Submission guidelines

Editorial procedure

Single-blind peer review

This journal follows a single-blind reviewing procedure.

This journal also publishes special/guest-edited issues. The peer review process for these articles is the same as the peer review process of the journal in general.

Additionally, if a guest editor authors an article in their issue/collection, they will not handle the peer review process.

Editorial Procedure—additional information

Peer Review Process

Historical Archaeology follows a single-blind peer review process. Although the Editors of Historical Archaeology strive for the most timely and efficient process for peer review, our over-arching goal is to provide substantive reviews to our authors along with constructive suggestions for improvements and clarifications when needed. Manuscripts submitted to Historical Archaeology are usually reviewed by at least two referees selected from the relevant worldwide research community together with one Associate Editor. No article is accepted without two complete and final reviews. For revisions of prior submissions, it is common for suggested major revisions to be re-evaluated by the original referees, but articles requiring only minor revisions are often only re-evaluated by the original Associate Editors and Editors-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief assigns the Associate Editor for each manuscript. The Associate Editor is a key point-of-contact for the corresponding author, who works closely with the Associate Editor during the review process. The reviewers handling a paper are all anonymous and are invited by the manuscript’s Associate Editors. Although Associate Editors are tasked with making recommendations on each submission that they handle and can request revisions as well, only the Editors-in-Chief can make a final decision to accept or reject an article.

When selecting reviewers, the editorial board seeks to avoid conflicts of interest and close associates of the authors, such as frequent collaborators, former advisees, or former advisors. Historical Archaeology accepts manuscript submissions from its own editorial board members in cases in which the referees handling the manuscript can remain fully confidential. To be accepted, manuscripts submitted by editorial board members must meet the same quality standards as all other accepted submissions; there is absolutely no special preference or consideration given to such submissions.

To find out more about publishing your work Open Access in Historical Archaeology, including information on fees, funding and licenses, visit our Open access publishing page.