The Journal of Interactive Narrative advances the understanding, design, and application of interactive narratives. The journal is predicated on the interdisciplinary nature of interactive narratives. It is a home for research and practical work that intersects traditional academic disciplines and artistic forms. In addition, the journal overcomes existing limitations in the representation of interactive scholarship through the development of novel formats.
The journal is Open Access Diamond, which means that there is no processing fee (the journal is supported by ARDIN) and articles are free to access via the journal’s website immediately upon publication. The journal is dedicated to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion. This means reducing inequalities and closing the gaps of inclusion in the global community. As an organization and journal, we aim to achieve gender balance, the inclusion of early career scholars in our editorial board, and a scope that is inclusive of voices outside of Europe and North America.
You can support the journal by joining ARDIN
Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): Interactive Digital Narrative Gets a Journal
The inaugural issue of the Journal of Interactive Narrative (JIN) represents a revolutionary milestone in academic publishing, fulfilling a vision conceived by Hartmut Koenitz in 2018 to create a journal that embodies the very interactivity it studies. Published by ARDIN in partnership with Carnegie Mellon's ETC Press, this groundbreaking publication moves beyond traditional static PDFs to integrate interactive works, embedded videos, and playable elements directly within scholarly articles. The issue features five diverse articles spanning VR storytelling analysis with embedded Twine narratives (Barbara & Haahr), citizenship education through gaming (Blokland et al.), VR curriculum development (Fisher & Samuels), interactive essaying theory (Dunlop), and a foundational piece on interactive scholarship methodology (Koenitz & Fisher), plus Richard Holeton's featured combinatorial fiction "Figurski at Findhorn on Acid." Led by Editor-in-Chief Koenitz and Managing Editor Fisher, with distinguished advisory board members including Janet Murray and Michael Mateas, JIN establishes new standards for scholarly communication where readers can fluidly transition between theoretical critique and hands-on interaction with the artifacts being analyzed, creating an integrated academic environment that matches the interdisciplinary, experiential nature of interactive narrative research itself.
Published: 2025-07-24
2025-10-02
The Journal of Interactive Narrative has relaunched on the Open Journal System, officially leaving WordPress and EasyChair behind for greater functionality and interactivity.
2025-07-23
The Editor-in-Chief Editor, Hartmut Koenitz, discusses the ideas and efforts that went into the launch of the Journal for Interactive Narrative. It has been quite a journey from the first idea for this journal to the first issue of the Journal of Interactive Narrative, which you are reading now. In 2018, I presented a paper at ICIDS, reflecting on the status of the study of Interactive Digital Narratives as a discipline. I concluded that much progress had been made since the first doctoral thesis on the topic, yet a journal dedicated to the topic was a key missing element.
2025-07-22
The Managing Editor, Joshua A. Fisher, discusses the development of the Journal of Interactive Narrative. In the summer of 2021, Hartmut Koenitz and Frank Nack approached me about establishing a journal for the Association for Research in Digital Interactive Narrative (ARDIN). They presented a challenge: to create an academic platform that not only discussed but also embodied the interactive narratives at the heart of our field.
2025-07-22
The Journal of Interactive Narrative Research advances the understanding, design, and application of interactive narratives. The journal is predicated on the interdisciplinary nature of interactive narratives. It is a home for research and practical work that intersects traditional academic disciplines and artistic forms. In addition, the journal is focused on the development of novel, interactive formats to overcome existing limitations in the representation of interactive scholarship.