Research articles, Features and Book Reviews

The Kent Archaeological Society welcome short articles from professional and amateur archaeologists, commercial organisations and local societies, academics, research students, local historians and all with an interest in the history and archaeology of Kent.  Articles, features and book reviews should be sent to the Magazine Editor responsible for content, Craig Campbell.

The submissions will be considered based upon significance, novelty and relevance.

Research articles include all aspects of Kents material past. Submissions will be considered for all aspects of the history, archaeology and cultural heritage of the historic and modern counties of Kent.

Features include topical or newsworthy events and articles giving varied insight into the history and archaeology of the county. These might include interviews with people in cultural heritage positions or employment, news and interviews with authors, details or reviews of awards, prizes and grants etc, profiles of notable sites or individuals which are not full articles, artefact and ecofact discussions, excavation or project updates, archaeological or historical initiatives, ventures, outreach and community projects, exhibition or collection reviews and cultural heritage visits and tourism. This list is not exhaustive and other features are acceptable.

Book reviews are accepted for any publication which is recent and involves the history, archaeology and cultural heritage of the county of Kent, both historic and modern.

All submissions will be reviewed by the Magazine Editor and/or the Archaeologia Cantiana editor to determine the best placement for the material.

Once accepted for publication, contributors are expected to comply with the process, style guide and standards set out in the Notes for Contributors guidance, available below.

Contributors will be expected to source necessary images, illustrations and other figures and to ensure copyright permission is obtained for publication; and to complete the copyright form available below.

For examples of articles and content, please see previous issues of the Kent Archaeological Society Magazine and Newsletter which can be found here.

Notes for Contributors

The Kent Archaeological Society Magazine and Newsletters offer a wide range of article opportunities for contributors. These cover special features, newsworthy finds and discoveries, interviews, employment within the historical/archaeological profession, initiatives to increase participation and understanding, and special events.

The core of the content will remain research articles. These can be submitted by professional bodies such as Commercial Archaeological Units or Council Teams, or by others such as amateur archaeologists, local societies, academics, research students and local historians.

In order to keep the newsletter and magazine running in a timely and productive manner, please see the following notes on submission of articles. These notes form a minimum expectancy for anyone wishing to publish in the magazine or newsletter. They are not meant to be in any way restrictive, and so if there are any queries or issues following the guidance, please contact the magazine editor for assistance.

This guidance will ensure that the publications:

• Publish brief excavation reports (interim or complete) and historical studies concerned with the archaeology and history of the county of Kent. This includes historic regions within the county boundaries.

• Are written in a style and for an audience to help achieve the magazine and newsletter aims.

• Minimise the effort required for all parties from author to publication.

Policy and Content

• The limit on magazine and newsletter size necessitates shorter articles. There is not scope for full final reports or longer articles. For submission of such work, please contact the Archaeologia Cantiana editor, Jason Mazzocchi at jason.mazzocchi@kentarchaeology.org.uk

• Sentence long summaries of excavations, events, or news should be noted as such. These will be used in a segment of the magazine dedicated to short informative notes.

• The Kent region covers both the modern and historic county boundaries, so long as relevance is attributed.

• We are keen to promote any discussion of Kents material past. Articles of an unorthodox or controversial nature will be considered so long as they are based upon strong evidence and have sound bibliographical sources, and do not offend readers.

• Articles should be written with our diverse readership in mind. This includes all levels from professional archaeologists and historians to students, amateurs and local interest enthusiasts.

• Articles must provide content which will entice and enthuse readers. This includes both a regular readership and new readers alike. The significance and interest of the article should be clear, topical and appealing. Whilst remaining professional, the material should be provided in non-technical language to ensure wide understanding.

• Articles should be suitably illustrated, labelled, and clearly referenced.

Format and Media

• Articles should aim to be between 1000-2500 words in length with approximately 4-5 illustrations. Shorter articles can be submitted, and slightly longer ones will be considered.

• References should be by means of endnotes. This may also include short comments not meant for the main body of text.

• Articles should be submitted in digital format, preferably in word document format. If it is not possible for an author to produce digital text, text may be submitted in hard copy and the article can be digitised in-house. This must be in word-processed format, it will not be possible to transcribe hand written articles without prior discussion.

• Please submit the main body of text, endnotes, figure captions and illustrations. If possible, please also provide a very brief biographical sentence including background and interests.

• Illustrations can include photographs, maps, drawings and plans. Please remember to include scales and relevant legends. Illustrations are preferable in .tif or .jpg format though other image formats are acceptable.

Once an author has submitted an article, the magazine editor will consider the article for publication. Once publication is agreed, the magazine editor will respond to the author with any further changes, work or material required. The article will be made acceptable for publication and submitted to the designer for the relevant publication.

The magazine editor will supply the author with details of the publication date and with a copy of the article in completed form.

Authors may request publication in a particular edition or a particular section of the magazine or newsletter. This will be considered by the magazine editor.

Book Reviews

Book reviews should aim to offer the reader information on the publication. It should be a brief description of the publication which will encourage a reader to decide whether it is something they wish to purchase or to read in a library etc. It should highlight the positive and negative aspects of the publication and may critique the work, and compliment the work but should not be offensive or a dedicated sales pitch. Please provide an image of the cover of the publication.

Book reviews should aim to be between 100 – 750 words, depending on relevance and size of the publication.

Each review should include the Author, Title, publisher, date of publication, number of pages, whether there are illustrations, figures, tables and bibliography, and the price.

Copyright

Authors should ensure they have all the necessary permissions to publish material submitted to the Kent Archaeological Society. This includes all text and images. This material should have permission to be reproduced by the Society in print and by electronic media on the world wide web. Kent Archaeological Society is unable to obtain copyright on your behalf.

As an author with the Kent Archaeological Society Magazine and Newsletters, you will retain the copyright to your text. However, the Society retains the rights to the design and implementation of the magazine and newsletter articles.

It is the authors responsibility to provide written permission from the copyright holders of  any text, art or images, or any other work that you want to use in your article which is not your own. It is therefore also the authors responsibility to  deal with any requests for reproduction fees.

We ask authors to sign an Author Licence (below), which is non-exclusive, and clearly sets out who owns the rights to the article.

These copyright regulations are for the magazine and newsletter only. For Archaeologia Cantiana copyright information, please find details here.

Copyright Agreement and Submission

The Editor
Kent Archaeological Society
Maidstone Community Support Centre
39-48 Marsham Street
Maidstone
ME14 1HH

Deadline for Submission

Contributions should reach the Editor by the end of September in the year preceding publication.

Length of Item

Papers in Archaeologia Cantiana typically contain 5,000-10,000 words. Significantly longer items are occasionally acceptable; alternatively, the Editor may prefer to agree with the author a reduction in the length of the article. With the setting up of the Society’s website another option for long papers is to publish a Summary or Introduction in Archaeologia Cantiana referenced to the full report on the Internet.

The Submitted Text

The text must be submitted in electronic form in Word – as an email attachment or on a USB/ memory stick, or where a large file by WeTransfer.

Illustrations and Photographs

The image area of a page of Archaeologia Cantiana is 7.8 x 5.1in. (197 x 130mm). Take into account the depth of the caption and whether the image is to be portrait or landscape. Please provide a sequential list of illustrations/photographs together with the captions required.

Line illustrations: if images need to be scanned a clear original in black ink on white paper/drawing film is ideal, but good quality photocopies are acceptable. Provide an imperial/metric scale and north point, as appropriate. 
Photographs: for scanning, good quality originals should be provided with adequate contrast, unmounted. Colour prints/transparencies can be reproduced in b/w or in colour if this has been agreed.

Digital illustrations: both line illustrations and photographs can also be submitted on USB/ memory stick; or where a large file by WeTransfer as TIFF or JPEG files. If the original is in colour the author may need to change to greyscales unless colour reproduction has been agreed. TIFF line illustrations should be presented at 1200 dpi, if possible; JPEG line art at 600 dpi; photographs at 300 dpi. If it is not possible to save line art images from drawing programmes, good quality images can be produced as PDF or EPS files at 600 dpi.

Tables

Bear in mind the size limits of the page (see above) in designing your table(s). Tables which can be presented in portrait are preferred. Avoid over-complexity.

Some points on House Style

Where the text needs to be italicised, indicate either by underlining or type as such.
Indicate quoted material clearly.
Please do not use the first person.
Tenth century, not 10th century; dates in the form 12 November 1432; July 1675: Augustine landed AD 597 (although sixth century AD), Caesar in 55 BC.
Per cent should be spelled out.
Compass points to appear in full: e.g. south-west, north-eastward.
Old money set out as, for example, £5 14s. 9d.

Offprints

All contributors of main articles are supplied with a maximum of ten offprints of their paper, gratis. (Five only for short items or ‘Notes’.) PDF copies of papers are available through the Society.

Copyright

Authors should identify the owner(s) of any copyright material (textual or illustrative) contained within articles offered for publication; and are responsible for obtaining the appropriate permission(s).

A separate set of instructions for authors regarding house style are available from the editor.

Editor:

Jason Mazzocchi
Kent Archaeological Society,
39-48 Marsham Street,
Maidstone,
Kent ME14 1HH.

jason.mazzocchi@kentarchaeology.org.uk