How do you measure the reach, quality and effectiveness of journals in the areas of game studies and virtual environments? Many of them do not clearly feature impact factors, but by using commercial software one may be able to get a better idea of how well they help the h-index of submitted papers. I won’t get into the debate here on open access journals but as some of the below journals are open access, and some are extremely expensive, this should also be a consideration, especially if one is writing also for a non-academic audience (such as game designers).

I have been reading a few articles on how book chapters do not get cited (Anderson, 2012; Bishop, 2012) and whether academics should write book reviews (Toor, 2012). In Virtual Heritage research many conferences are not fully published and indexed, while the book chapters are seldom cited.  There are some good articles out there on how to get published (Armstrong, undated), but why bother if one is not cited? Lack of citations probably also means that one is not read by a serious professional audience.

And I note in (my) area, some of the more famous journals appear to be

• Game Studies non-profit, open access, online, and has some of the best papers.
• Intellect Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds* subscribers and pay per view.
• SAGE Games and Culture*  Impact Factor: 0.395, 2011 Ranking: 12/35 in Cultural Studies. 54/72 in Communication, Source: 2011 Journal Citation Reports ® (Thomson Reuters, 2012).
• ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (not indexed even by ACM)? Now competing with the new Elsevier Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (not yet indexed).
• Lulu Journal of Game Design and Development Education (JGDDE). Charges $30 for print, free online.
• ACM Virtual Reality Journal.
• SAGE Simulation and Gaming.
• IGI International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS) (used to review and edit book reviews for them). $30 USD for articles.
• International Journal of Design. Free online (creative commons). 5-Year Impact Factor: 1.253
• ACM Computers in Entertainment (hmm, good article on FSP on multiwall displays).
• Elsevier Entertainment Computing. Has some open access options.
• Hindawi, International Journal of Computer Game Technology, open access, peer reviewed. For more game journals try here.

NB related VR/VE/ graphics journals impact factors here.

*I am on the editorial boards of the above journals.

UPDATE: you can compare the above journals at SCIMAGOJR website.