About the Cambridge Archaeological Journal

1 Scope | 2 What we seek to publish: themes and topics | 3 What we publish: formats | 4 Who publishes in CAJ | 5 What do we not publish | 6 Article Types

1 Scope

The Cambridge Archaeological Journal (ISSN 0959-7743) was founded in 1991 as one of the key initiatives of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University. Initially envisioned as a Cambridge-based initiative to explore cognitive archaeology, the journal quickly evolved to publish key works in an eclectically-defined social archaeology not narrowly tied to a specific theoretical “school”. From 2006, CAJ expanded from two to three issues a year, increasing again to publish four issues annually from 2015. Past editors include Chris Scarre through 2005, and John Robb from 2006 to the present, joined by co-editors Augusta McMahon (2015-2019) and Elizabeth DeMarrais (2015 – present). CAJ is recognized as one of the leading journals in archaeological theory.

CAJ publishes original research articles, usually as individual contributions, but sometimes as part of thematic special sections addressing current debates and new theoretical approaches. The journal is published four times a year (February, May, August and November), with articles available online ahead of print in many cases. Cambridge Archaeological Journal is indexed in all major journal indexes. All articles published in CAJ are peer-reviewed; peer review is usually completed within 2–3 months from submission.

The editors are Elizabeth DeMarrais (ed226@cam.ac.uk) and John Robb ( jer39@cam.ac.uk). The editors are advised by an international Editorial Board.

2 What we seek to publish: themes and topics

CAJ publishes original research in all areas of archaeology. CAJ places no restriction on period or place, and we are happy to receive material from authors focused upon any part of the world. Recently published papers have covered aspects of the entire global range of archaeology from the Lower Palaeolithic to contemporary archaeology and heritage. We also publish purely theoretical discussions; the journal’s focus is upon social interpretation. We are keen to receive manuscripts dealing with broadly defined social, symbolic and cognitive issues such as art and iconography, burial and ritual, social process and change, meaning and material culture, representations and symbolism, and the evolution of human cognition. We encourage work both in traditional core areas of archaeological thought, and in fast-developing areas of social theory and debate, from evolutionary theory to material culture theory, contemporary archaeology, critical feminism and posthumanism, and ontology and indigenous perspectives in archaeology.

We often receive queries from authors about whether a particular topic can be published in CAJ. This is fine: half of getting published is finding the right journal for your material and approach. Note however that, because CAJ publishes work on a wide range of archaeology, what is important is not only the topic itself but how you deal with it. The same topic can be written up in many different ways.

The hallmark of CAJ articles is their thematic interpretation of ancient and modern societies. The editors often ask authors to identify their principal intended audience; if an article has detailed findings of relevance only to a small group of specialists, that manuscript should be sent to a journal for that specialism. In contrast, CAJ’s editors welcome manuscripts that engage with broad themes and theoretical approaches, syntheses of ideas or findings, and new results whose interpretation is relevant to CAJ’s diverse readership across the whole of world archaeology.

What this means is that we are often unable to say in advance whether an article on a given topic is suitable for CAJ or not; it also depends on what kind of article it is. Here are three simple tests you can try (In fact, these are good tests for any journal you are thinking of publishing in….):

1. Imagine that you are reading the paper at a conference. Who is in the audience and what will they appreciate in it? Other specialists in your field? Or a general audience of people working in other areas as well who may find its thematic content interesting?
2. Look through the works cited in the article’s bibliography. The kind of places your sources are published (especially for the introduction and conclusions) are often a good guide to venues where people will appreciate your work. Browse through a few years of CAJ’s contents – works published in CAJ. If your work would fit in with it, that’s a good sign CAJ might be a good fit for it. If not, look for journals whose contents include work like yours.

(Please note that, for editorial reasons, as of 2020 CAJ does not publish work in archaeastronomy)

3 What we publish: formats

Most contributions to CAJ take the form of individual research articles up to 10000 words long. However, we aim to provoke discussion and debate, and the editors are open to many other forms of publication.

• Special thematic sections. These usually involve 5–10 contributions, usually of shorter length (up to about 5000 words, sufficient for a statement of position and a brief case study), focusing upon a central theme of theoretical importance. Thematic sections can provide a focused and incisive forum for a timely, topical discussion or debate. In recent years, CAJ thematic sections have focused upon a wide range of ideas, from the agency of the dead through posthumanism, assemblage theory, definitions of “art”, and the symbolism of materials in human evolution. Proposals for thematic sections, to be sent to both editors, should include a brief (2–3 page) statement of the proposed theme, its theoretical context and significance, and a list of proposed contributors with titles and abstracts.
• Review features. For a work defining an important position in archaeology, a review feature will present a summary of the position, followed by expert commentaries from a range of perspectives.
• Discussion features, with shorter statements on a theme or topic of importance or controversy, with contributions from scholars taking a wide range of views.

We are also open to new features of other kinds, such as pictorial essays, debates, narratives and so on. If you are interested in developing a thematic section or feature, please contact the editors to discuss the possibilities.

4 Who publishes in CAJ

In a word, anybody with something important and interesting to say about archaeology.

• CAJ authors come from all continents and all scholarly traditions; at last count, first authors of our articles have come from about 40 countries and we are always seeking to increase this! We recognise that scholarship is international and we welcome manuscripts from authors whose first language is not English. While incoming manuscripts should be in the best written English possible and must be comprehensible enough to be reviewed, we can help copy-edit the final versions of accepted manuscripts.
• CAJ welcomes work by early career researchers. While our authors include established and eminent scholars, early career researchers frequently contribute new ideas and exciting research findings. The editors are happy to offer guidelines to help less experienced researchers negotiate the learning curve of academic publishing (see below).
• We recognise that gender is important in academic life, and we aim to improve the gender balance represented by our authors, our editorial board, and our peer reviewers.

5 What do we not publish

• CAJ typically does not publish papers whose principal focus is developing methods or archaeological science. Many of our papers incorporate scientific data, of course, but these results are typically the basis for social interpretations. Papers whose goals are to define archaeological methods or present scientific data for their own sake are much better published in a specialist journal for their topic.
• As noted above, CAJ typically does not publish articles whose goal is to present empirical findings about a specific place or period and whose principal audience will be specialists in that place. Such contributions may be of excellent academic quality, but they are much better published in a regional or period-oriented journal where they will reach the appropriate specialist audience.
• Finally, CAJ limits articles to 10,000 words; we very rarely publish works that exceed this length, which is already longer than that allowed by most journals. Like all journals, CAJ works within a page budget, and it serves our readers better to publish more articles of moderately substantial length rather than fewer, longer articles. We also find (though authors rarely believe it) that most longer manuscripts are improved by some compression; it makes them more focused and punchier. (Note that authors should not submit longer manuscripts claiming that, if accepted, the text will be cut to length; this is unfair to reviewers, who need to be able to evaluate the text in the form it would be published. It is the author’s responsibility, not the reviewers, to decide what needs to be cut).

Like most journals, CAJ rejects a proportion (currently about a third) of submitted manuscripts without sending them out for review. Such manuscripts are often of excellent academic quality, but most of them get rejected either because they do not fit the profile of what kind of material CAJ publishes (usually because they belong in a specialist or regional journal instead) or because they are longer than the word limit. For this reason, we urge authors to read the instructions to authors above!

6 Article Types

Cambridge Archaeological Journal publishes:

• Research Article*