Cambridge Archaeological Journal

The Cambridge Archaeological Journal (ISSN 0959-7743) was founded in 1991 as one of the key initiatives of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. Now in its twenty-first year, it has come to be recognized as the leading journal in its chosen field of cognitive archaeology. CAJ is published three times a year in February, June and October. It covers significant archaeological research, both theoretical and descriptive.

We are keen to receive articles and other material that deals with broadly-defined cognitive issues such as art and iconography, burial and ritual, representations and symbolism, and the evolution of human cognition. We aim to promote research into these issues, and to provoke discussion and debate.

CAJ has no restriction on period or place, and we are happy to receive material from any part of the world. Recently published papers have spanned the whole range of archaeology from the Lower Palaeolithic to Colonialism, and from the Pacific to Central Asia, from Maya cities to Neolithic northwest Europe.

Instructions for contributors

Submission of an article is taken to imply that it has not previously been published, and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. Upon acceptance of a paper, the author will be asked to assign copyright (on certain conditions) to the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

Contributors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any material in which they do not own copyright, to be used in both print and electronic media, and for ensuring that the appropriate acknowledgements are included in their manuscript.

Submissions

Submission of an article is taken to imply that it has not previously been published, and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. Upon acceptance of a paper, the author will be asked to assign copyright (on certain conditions) to the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

Contributors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any material in which they do not own copyright, to be used in both print and electronic media, and for ensuring that the appropriate acknowledgements are included in their manuscript.

Manuscript Preparation

Articles should normally be up to 12,000 words, but longer articles will be considered. There is also provision for shorter notes of up to 5000 words. In the case of articles (though not shorter notes) an abstract of up to 180 words should be supplied. In both cases the affiliation and email address of each author should appear just before the references and a 50-word biography of each author specifying current academic position, subject interests and any relevant publications should be included after the bibliography.

Electronic submission by email is encouraged although we are happy to accept submissions on CD or via hard copy (double-spaced and on one side of A4) as preferred. For initial submissions, figures should preferably be embedded in text as lower resolution versions and can be in either b+w or colour in the printed version, all will be published in colour online. Figures for revised versions which have been accepted for publication should be submitted on CD as individual high-quality digital files. There is some scope for including online supplementary material.

For matters of style, prospective contributors should use the current issue of the Journal as a guide to preferred practice. Detailed guidelines are available from the Editor at online. (.pdf)