WordPress as a digital journal CMS

Hi folks.
I need to set up a digital academic journal, based on periodic issues: articles must be published all together, and always stay grouped, as in any academic journal. So in the main page there must (ideally) be a index of issues, which are links to collection of articles.
Which is the smartest way to accomplish this with WordPress? Is there any specific plugin? Or should I make one myself? (I am familiar with the procedure, I am building an event plugin)
Any suggestion is welcome.
Cheers,
Davide