and marketing communication.
  • Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, English Editor, Indexing Process & Technical Editors, Guest Editors (for the Journal’s special issues), Illustrators and Graphic Production Coordinators are executive bodies of the Journal.
  • The Editorial Team consists of a group of experts who support the Editorial Board by confronting the delivered manuscripts and materials with the Journal’s quality standards, scope and profile. They identify manuscripts which do not correspond with the Journal’s quality standards, thematic scope and/or scholarly focus before these texts are further processed and delivered to reviewers.

IV. Acceptance of Submitted Manuscripts

  • The Editorial Board offers interested authors an opportunity to publish their original game studies, reviews and short add-ons articles, which have not been published yet. These have to be related to the focus and scholarly profile of the Journal.
  • It is not possible to publish texts authored or co-authored by the same person in two consecutive issues of the Journal. This rule does not apply to reviews and add-ons articles.
  • The Editorial Board accepts only manuscripts which are edited in accordance with Guidelines; the templates are available on the Journal’s website.
  • Using the MS Word editing software (.doc or .docx formats) is necessary. All texts are submitted exclusively via the e-mail address actaludologica@fmk.sk.

V. Review Process and Selection of Articles

  • At least two double-blind peer review reports are elaborated in relation to each submitted manuscript. Based on the results, the Editorial Board decides whether the assessed text is to be published or not. The peer review process is strictly double-blind. The version of a manuscript assigned for reviewing does not contain any identification data on its author(s) and their affiliations. The personal data is removed in advance by the Editorial Board.
  • Reviews and add-ons articles published in the Journal are not peer-reviewed. These are selected and approved for publication by the Editorial Team. Their authors are informed about the Editorial Team’s decisions via e-mail.
  • The reviewers are selected and appointed by Editor-in-Chief from the existing database of the Journal’s reviewers, taking into account the thematic focus of the reviewed manuscript. The list of the Journal’s reviewers is accessible via the Journal’s website (see Reviewers).
  • The reviewers assess the overall quality of specific manuscripts’ form and content and submit thorough review reports, in which they point out positive as well as critical notions related to the texts and their recommendations related to further editorial procedures and adjustments (if needed).
  • Each reviewer is obliged to clearly state their recommendation to publish or not publish the reviewed text in the standardised review report. The Editorial Board fully respects reviewers’ decisions and arguments.
  • On the basis of elaborated review reports, the Editorial Board proceeds as follows:
    1. If both reviewers recommend publishing the text, it will be accepted for publishing.
    2. If both reviewers recommend rejecting the text, it will be rejected.
    3. If both reviewers recommend the text to be published after necessary adjustments, the author(s) will be asked to re-elaborate the manuscript and the revised version will be reviewed repeatedly by the same reviewers.
    4. If reviewers express widely differing opinions on the same text, the final acceptance or rejection of the manuscript will be decided by the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board may accept such a text conditionally, based on prior discussion involving both reviewers, and will also ask for implementation of the reviewers’ comments and proposals.
  • The author(s) receive review reports related to their manuscripts (but not any personal information on specific reviewers who wrote them) and the final decision of the Editorial Board via e-mail.
  • Reviewing of the submitted manuscripts is not liable to any form of financial or other remuneration.
  • Publishing in the Journal is not remunerated.

VI. Distribution and Licensing

  • The Journal is available in the University Library of the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava (Hajdóczyho 2, 917 01 Trnava, Slovak Republic), and in the Faculty Library of the Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava (V Jame 3, 917 01 Trnava, Slovak Republic).
  • Under the applicable law, the print version of the Journal, as well as its data and contents, may be ordered and subscribed only by research centres, universities and libraries – for study and research purposes.
  • The authors, whose articles or other texts have been published in the Journal, are entitled to receive a digital copy of their work free of charge. The Journal uses the diamond open access model; all published articles and related contents are made available for free immediately on the Journal’s website (see Archive). The authors are free to download, share and reuse their published content via platforms such as academia.edu or researchgate.net.
  • All written content included in the Journal is published under Creative Commons license that grants the public permission to use the published content under copyright law. The Journal applies the CC-BY-NC-ND license. This variation enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the author(s).

VII. Funding

  • The Journal is co-financed from the budget of the Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovak Republic, i.e., from public sources.
  • Neither the Journal nor the members of the Editorial Board and members of the Editorial Team affiliated with the Jounal, demand and/or receive any financial funding or voluntary financial contributions from the private (business) sector.
  • The Journal has no publication fees, article-processing charges (APCs), or article submission charges.
  • The Journal does not include commercial advertising and does not accept any related offers and business proposals.

Last update:
June 30, 2025

Approved by:
Zdenko Mago, Editor-in-Chief