ACGN Nexus is an open-access, editorially reviewed academic journal bridging ACGN (Animation, Comic, Game, Novel) culture with the social sciences and humanities. Published by SciHorizon Global LLC.

FOCUS AND SCOPE

ACGN Nexus publishes original research, ethical inquiry, critical commentary, and interdisciplinary dialogues that examine the cultural, social, psychological, philosophical, legal, and economic dimensions of ACGN phenomena. We welcome submissions from sociology, psychology, philosophy, communication studies, law, economics, political science, aesthetics, game studies, fan studies, media studies, digital humanities, and related fields.

The journal publishes four sections:
- Nexus Papers: Original research connecting ACGN culture with social science
- Ethics Arena: Ethical inquiry and debate on ACGN-related moral issues
- Deep Dive: In-depth critical commentary and analysis
- Crossover: Interdisciplinary dialogues, interviews, and collaborative pieces

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

ACGN Nexus is a Gold Open Access journal. All published content is immediately and permanently available to read, download, and share at no cost to readers. We believe scholarship on ACGN culture should be as accessible as the culture itself.

There are no subscription fees, access barriers, or embargo periods. Article Processing Charges (APC) are set at 100 USD per article and are currently waived for all submissions as a long-term introductory policy.

REVIEW PROCESS

All submissions undergo editorial screening by the Editorial Board. When a submission falls outside the editors' domain expertise, double-blind peer review is conducted to ensure fair and informed evaluation. The editorial team is committed to timely, constructive, and rigorous assessment of all manuscripts.

Typical turnaround: 2–4 weeks (editorial only) or 4–6 weeks (with peer review).

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING

Authors retain full copyright of their work. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted sharing, adaptation, and reuse, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s).

Full license terms: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

PUBLICATION ETHICS

ACGN Nexus follows the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We are committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics, including rigorous handling of plagiarism, data integrity, authorship disputes, and conflicts of interest. Authors are required to disclose AI tool usage, archive ephemeral online references, and provide data availability statements. For full details, see our Publication Ethics page.

ARCHIVAL AND DIGITAL PRESERVATION

ACGN Nexus is committed to the long-term preservation of published content. All articles are assigned DOIs via Crossref to ensure persistent identification and discoverability.

We recognize that ACGN scholarship frequently cites web-based and ephemeral sources. To address this, we require authors to archive non-DOI/ISBN online references using the Wayback Machine or equivalent services, and to retain local snapshots of sources that cannot be publicly archived.

The journal is exploring inclusion in LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) and CLOCKSS for distributed archival preservation.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

ACGN Nexus collects and stores the names, email addresses, and affiliations of registered users solely for the purposes of operating the journal—managing submissions, communicating with authors and editors, and notifying readers of new publications. Personal information will not be shared with or sold to third parties. Users may request deletion of their account and data by contacting [email protected].