Aims & Scope

Journal of Applied Cryptanalysis & System Integrity (JACSI)

JACSI is a Diamond Open Access, peer-reviewed overlay journal dedicated to the intersection of applied cryptanalysis and system integrity verification. The journal publishes original research that bridges the gap between theoretical cryptanalytic advances and their real-world impact on system security, data integrity, and critical infrastructure protection.

JACSI operates as an overlay journal: submitted manuscripts must first be deposited on a recognized preprint server (IACR Cryptology ePrint Archive or arXiv cs.CR). The journal provides rigorous open peer review on top of the preprint infrastructure.

Publication Frequency

JACSI operates on a continuous publication (rolling) basis. Articles are published individually as soon as peer review and production are complete. Issues are compiled retrospectively for citation and archival purposes. There is no fixed publication schedule — the journal publishes year-round without volume or issue deadlines.

Scope

JACSI welcomes original research papers, systematization of knowledge (SoK) papers, and short communications in the following areas:

1. Applied Cryptanalysis

  • Practical attacks on deployed cryptographic systems
  • Side-channel and fault-injection analysis of cryptographic implementations
  • Reduced-round and structural cryptanalysis of symmetric and asymmetric primitives
  • Black-box statistical methods for cipher quality assessment
  • Cryptanalytic tool development and methodology

2. Post-Quantum Cryptography Validation

  • Security evaluation of NIST PQC standards (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA, HQC)
  • Implementation security of lattice-based, hash-based, and code-based schemes
  • Hybrid classical/post-quantum protocol analysis
  • PQC migration integrity: protocol composition, parameter negotiation, interoperability
  • Cryptographic agility assessment

3. System Integrity Verification

  • Cryptographic validation of system states and configurations
  • Integrity measurement architectures
  • Trusted computing and attestation
  • Supply chain integrity and software provenance
  • Formal verification of security-critical systems

4. Digital Forensics & Evidence Integrity

  • Cryptographic chain of custody verification
  • Digital evidence authenticity and provenance
  • Forensic analysis of cryptographic artifacts
  • Anti-forensics detection and countermeasures
  • Integrity of forensic tool chains

5. Training Data Integrity & Synthetic Data Detection

  • Statistical methods for detecting synthetic or manipulated training data
  • Model integrity verification and watermarking
  • Data provenance in machine learning pipelines
  • Distributional analysis of AI-generated content
  • Compression-based integrity metrics for data quality assessment

6. Maritime & Critical Infrastructure Information Security

  • AIS (Automatic Identification System) security and spoofing detection
  • Maritime communication system integrity (NMEA, VDES, ASM)
  • SCADA/ICS cryptographic protection in maritime and industrial environments
  • Critical infrastructure monitoring and anomaly detection
  • Sector-specific threat modeling and risk assessment

What JACSI Does NOT Publish

  • Purely theoretical cryptography without system-level implications
  • AI/ML applied to generic cybersecurity problems (without integrity/cryptanalysis focus)
  • Surveys or literature reviews (unless they constitute a rigorous SoK)
  • Vendor-specific product evaluations
  • Papers without reproducible methodology

Article Types

Type Length Description
Research Paper 8,000-12,000 words Original contribution with full methodology and results
SoK Paper 10,000-15,000 words Systematization of Knowledge — comprehensive analysis of a subfield
Short Communication 3,000-5,000 words Significant preliminary results, negative results, or tool descriptions
Registered Report Variable Pre-registered methodology; reviewed before results are obtained

Subject Classification

  • Scopus ASJC: 2614 (Theoretical Computer Science), 1701 (Computer Science misc.), 1705 (Computer Networks and Communications)
  • ACM CCS: Security and privacy → Cryptanalysis and other attacks; Systems security; Digital rights management
  • MSC 2020: 94A60 (Cryptography), 68P25 (Data encryption)