Please read this Editorial Policy before submitting a proposal. For full details on how to submit a proposal, see our Guidelines for Authors section.
Internet Archaeology (IA) is the first peer-reviewed digital journal for archaeology, publishing articles of a high academic standing using the strengths and potential of digital publication. The journal publishes a broad and international range of archaeological and related heritage research for the widest possible readership. Long (monograph-length) and short articles are all welcome. The editor will always look for opportunities to present content in ways that can't be done in print. Unless otherwise noted, content in the journal is disseminated under a CC-BY 3.0 licence.
Anywhere. Part of the importance of archaeological research is that it allows us to examine the relationships between the material culture and development of societies separated in time and space. Internet Archaeology therefore has no geographical limits but will accept and actively seek articles from all continents and countries of the world.
Any time. Archaeology is the study of human interaction with the environment and material culture through time. Internet Archaeology will therefore accept articles covering any time period from the appearance of hominids through to studies of heritage and contemporary use of material culture. The chronological scope of the journal is reviewed at regular intervals and the Editor and Advisory Committee take a pro-active role to fill any gaps in coverage by commissioning content.
All archaeology and related topics. Internet Archaeology will publish articles on a wide range of archaeological and heritage research be that excavation and fieldwork reports, artefact and environmental studies, theory and methodology. Interim reports/articles concerning preliminary findings of on-going work are not usually considered. The editor particularly encourages the integration of data within articles and the linking to related digital archive material and welcomes visually-rich content such as images, 2D and 3D visualisations and video as well as audio.
Internet Archaeology is a journal of record and has been at the forefront of raising the quality of archaeological information available on-line since 1996. The journal generally operates a two stage review process. Articles undergo expert evaluation and peer-review (not always but usually double blind) which follows an initial editorial screening at the proposal stage. Advisory editors can assist the Editor in screening and in selecting suitable peer-reviewers. Reviewers are selected based on their known specialism and experise in the field(s) in question and in most cases will be selected from outside the journal's Advisory editors. Acceptance for publication is based solely on editorial criteria and not on the author's ability to pay the APC (article processing charge, see below).
The Editor strives to make the peer-review and editorial process as rapid as possible, but is not pushed through at the expense of quality. Authors may expect a 2 to 4 month interval between submission of a first full text draft and its publication. Longer articles and articles with more complex technical requirements will naturally take longer to prepare and this should be factored in if other timescales and deadlines need to be adhered to.
The journal may use anti-plagiarism software to ensure academic integrity. If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the article may be rejected.
Open access to archaeological research offers significant academic and social benefits. Providing free, immediate, online access is the most effective way of ensuring that research can be accessed, read and built upon and is central to the continuing development of learning and teaching in archaeology. Internet Archaeology provides immediate Open Access to all its content and an author charge is levied to cover for production/development costs.
Internet Archaeology is a 'Gold' open access journal and a one-time fee (APC) is charged per published article (or by arrangement for richer articles and themed issues).
APCs are commensurate with length plus technical components (and long term management), given the range and complexity of digital content the journal supports. Fees are calculated on a per-article basis and based on information provided at the proposal stage and when the requirements/expectations of the article have been established. The fee consists of staff costs for editing, mark-up, copy-editing (by a specialist archaeological copy-editor), graphics and any other technical requirements, all associated management costs, and full archival/preservation costs with ADS (plus VAT where applicable). The fee is only payable after a successful referee stage.
The decision to accept for publication in Internet Archaeology is independent of ability to pay. A discount or full waiver may be offered to authors who do not have access to funds, including authors from developing countries. If this applies to you, you must fill out an application to our Open Access Archaeology fund and indicate you plan to request a waiver in your proposal (please note that your application to this fund will only be considered if you have a draft ready to submit). Waivers will be considered on a case-by-case basis but are likely to be limited.
The editor welcomes subsequent addenda or 'new editions' of research published in the journal which can easily be linked to the original piece of work (and vice versa). Authors are requested to contact the journal about such requirements. Interfaces used in some articles e.g. a data query form, may be updated as hardware and software evolve and require migration, but the data itself will remain unaltered. Although we will try our best not to decommission interfaces, should the need arise, we will ensure that an alternative route to the same data be provided.
English is the language of publication in Internet Archaeology. If suitably-qualified referees and sub-editors can be found, Internet Archaeology will consider publishing articles in another language. In all cases, a summary should, however, be provided in English.
Internet Archaeology does not impose any length restrictions on content and the editor will accept articles of any length provided that this is clearly justified by the content.
Internet Archaeology disseminates content under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC-BY) licence. Under this licence, authors do not assign their copyright to Internet Archaeology but instead retain ownership of the copyright, and allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy the content as long as the original authors and the source are cited with re-users making clear the licence terms under which the work was published.
The final published version of an article and all its associated elements are catalogued and deposited with the Archaeology Data Service, the management and ongoing maintenance cost of which is factored into the APC.
The journal is hosted on a series of servers at the University of York which are routinely backed-up on and off-site and which are shared with the Archaeology Data Service, the national digital archive for archaeology (also based at the University). The ADS follows the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model (see the ADS's current Preservation Policy).
All data, code and other methods should be appropriately cited. Such materials should be recognized as original intellectual contributions and afforded recognition through citation.
Internet Archaeology will publish articles where authors indicate whether the data, methods used in the analysis, and materials used to conduct the research will be made available to any researcher for purposes of reproducing the results or replicating the analysis.
The policy of Internet Archaeology is to publish articles where authors follow standards for disclosing key aspects of the research design and data analysis. Although designed primarily for editors, authors are also encouraged to review the publication standards from COPE.
The policy of Internet Archaeology is to encourage submission of replication studies, including research published in Internet Archaeology and digital data deposited with the Archaeology Data Service.
Digital data are core to modern scholarship and the editor encourages authors to consider innovative modes of digital dissemination as a primary or secondary outcome of publication projects, while encouraging good practice in data management, preservation and access. One of the unique features of Internet Archaeology is the ability to integrate data within the article narrative. Another is providing a 'shop window' onto archived data via a companion data paper publication or via a larger 'integrated publication' (see for example Silchester Roman Town Insula IX: The Development of an Urban Property c. AD 40-50 - c. AD 250). Internet Archaeology expects that all supporting data, if not part of the Internet Archaeology article submission, are deposited in an appropriate public digital archive or repository, such as the Archaeology Data Service.
Authors should note that all digital archives have their own deposit procedures and charges, which will be completely separate from any such negotiations with Internet Archaeology. Where links to such additional archived data from an article are desirable, authors do need to consider the impact such requirements may have on timing and planning of their article.
Internet Archaeology has no desire to compete with paper-based publications and recognises that for some, books and journals may still be easier to read and easier to curate than digital publications. The advantages of digital publication are that there is less restriction on size for its own sake, more possibilities for multimedia, for indexing and retrieval and cross-referencing from one document to another. Internet Archaeology will consider publishing expanded and cross-referenced versions of printed works but is much keener to encourage collaboration on and implementation of the recommendations of the CBA's 2003 PUNS report which advocates the routine publication of digital archives alongside and structural and specialist digital reports alongside printed outputs.
Internet Archaeology will review works published in digital form (including e-books, apps, web resources, software etc.). Digital counterparts to print publications are also considered. Our policy is generally not to review books or anything that is solely published in print, but exceptions can be made e.g. where the printed publication concerns archaeological computing.
Internet Archaeology is an open access journal based in the Department of Archaeology, University of York. Except where otherwise noted, content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY) Unported licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that attribution to the author(s), the title of the work, the Internet Archaeology journal and the relevant URL/DOI are given.
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Internet Archaeology content is preserved for the long term with the Archaeology Data Service. Help sustain and support open access publication by donating to our Open Access Archaeology Fund.
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