Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

Updated 2024

Ethical and Legal Conditions

The publication of a manuscript in a peer-reviewed work is expected to follow standards of ethical behaviour for all parties involved in the act of publishing: authors, editors, and reviewers. Authors, editors, and reviewers should thoroughly acquaint themselves with Brill’s publication ethics, which may be downloaded here: brill.com/page/ethics/publication-ethics-cope-compliance.

Submission

All submissions should be sent to acta@worldarchaeology.org. Only original, previously not published articles are accepted for publication in Acta Archaeologica. Upon submission, the author(s) declare that the article is not being considered for publication elsewhere. If accepted, the author(s) comply that the article will not be published elsewhere without the consent of the editors. The manuscript should be submitted electronically. Illustrations should be submitted as separate image files.

The manuscript should be structured with title, abstract, text, notes, appendices (tables, plates, supplementary information), bibliography, figure captions, and the author’s address. Notes should be kept to a minimum. Any acknowledgements should appear as a separate paragraph. The title should be short and contain information about the theme, period, and locality or area.

Prior to submission, authors are encouraged to read the “Instructions for Authors.” All correspondence, including the editor’s request for revision and final decision, is sent by e-mail.

Double-blinded Peer Review

Acta Archaeologica uses a double-blind peer review system, which means that manuscript author(s) do not know who the reviewers are, and that reviewers do not know the names of the author(s). 

All files (manuscript, figures, tables, etc.) should not contain any information concerning author names, institutions, etc. The names of these files and the document properties should also be anonymized (or will be made such by the editors)

The anonymized manuscript file starts with the manuscript title, followed by the abstract and keywords. The rest of this file should be arranged as follows: main article (with footnotes), appendices (if any), and figure captions (if any). Tables and figures, if present, should be uploaded as separate files. Lengthy catalogues, databases, GIS data, etc. will be published online only as supplementary materials.

File Format

Before you upload any files, please ensure that your article follows the style of the MLA Guide.

Please upload source files such as .doc, and not only .pdf files. If the manuscript contains any non-Roman font such as Arabic or Greek, please also upload an anonymized PDF of the text file.

Contact Address

For any questions or problems relating to your manuscript, please contact the journal’s editors at: acta@worldarcheology.org.

Submission Requirements

Language

Manuscripts in (British) English are preferred, but articles in German and French are also accepted. Spelling in English should be consistent throughout. Unless English is their mother tongue, authors should have their manuscripts checked by a native speaker.

Non-Roman Scripts

Ideally, all diacritics should be in Unicode.

For writers unfamiliar with Unicode, all characters that do not appear in the standard Roman alphabet (i.e., accented letters, diacritical marks) should be very plainly identified.

If your article contains non-Roman scripts (e.g., Greek, Cyrillic) or diacritics, please also submit a PDF file in which all non-Roman characters are displayed correctly.

For more information on handling non-Roman scripts, please also see the sections on fonts and Unicode: brill.com/fileasset/downloads_static/static_fonts_latinipaunicodelist.pdf, and brill.com/page/fonts/fonts-scripts-and-unicode on the Brill website online.

Length
We rarely impose limitations on the length of an article but generally advise not to exceed the

limit of 10,000 words, including footnotes.

Manuscript Structure

Wide margins of at least 2.5 cm (1 inch) are to be left on all edges of the page. Please use line spacing of 1.5 for the entire manuscript, including the footnotes.

Abstract and Keywords

Full-length articles should contain a short abstract with a maximum of 150 words in English. The abstract should give a brief summary of the article, an outline of its argumentation, or sum up the points discussed. There should also be 3–8 keywords.

Headings

Please make sure that each level of heading is clear in the text.

1 The First Level Heading

The text. The first paragraph after a section heading, subsection, chapter, or larger sections of quoted text (block quotations) should not be indented.

All subsequent paragraphs should have a first-line indent.

1.1 The Second Level Heading

The text.

1.1.1 The Third Level Heading

The text.

Footnotes

All the notes are writen as footnotes.

Italics

Use italics in the text for non-English words and phrases if they are likely to be unfamiliar to readers.

The grève du zèle is not a true strike but a nitpicking obeying of work rules.

An entire sentence or a passage of two or more sentences in a foreign language is usually set in roman and enclosed in quotation marks.

A translation following a foreign word, phrase, or title is enclosed in square brackets.

The word she wanted was pécher [to sin], not pêcher [to fish].

Leonardo Fioravanti’s Compendio de i secreti rationali [Compendium of Rational Secrets] became a best seller.

When giving the translation of an English word, phrase, or title, enclose the translation in square brackets.

The word she wanted was to sin [pécher], not to fish [pêcher].

Italics should also be used for the titles of books and songs mentioned in a text.

Bold or underline is never used in the article text (may be used in titles and tables). Underlined text will be changed to italics.

Quotation Marks

Single quotation marks (‘ ’) are used to distinguish words, concepts or short phrases under discussion.

Direct quotations of less than twenty-five words should be enclosed in double quotation marks (“ ”) and run-on in the text.

Double quotation marks (“ ”) should also be used in the footnotes for the titles of journal articles, songs, poems and reference works.

As for correct punctuation featuring quotation marks, periods and commas are placed within quotation marks, while colons, exclamation marks, and question marks are not, unless they are part of the quotation.

He went on to discuss the subject of ‘correct punctuation,’ which he had previously explored in his article “How to write scientifically.”

He exclaimed that “correct punctuation is of utmost importance”!

Block Quotations

Block quotations are larger sections of quoted text (i.e. anything over three lines): set these off from

other text by adding a blank line above and below the section, and indent the block of text on the left. These larger sections, or ‘block quotations’, should not be enclosed in quotation marks.

They are the same size font as the rest of your text, and not smaller.

Quotations from Poetry

When taking short quotations from poetry (fewer than three lines of verse), mark breaks with a slash (/) at the end of each line of verse. A space should precede and follow the slash.

Cullen concludes, “Of all the things that happened here / That’s all I remember” (11–12).

Omissions in Quotations (Ellipses)

An ellipsis is the omission of a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage. Omission of words or phrases in a quotation should be indicated by using three-spaced periods with square brackets on either side ([…]) to distinguish between an ellipsis that has been added and the ellipses that might have been in the original text.

It does not build, […] nor cherish the arts, nor foster religion […].

En- and Em-dashes

So-called en (–) and em (—) dashes should be used in lieu of a hyphen (-) in certain situations.

Use an en-dash between page numbers in footnotes and between dates (e.g. 21 February 1866–16 March 1925).

Use an em-dash to emphasize information without which one cannot understand the rest of the sentence or a break within a sentence.

Numbers and Dates

All numbers up to twenty should be spelt out.

Numbers with more than four digits should feature a comma to facilitate reading comprehension, e.g. “1,300” (an exception to this rule would be dates and years).

Dates should follow the day-month-year format, with the month not abbreviated, e.g. “26 May 1889.”  Dates according to the Hebrew calendar should be converted to the respective dates on the Gregorian calendar. This holds true for citations as well.

References

In Text References

In Text Reference Items must exist as a work in the Bibliography (see ‘Bibliography’ further below). In Text Reference Items should be enclosed in parentheses in the main text – in the following called an In Text Reference Block.

NB! (Item; Item; Item) = Block

An In Text Reference Item consists of:

Author(s) [Last name(s)]

Publication year(s) [YYYY]/Publication status [unpublished or forthcoming]

Internal reference(s) – page number(s), plate number(s), fig. number(s), table number(s), note(s), etc.

With regards to references with three or more author names, the list of authors must be shortened to one name + ‘et al.’, but all authors must be written in full in the Bibliography.

If more than one work is referenced, each In Text Reference Item is separated with a semi-colon and enclosed by parentheses in an In Text Reference Block.

Publication status and Internal references must be preceded by a comma.

Internal references (list of) must be separated by a comma.

If an author is referenced multiple times in an In Text Reference Block, the author’s name is only written in the first occurrence – in subsequent In Text Reference Items, the author’s name is omitted. Each occurrence is separated by a semi-colon (please see below: Multiple references to the same author).

In the following are examples of In Text References, arranged according to the type of publication/work, with references.

Single-volume works cited

Multiple-volume works cited

Multiple works cited (after year of publication, not alphabetically)

Multiple references to the same author

Bibliography

The Bibliography must contain all works referenced in the text (please see above, In Text References).

A work in the Bibliography follows this template:

Author(s) [Last name(s) Initial(s), Initial(s) Last name(s)]

Publication year(s) [YYYY]/Publication status [unpublished, forthcoming].

Work title

Work host publication

Internal reference(s) – volume number(s), page number(s), etc.

Publishing location(s)

Publisher (print)

For online digital works, the following template may be used:

Author(s) [Last name(s) Initial(s), Initial(s) Last name(s)]

Publication year(s) [YYYY]/Publication status [unpublished, forthcoming].

Work title

Work host publication + online web address (1)

Internal reference(s) – volume number(s), page number(s), etc.

Publisher (online)

DOI

Author(s): The name of the author consists of Last name, followed by an Initial. When multiple authors the following author names are written in the form ‘Initial + Last name’. The corresponding/primary author should always be the first in the list of authors.

Work title: when the work is published in a periodical (as an article in a journal, annual, etc.) the name of the periodical (Work host publication) is written in italics. When the work is published as an article in a monograph, the Work title is also written in italics.

Work host publication: when the work is a periodical, the host publication is the journal/annual/etc. When the work is an article in a monograph, the work host publication is the monograph.

The name(s) of the Work host publications must be written in full; abbreviated names are not accepted.

(1) When indicating an online web address it should be in the form: protocol (i.e. http:/https:) + server address + document name

Publishing location(s): It is strongly recommended for printed works, while it is optional and usually not applicable for online resources.

Publisher: when the work is a physical (printed) work, publisher must be indicated. When the work is published online by a well-defined publishing unit (publishing company, university, etc.) it is recommended to indicate this.

DOI: DOI is a way to uniquely identify online resources. It is highly recommended to include this since it ensures the availability of the resource. You can read more about DOI here: https://www.doi.org/.

In the following are listed examples of various kinds of works (in print or online), and how they should be listed in the Bibliography.

Print journal article template 

No Abbreviations: names of journals and book series are written in full in Acta Archaeologica.

Print journal article with volume number 

Print journal and yearbook with no volume number

Book reviews

Online journal article template 

Online journal article

Online book review

Print book

Book chapter

Unpublished materials

Forthcoming or in press

Theses and dissertations

Papers read at meetings

Field reports

Figures

Figures refer to graphs, charts, drawings and pictures. All figures must be cited in the text. If there are figures in the manuscript, the author must upload figure files as separate files. These figure files must be uploaded as source files (.jpeg, or .tif), and not .pdfs. If there are figures in colour, there must also be a black-and-white file for each figure. The size of the figure must be appropriate for the journal.

The quality of the figure must be suitable for printing—the resolution should be a minimum of 300 dpi (minimum 600 dpi for line art). The image itself must be sharp, and any text in the figure should be legible (at least corps 9 or larger). A good balance should be maintained between text and figures. Large data sheets or illustrations will be grouped under section of ‘Plates’ or ‘Appendices’ at the end of the article. Databases, maps, 3D documentation, recordings, etc. will be published online only as ‘Supplementary information’. Open formats for supplementary information are preferred, in order to allow access to the information for as many as possible.

It is the author’s responsibility to deal with any eventual permissions concerning the reproduction of any figures; please see point 6 of the Ethical and Legal Conditions above.

Please also provide a separate list of figure captions.

Publication

Proofs

Upon acceptance, a PDF of the article proofs will be sent to each author by e-mail to check carefully for factual and typographic errors. Authors are responsible for checking these proofs and are strongly urged to make use of the Comment & Markup toolbar to note their corrections directly on the proofs. At this stage in the production process only minor corrections are allowed. Alterations to the original manuscript at this stage will result in considerable delay in publication and, therefore, are not accepted unless charged to the author. Proofs should be returned within 7 days of receipt to the journal manager.

E-offprints

A PDF file of the article will be supplied free of charge by the publisher to authors for personal use. Brill is a RoMEO yellow publisher. The author retains the right to self-archive the submitted (pre-peer-review) version of the article at any time. The submitted version of an article is the author’s version that has not been peer-reviewed, nor had any value added to it by Brill (such as formatting or copy editing). The author retains the right to self-archive the accepted (peer-reviewed) version without any embargo period. The accepted version means the version that has been accepted for publication and contains all revisions made after peer reviewing and copy editing, but has not yet been typeset in the publisher’s lay-out. The publisher’s lay-out must not be used in any repository or on any website (brill.com/resources/authors/publishing-books-brill/self-archiving-rights).

License to Publish

Transfer of Copyright

By submitting a manuscript, the author agrees that the exclusive license to publish the article is transferred to the Publisher if and when the article is accepted for publication. For that purpose the author needs to sign the License to Publish, which will be sent with the first proofs of the manuscript.

Open Access

Should the author wish to publish the article in Open Access he/she can choose the Brill Open option. This allows for non-exclusive Open Access publication under a Creative Commons license in exchange for an Article Publication Charge (APC), upon signing a special Brill Open Consent to Publish Form.

More information on Brill Open can be found on brill.com/brillopen.