Category: CFPs

CfP: General Call for Papers

An all-time open call

Published: June 2011. Updated: August 2018


The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship. We welcome contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds’ research.

Motivation and Scope

The Assembled issue is a place for various papers, on the topic of the journal – that are being collected during the year and published usually once a year.

Authors who would like to submit directly to the ‘Assembled’ issue should do so by adding the words “submitted for Assembled” in the “Comments for Editor” on the 1st step of the submitting process.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to

  • 3D fun
  • Mini robots
  • Social networks that change our mind
  • Artificial limbs
  • New forms of hardware
  • Augmented and mixed environments
  • Wearables
  • User generated content
  • 3D printing
  • Visual data streaming
  • Immersive technologies
  • Shopping from home
  • Projections of the real
  • Wireless people
  • Portable friends
  • The Internet of Things
  • Virtual currencies
  • E-readers
  • And more

See past Assembled issues

Assembled 2018 (2)

Deadlines and Timetable

An open call – submit any time.

Further Information

  • For inquiries and requests please contact: [email protected]
  • If you wish to be considered as an editor for an Assembled issue, please refer to “For Issue Editors” section on our website and email us your suggestion with CV.

CfP: Mind

Call for Editors and Papers on “Augmented Mind”

Published: August 4, 2017


Call for a prime editor, co-editor(s), and papers on “Augmented Mind”, for a special issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research to be published 2018 Q2.

The JVWR seeks to develop a special issue dedicated to an exploration of the Mindas an umbrella concept of research with relations to virtual worlds.

Suggested topics may include but are not limited to the following concepts:

  • Mindfulness
  • Flow
  • New ways of teaching
  • Psychology
  • Digital media studies
  • Games of the mind
  • Relevant hardware
  • EEG / fMRI

Call for Prime and Co- Editors:

We are looking for a prime guest editor (with potentially one co-editor) to manage the process. This is a great opportunity to influence the state of our field.

You will:

  • Develop a detailed call
  • Review and decide on abstracts and full papers
  • Coordinate reviewers
  • Use our publication system — extensively (be versed also with Google docs, Skype, and other current tools.)
  • Be a deadline-targeted & taking-charge person.
  • Work as single editor or add one or more co-editors.
  • Able to write a short intro including your view / vision / insight on the field.
  • Get the academic credit as an editor.

Please reply by August 15, 2018, to [email protected] with an academic CV and a cover letter listing your publishing and editing experience.

If you have colleagues who may be interested in becoming editors or co-editors, please feel free to forward this call further.

Call for Papers:

For papers, kindly email your ideas on the topic, abstracts, or send us your feedback. This will also help us develop the call.

Deadlines and Timeline:

To be announced

Full papers will be reviewed by expert referees using the JVWR double-open policy. Double-open policy means that in general, authors do not need to anonymize their papers, and reviewers’ identities are also known to authors. For more details about it see JVWR site –> About JVWR –> For Authors –> Our double-Open Policy.

Further Information:

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (#TheJVWR) (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship. We welcome contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds research.

Subscribe to receive announcements about new calls and issues.

For additional information about the journal, please contact: [email protected]

CfP: Assembled 2017

Call for Papers

Published: March 2017


The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship. We welcome contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds’ research.

Motivation and Scope

The Assembled issue is a place for various papers, on the topic of the journal – that are being collected during the year and published usually once a year.

Authors who would like to submit directly to the ‘Assembled’ issue should do so by adding the words “submitted for Assembled” in the “Comments for Editor” on the 1st step of the submitting process.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

  • 3D fun
  • Mini robots
  • Social networks that change our mind
  • Artificial limbs
  • New forms of hardware
  • Augmented and mixed environments
  • Wearables
  • User generated content
  • 3D printing
  • Visual data streaming
  • Immersive technologies
  • Shopping from home
  • Projections of the real
  • Wireless people
  • Portable friends
  • The Internet of Things
  • Virtual currencies
  • E-readers
  • And more

See past Assembled issues:

Assembled 2010
Assembled 2011
Assembled 2012
Assembled 2013
Assembled 2014
Assembled 2015
Assembled 2016 (1)
Assembled 2016 (2)

Deadlines and Timetable:

Editors’ nomination: March 2017

Review in progress.

Publication: April May 2017

Further Information

  • If you wish to be considered as an editor for an Assembled issue, please refer to “For Issue Editors” section on our website and send your suggestion with CV.

CfP: Real Virtual Relationships

Call for papeers

Published: February 22, 2017


Guest Editors:

Richard E. Ferdig, Kent State University, USA

Kristine E. Pytash, Kent State University, USA

Elyse Graham, SUNY Stony Brook, USA

Glenn W. Muschert, Miami University, USA


A special issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research to be published 2017 Q2

Motivation and Scope

We live in an era of digitally-mediated relationships. From finding a spouse online to daily interactions facilitated through social media, it is difficult for many people to imagine building and sustaining both platonic and romantic relationships without technology. Virtual worlds are no strangers to these interactions. Virtual world inhabitants will often initially use the space to develop alternative self-portraits (e.g., Black, Ferdig, DiPietro, Liu, & Whalen, 2009). They then create and maintain relationships with those avatars and other human players out-of-world, with other human players in-world, and with non-player-characters in-world (Ferdig & Pytash, 2012). This can lead to even more complex relationships as they balance their lives and relationships in-world and out-of-world.

This special issue of Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is dedicated to an exploration of such topics in a collection of articles exploring “real virtual relationships” to be published in Q2 (2017). The issue editors welcome empirical and theoretical research from all fields interested in this innovative area including, but not limited to: education, psychology, sociology, digital media studies, computer science, public health, game studies, literature, counseling, religion, family studies, and business.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to:

  • Relationship building and maintenance in virtual worlds
  • Methods for studying digital relationships in virtual worlds
  • Economic impact of virtual relationships
  • Psychological impact of real-life events in virtual worlds (e.g. birth, marriage, death)
  • Education and training through relationships in virtual worlds
  • Virtual mentoring and collaboration
  • Technological aspects that impact relationship creation, sustenance, and termination
  • Love, hate, and other emotional responses to human and NPCs in virtual worlds
  • Political ramifications of heterogeneity or homogeneity in virtual worlds
  • Empirical case studies of player/user relationships
  • The impact of innovative technologies (e.g. AR/VR) on relationships in virtual worlds
  • Health and trust within medical virtual spaces
  • Analysis of literature featuring characters and their relationships in virtual spaces

Authors are requested to submit an abstract of their proposed paper by March 15, 2017. Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words (references are not included in this word count). We welcome papers from a variety of disciplines and methodologies, and encourage graduate students to submit their research to this special issue. The guest editors are happy to discuss proposals for contributions, please contact Rick Ferdig at rferdig AT gmail.com for questions prior to submission.

Submission Instructions

Interested authors should submit a 500 word abstract via email to rferdig AT gmail.com. After review by the issue editors, authors will be invited to submit original scholarly papers of 4000-8000 words (including footnotes, references, and appendices) via the JVWR publishing system (see www.jvwr.net > About JVWR > For Authors). Shorter manuscripts are preferred. Longer ones are optional and should be discussed with the issue editors. Accepted papers will be published online in Volume 10, Number 2 (2017) of the Journal.

Deadlines and Timeline

  • Authors submit abstracts: March 15, 2017 (via email to rferdig @ gmail.com)
  • Editors return comments on abstracts: March 31, 2017
  • Authors of invited papers submit full papers: June 1, 2017 (via JVWR system)
  • Editors return review report and initial decisions: July 1, 2017
  • Authors of accepted papers submit final versions: July 15, 2017

Publication: August, 2017

Review Process:

Abstracts will be considered by the guest editors.

Full papers will be reviewed by expert referees using the JVWR double-open policy. Double-open policy means that in general, authors do not need to anonymize their papers, and reviewers’ identity is also known to authors. For more details about it see JVWR site –> About JVWR –> For Authors –> Our double-Open Policy.

Further Information

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (JVWR) (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship. We welcome contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds’ research.

For additional information about the journal, please contact: [email protected]

Call for Editors – A Special Issue on “Real Virtual Relationships”

Call for editors and papers

Published: January 2, 2017


We are looking for a prime guest editor (with potentially one or two co-editors) to manage the process for 2017, Q2. This is a great opportunity to influence the state of our field.

You will need to:

  • Be passionate about advancing research in the field
  • Issue a Call for Papers
  • Coordinate the reviewers of candidate papers.
  • Use our publication system — extensively. (Be versed also with Google docs, Skype, and other current tools.)
  • Be a deadline-targeted & taking-charge person.
  • Work as a single editor or add co-editors.
  • Able to write a short intro including your view/vision/insight on the topic.
  • Get the academic credit as an editor.
  • Choose / design the cover 🙂 (see above draft)

Please reply by Jan 31, 2017 to [email protected] with an academic CV and a cover letter listing your publishing and editing experience.

If you have colleagues who may be interested in becoming an editor or a co-editor, please feel free to forward this call further.

Final decision about the editor will be made by end of February 2017 or earlier based on the information we get.

For more details about editors’ role and requirements see JVWR site –> About JVWR –> For Issue Editors.
Publication is planned for Q2 of 2017.

We are looking for research papers on this topic.

If you have a paper around this topic, please consider submitting it. More details about how can be found on our page For Authors. Potential authors are invited to think about the subject. An official call (CfP) will be placed by the issue editor(s), once selected.

Further Information:

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect virtual worlds’ research. The field of virtual worlds’ research is a continuously evolving area of study that spans across many disciplines and the JVWR editorial team looks forward to engaging a wide range of creative and scholarly work.

For any further inquiry regarding this call, please contact: tzafnat.shpak AT jvwresearch DOT org

We are looking forward to your proposals for an intriguing new issue,

Prof. Yesha Y. Sivan
Editor-In-Chief

#JVWRThe Journal of Virtual Worlds Research
www.jvwr.net

CfP: Assembled 2016 Part 2

Call for papers

Published: December 2015


The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship. We welcome contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds’ research.

Motivation and Scope

The Assembled issue is a place for various papers, on the topic of the journal – that are being collected during the year and published usually once a year (in 2016 we will experiment with two assembled issues).

Authors who would like to submit directly to the ‘Assembled’ issue should do so by adding the words “submitted for Assembled” in the “Comments for Editor” on the 1st step of the submitting process.

Special focus topic – Cases

We have a thirst for short papers (2000-4000 words) that describe a unique component, phenomenon, a place, a character, etc.  Such cases need to be descriptive, visual (with pictures or models) with a meaningful “conclusions and impact” section at the end. There is less need for background – just give the details of the case in a form that will entice JVWR audience to read and take lessons from.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

  • 3D fun
  • Mini robots
  • Social networks that change our mind
  • Artificial limbs
  • New forms of hardware
  • Augmented and mixed environments
  • Wearables
  • User generated content
  • 3D printing
  • Visual data streaming
  • Immersive technologies
  • Shopping from home
  • Projections of the real
  • Wireless people
  • Portable friends
  • The Internet of Things
  • Virtual currencies
  • E-readers
  • And more

See past Assembled issues:

Assembled 2010

Assembled 2011

Assembled 2012

Assembled 2013

Assembled 2014

Assembled 2015

Assembled 2016 (Part 1)

Deadlines and Timetable:

May 31, 2016: Authors submit full paper
June 15, 2016: Editors return initial decision

August 5, 2016: Editors return final review
August 25, 2016: Authors submit final revision
September 20, 2016: Editors submit camera ready papers

September 25, 2016: Authors approval
September 30, 2016: Publication

Further Information

Please contact: info AT Jvwresearch.com

CfP: EVE Online

Call for a Special Issue of the JVWR


Guest Editors:
Kelly Bergstrom (York University, Canada) & Marcus Carter (The University of Sydney, Australia)

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (JVWR) (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship. We welcome contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds’ research.

Breaking Conventions

EVE Online (EVE) — the space-themed massively multiplayer game released in 2003 by CCP Games — is a game with a reputation. Sometimes referred to as “Excel Online”, EVE has also become known as a game with a brutal learning cliff that is hostile to newcomers. And yet, it is also home to vibrant community of long term, dedicated players. In a number of important ways, EVE breaks from the conventions of the MMOG genre such as its single shard server, permanent death, robust in-game economy, and pervasive treachery. As a result, much of the research on other MMOGs is not necessarily applicable to this gameworld.

Motivation and Scope

For much of EVE’s history it has received little academic attention. Recent publications, including Internet Spaceships Are Serious Business (University of Minnesota Press, 2016), have only just begun to scratch the surface of EVE. This special issue of Journal of Virtual Worlds Research will serve as a collection of recent investigations into this MMOG and its community of players. Researchers currently working on EVE-related projects are invited to contribute to this special issue, to be published in Q4 2017.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to:

  • The EVE metagame(s)
  • The history of EVE and/or CCP Games
  • EVE Online player communities
  • EVE’s avatar creation tools
  • Conflict and collaboration
  • “Fun” or “play” in EVE
  • EVE’s economy and/or its black/grey markets
  • Methods for studying EVE
  • Lessons from EVE

Authors are requested to submit an abstract of their proposed paper by May 15, 2017. Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words (references are not included in this word count). We welcome papers from a variety of disciplines and methodologies, and encourage graduate students to submit their research to this special issue. The guest editors are happy to discuss proposals for contributions, please contact Kelly Bergstrom at kellybergstrom AT gmail.com for questions prior to submission.

We are also open to alternative formats and shorter pieces such as “tales from the trenches” written from the perspective of players. Please contact the guest editors to discuss ideas for alternative submissions in advance of the abstract deadline.

Submission Instructions

Interested authors should submit a 500 word abstract by the deadline indicated below. After review by the guest editors, authors will be invited to submit original scholarly papers of up to 5000 words including footnotes, references, and appendices. Longer papers are optional and should be discussed with the issue editors. All submissions (abstracts and papers) should be made via the JVWR publishing system (see www.jvwr.net > About JVWR > For Authors). Accepted papers will be published online in the Volume 10, Number 4 (2017) of the Journal.

Deadlines and Timeline

  • Authors submit abstracts: May 15, 2017
  • Editors return comments on abstracts: May 30, 2017
  • Authors submit full papers: July 1, 2017
  • Editors return review report and initial decisions: September 1, 2017
  • Authors submit revised papers: October 1, 2017
  • Editors return final comments and decisions: November 1, 2017
  • Authors submit final versions: November 30, 2017
  • Publication: December 31, 2017

Review Process:
Abstracts will be considered by the guest editors.

Full papers will be reviewed by expert referees using the JVWR double-open policy. Double-open policy means that in general, authors do not need to anonymize their papers, and reviewers’ identity is also known to authors. For more details about see JVWR site –> About JVWR –> For Authors –> Our double-Open Policy.

Further Information

Please contact: [email protected]

Published: December 11, 2016

CfP: Futures

Call for papers – Futures of Real and Virtual Worlds

Published: March 10, 2015


A special exploratory issue edited by:
Yesha Sivan, Editor in Chief, the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds research. Virtual worlds ignite a continuously evolving area of study that spans multiple disciplines and the JVWR editorial team looks forward to engaging a wide range of creative and scholarly research.

Design the future

This call is about the future or more so “possible futures“. We are looking for reflective papers (1000-3000 words) that will describe specific angles to the real and virtual worlds.  We are exploring and defining our future. The collection of reflective futures will help us design the next 7 years of the journal.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

•    3D fun
•    Mini robots
•    Social networks that change our mind
•    Artificial limbs
•    New forms of hardware
•    Augmented and mixed environments
•    Wearables
•    User generated content
•    3D printing
•    Visual data streaming
•    Immersive technologies
•    Shopping from home
•    Projections of the real
•    Wireless people
•    Portable friends
•    The Internet of Things
•    Virtual currencies
•    E-readers
•    …
•    And more

Motivation & Scope

The journal, JVWR, is celebrating its 8th year anniversary in 2015. In 2015 we will also publish** the book 3D3C Platforms: Applications and Tools for Three Dimensional Platforms for Community, Creation and Commerce published by Springer, as a summary of the field’s state of the art.

In 2008, when Jeremiah Spence founded the JVWR, the excitement of flexible, user-generated world was very high. It seemed that the world of Second Life have taken years of hardware, software, and social-ware experience into a new level; that it will “change” the world. This was yet another wave of promise of virtual reality.

In 2008, users, business analysts and academics alike used to be at awe because Second Life had millions of users; commerce was done virtually; there were grievers in virtual worlds, and people could create 3D objects by themselves. In 2015, today, 7 years later, Facebook has more than 1.35 billion monthly active users*; commerce is done with a fingerprint via Apple pay; cyber criminals are attacking real companies, and people are printing their own outfits and objects.

Much has changed.  The virtual is becoming the real and the real is becoming the virtual. It seems that the term “virtual worlds” as a key term for an academic domain, does not make sense anymore.

It is time for us, as an academic journal, to take an “academic sabbatical” to define the future of our journal in light of the possible futures of both worlds (real and virtual). Of course, this will be an active Sabbatical where we try to grapple with several questions that revolve around the nature of the field, and on how we best advance it as an academic journal.

* http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/

** Update from October 2015: the book was published with 2016 publishing date. See the Springer page about the book.

Submission Instructions

Authors are invited to submit original scholarly papers of 1000-3000 words including footnotes, references, and appendices. Interested authors should submit a full paper by the deadline indicated below. All submissions should be made via the JVWR publishing system (see www.jvwr.net > About JVWR > For Authors). All submissions will be peer reviewed. Accepted papers will be published online in the Volume 8, Number 2 (2015) of the Journal.

Deadlines and Timeline

Authors submit full papers: June 30, 2015
Editors return review report and initial decisions: July 15, 2015
Authors submit the revised papers: September 15, 2015
Editors return final comments and decisions: September 20, 2015
Authors submit final versions: October 20, 2015
Planned Publication: October 31, 2015

Further Information

Please contact:

Yesha Sivan yesha.sivan AT jvwresearch DOT org
Tzafnat Shpak tzafnat.shpak AT jvwresearch DOT org

CfP: Quick Turnaround Assembled 2016

Call for Papers

Published: October 2016


The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://www.jvwresearch.org/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the various disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds research. Virtual worlds ignite a continuously evolving area of study that spans multiple disciplines and the JVWR editorial team looks forward to engaging a wide range of creative and scholarly research.

Note: this is a good opportunity for authors for a quick turnaround of papers with November 2016 decision on publication and January 2017 actual publication.

Motivation and Scope

The Assembled issue is a place for various papers, on the topic of the journal – that are being collected during the year and published usually once a year.

Authors who would like to submit directly to the ‘Assembled’ issue should do so by adding the words “submitted for Assembled” in the “Comments for Editor” on the 1st step of the submitting process.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

  • 3D fun
  • Mini robots
  • Social networks that change our mind
  • Artificial limps
  • New forms of hardware
  • Augmented and mixed environments
  • Wearables
  • User generated content
  • 3D printing
  • Visual data streaming
  • Immersive technologies
  • Shopping from home
  • Projections of the real
  • Wireless people
  • Portable friends
  • The Internet of Things
  • Virtual currencies
  • E-readers
  • And more

See past Assembled issues:

Assembled 2010
Assembled 2011
Assembled 2012
Assembled 2013
Assembled 2014
Assembled 2015

Submission Instructions

Authors are invited to submit original scholarly papers of 3000-5000 words including footnotes, references, and appendices. Interested authors should submit a full paper by the deadline indicated below. All submissions should be made via the JVWR publishing system (see www.jvwreserach.org > About JVWR > For Authors). All submissions will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published online in Volume 9, Number 3 (2016) of the Journal.

Deadlines and Timetable

Issue editor(s) are to be announced.
If you wish to enhance your editing experience with this quick turnaround issue – please send email request to the JVWR coordinating editor tzafnat.shpak AT jvwresearch.org

  • November 25, 2016: Authors submit full paper
  • November 30, 2016: Editors return initial decision
  • December 20, 2016: Authors submit final revision
  • December 31, 2016: Camera ready
  • January 5, 2017: Publication

Further Information

Please contact: [email protected]

CfP: Assembled 2016 Part 1

Call for Papers

Published: December 12, 2015


(C) Worlds. Digital painting by Tzafnat Bekin Shpak

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (https://jvwr.net/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship. We welcome contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds’ research.

Motivation and Scope

The Assembled issue is a place for various papers, on the topic of the journal – that are being collected during the year and published usually once a year (in 2016 we will experiment with two assembled issues.)

Authors who would like to submit directly to the ‘Assembled’ issue should do so by adding the words “submitted for Assembled” in the “Comments for Editor” on the 1st step of the submitting process.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

  • 3D fun
  • Mini robots
  • Social networks that change our mind
  • Artificial limbs
  • New forms of hardware
  • Augmented and mixed environments
  • Wearables
  • User generated content
  • 3D printing
  • Visual data streaming
  • Immersive technologies
  • Shopping from home
  • Projections of the real
  • Wireless people
  • Portable friends
  • The Internet of Things
  • Virtual currencies
  • E-readers
  • And more

See past Assembled issues:

Assembled 2010

Assembled 2011

Assembled 2012

Assembled 2013

Assembled 2014

Assembled 2015

Deadlines and Timetable:

January 15, 2016: Authors submit full paper – DONE

January 20, 2016: Editors return initial decision – DONE

February 25, 2016: Reviewers return final review – DONE

February 28, 2016: Editors return final review – DONE

March 25, 2016: Authors submit final revision – DONE

March 31, 2016: Camera ready papers – DONE

April 14, 2016: Publication – DONE

Further Information

Some statistics
We have reviewed 25 submissions in this batch for the Assembled issue to be published in 2016Q1. Of them:

—  5 “Accepted with revisions” papers — they will now go for further review.
— 10 “Ask for revisions” papers — the authors can submit a new version which will be considered for the next issue (~2016Q3).
— 10 “declined” papers — mostly due to lack of impact, triviality, unneeded complexity, or disconnect with the state of the art.

For inquiries and requests please contact: info AT Jvwresearch.com