Editor: Angela Collins, 319-384-0726
Thank you for considering a submission to the Journal of the Iowa Archeological Society. Established by the Iowa Archeological Society in 1951, JIAS is a regional archaeological journal that publishes annually, typically in Spring.
Types of Papers Published
We encourage you to submit to the JIAS, it publishes a wide range of articles. It focuses on Iowa precontact and historical archaeology, but JIAS also publishes archaeological papers from other regions, typically the Midwest, and publishes papers on early Iowa history. Biographical sketches, current issues in archeological theory and method, site reports and data analyses, and reviews of recently published books are considered for publication.
Less formal reports and short summaries of research can be submitted to the Newsletter of the Iowa Archeological Society; the current editor of the Newsletter is Elizabeth Reetz.
Acceptance and Publication Schedule
Submitted papers will be reviewed by the editor for appropriateness, quality and relevance of research, adherence to submission standards, and alacrity of revision. Occasionally the editor may review submissions with the IAS Board, listed on the inside cover of the JIAS. Because it is an annual publication, waits of one or two years is typical.
Book Reviews
Book reviews are published in most issues. A reviewer may submit a book review on their own, or may ask the editor for suggestions on books to review. The editor can help reviewers obtain complementary copies of reviewed books. All book reviewers must disclose professional relationships with the authors they are reviewing.
Authorship, Responsibility, and Copyright
Determination of co-authorship is left up to the primary author, but typically co-authors include people who have contributed substantial research directly for the paper or have written substantial portions of the paper. The primary author will correspond with co-authors about changes; co-authors will receive complementary copies. Primary authors are responsible for the content and accuracy of their papers, including accuracy of citations, proper attributions of research, figures, and quotations. Any potential conflicts of interest by any author must be disclosed to the editor. The Iowa Archeological Society maintains copyrights on all material published in the JIAS, but will typically allow authors to freely reproduce their own articles; contact the editor with questions.
Style
The JIAS adheres to the SAA Style Guide. At the end of this document are styles you can apply to a Word document, if that is what you are using, but don’t worry too much about it, these formatting styles can also be applied by the editor.
One recent change is that JIAS now uses a modified version of the SAA bibliography style, similar to the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology’s style, in which the author’s name is on the same line as the year, which is in parentheses. See the latest issue for examples.
References Cited note: JIAS currently uses the MCJA-modified version of SAA style for references cited. Note the difference in that the publication year is in parentheses. If one author has multiple publications, list the author’s full name on each reference.
Examples:
- Foster, Lance M. (2009) The Indians of Iowa. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.
- Anderson, Duane C. (1973a) Ioway Ethnology: A Review. Part I. Annals of Iowa 41(8):1228–1241.
- Anderson, Duane C. (1973b) Ioway Ethnology: A Review. Part II. Annals of Iowa 42(1):40–59.
Length
Length of articles can vary greatly; listed here are very flexible guidelines. An article of moderate length is about 5,000–8,000 words, including all text, bibliography, captions, and tables. Shorter articles are about 2,500 words. Longer manuscripts that take up the entire journal are occasionally considered, these might be 15,000–25,000 words. Book reviews are typically less than 1,000 words. Because of space limitations, the editor will typically suggest portions to cut or shrink. A moderate size article can have about 5–10 figures, more if they can be clearly reproduced at small size.
Research Data
Even if research data are not published, copies of all digital data used in analysis or to produce results used in the paper must be submitted to the JIAS or be on file at the University of Iowa State Archaeologist Office, or the Iowa State Historic Preservation Office. Upon request, these data may be shared with interested researchers, following the State of Iowa’s standards for archaeological site confidentiality.
Peer Review
JIAS articles are not typically peer-reviewed, but, upon request, a peer review is possible. Articles that are peer-reviewed are noted as such. Peer reviewed articles can take substantially longer time to produce.
Submission Information
Smaller submissions (<20 mb) and correspondence can be sent by email to an************@***wa.edu. Larger submission can be uploaded to a cloud storage folder, email the editor for details.
Text
Text can be submitted in a wide variety of digital formats, Word documents (.docx) are preferred. Captions for figures should be included, either as a list the end of the document or as a separate document.
Figures
Figures can be submitted as original art or photo prints, but digital submission is preferred. All figures must display well in black and white or greyscale, and, if text is used on a figure, it must be in a format that can be easily edited. A wide range of image formats are allowed, but resolution must be high enough to be 300 dpi at final printing size; the editor will let you know if the images are of adequate quality. More information about image file formats, please see the Graphic Guidelines. If any of your figures originated from an archive or library, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission to reproduce the image in this venue, then include this permission as part of the figure caption: “. . . , reproduced with permission.”
Please note that images of human remains (photographs or line drawings) or any funerary objects (NAGRPA related) cannot be included in the JIAS without Tribal consultation. It is best to avoid using these images or allow for extended period of time for consultation.
Tables
It is preferred that tables be submitted as separate Excel spreadsheet tabs or separate files with minimal formatting. They can also be submitted along with the text at the end of the document after the figure captions. See the Template for guidelines.
Special Notes
The use of footnotes/endnotes will generally not be accepted, so please either incorporate the information into the main text or remove from your submission.
Due to space and formatting limitations, appendixes are not generally included within the JIAS issue. If your submission includes one or more appendixes that you would like to be made available to other researchers, please contact the JIAS editor about how to upload that data to a specified platform.
Accessibility
Please note that all formatting for text and tables needs to be simplified so screen readers can accurately read the data, as per ADA compliance standards.
This means:
- Keep tables straight forward and as simple as possible.
- Do NOT nest headers. Keep them as a single cell for each column.
- Every cell needs to have something typed inside it. If no data is present or applicable, then use “No data” or a hyphen (“-“) in that cell.
The editor will return complicated tables that do follow these rules to the author to either revise or remove from submission.
Example:
Graphic Guidelines
Graphics in a publication can vary tremendously depending on source material and program use. This information intends to simplify and inform the authors on the best image quality for their graphics to ensure high quality print and screen viewing. Understanding the difference between raster and vector graphics will help to determine the file format to use for your graphic submissions.
Raster = image stored in pixels. The more pixels, the more data (higher resolution). Lower resolution will appear fuzzy because there are fewer pixels. Examples of file formats include .tif, .png, and .jpeg (or.jpg). The .tif file format is the only format that does not compress information. Jpeg and png file formats compress the data, which will cause some fuzziness and loss of data.
Vector = image is stored by geometric shapes and font data that preserves the intended crispness and (in some formats) is able to be edited. The most common vector formats used for publishing include .pdf and .eps. However, if graphics are created in programs such as ArcMap (.mxd), Adobe Photoshop (.psd), Adobe Illustrator (.ai), or other programs, and include computer generated text or shapes, then this original program format is preferred for submission. If the original program is uncommon, you can Export or Print to an Adobe Acrobat PDF or possibly .eps. When you export or print from the original program, the vector information is retained. Note that if you start with a raster image, you will not gain any data by saving it in a vector format. Once the data is lost in a raster file format, you cannot gain it back.
| Graphic Type | Raster | Vector |
|---|---|---|
| Photographs | At least 300 dpi at the expected print size (.psd, .tif, .png, .jpeg) | |
| Hand drawings | At least 300 dpi, but higher resolution is often better (.psd, .tif, .png, .jpeg) | |
| Computer generated maps | Highest resolution possible (.tif, .png), Jpg not recommended. | Preferred (.pdf, .ai, .psd, .eps) |
| Any graphic with computer generated text or shapes | Highest resolution possible (.tif, .png), Jpg not recommended. | Preferred (.pdf, .ai, .psd, .eps) |