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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, in part or in its entirety, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • This paper has not been copied, translated or paraphrased, either in part or in its entirety, from works produced by someone other than the authors of this paper.
  • Authors are required to make sure submitted content does not infringe 3rd party copyright. More information from the Intellectual Property Office here: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy.htm
  • If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.
  • The names of all the co-authors have been included in the manuscript and these co-authors all had an active part in the final manuscript, approved the manuscript and agree with its submission.
  • All of the research presented in and connected with this study meets the ethical guidelines, including adherence to legal requirements, of the study country.
  • I have received written permission from all persons mentioned in personal communications and acknowledgments.
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
  • Where available, DOIs and URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
  • The text has been proofread by someone proficient in the primary language of the text. (Submissions which have not been proofread may be rejected without being formally reviewed.)

  • Authors who make a submission to this journal must ensure they have read our Privacy and Consent Policy, and agree to its terms.

Author Guidelines

The following is a list of article types which authors may submit. Since the journal is digital authors are encouraged to make use of a wide variety of media formats (e.g. video, audio, 3D images, supplementary data files) and should not feel limited to those formats traditional used in printed journals.

Authors who use EndNote can download the premade EndNote style sheet for this journal. Authors are highly encouraged to use citation software while writing articles.

Authors who use MS Word are encouraged to use the premade templates provided on the Instructions, templates, & downloads page. This template is already formatted and contains the preferred text styles.

Abstracts.
All articles require a 200-500 word abstract. For bilingual articles, the secondary language should have a 500-1000 word extended abstract.

Regular category articles

Authors may submit articles from this category without having contacted the editors in advance.

Research articles

Research articles should present original research on completed projects or significant discoveries and must present clear conclusions. Research articles must contain the raw data either within the articles or as an attached supplementary file (referenced in the article).
Word limit: 6000 words

Short reports

Short reports should present project descriptions. They may be either general reports on completed projects or significant updates for on-going projects. They do not necessarily need to present conclusions or conclusions could be preliminary.
Word limit: 1000 words

Methodology demonstrations

These articles should explain a new or modified methodology tested by the authors. Authors are encouraged to use a variety of media types (e.g. video, screen shot images, 3D images) in addition to a short written text. Methodology demonstrations do not necessarily need to present conclusions but opinions on the method including its benefits as well as short-comings should be discussed.
Word limit: 2000 words

Special category articles

If you wish to write an article for one of the following categories, please contact someone on the editorial board to get approval in advance.

Summary, synthesis, and annotated bibliography articles

These articles present an overview of a particular topic or sub-field with a connection to lithics research. This may be lithics research in a particular country or region. It may also be a historical overview of a topic (e.g. historical perspective of a prehistoric technology, or historical overview of a particular theory), or it may be a summary of knowledge about a lithic material itself or a scientific method. In general, these articles should include an overview of the history of the topic (e.g. history of lithics research in the region) as well as an overview of the current research being done on the topic. They should contain a large bibliography so that readers can use the articles as a starting point for finding references. The author should indicate recommended references. New data is not necessary for these articles.
Recommended word limit: 4000 words.

Book reviews

Book reviews should include an overall summary of the book as well as chapter summaries. The author should note the highlights or special aspects of this book. We particularly encourage reviews of books that are not in English as this helps disseminate information that readers in other countries may not otherwise know about.
Authors must declare whether they have reviewed the same book for another journal, and if so they should send us a copy of the other review. This declaration should be made before requesting to be assigned a book review. JLS might publish a book review which the reviewer has already reviewed for another journal if the new review is significantly different from the previous one and either it is a general book of importance to lithic researchers as a whole or the original review was published in a way which limits its dissemination (grey literature, small or regional publication, print only publication, in other language, self-published). The editors of the journal will decide on a case-by-case basis. If someone intends to review a book for us which they have already reviewed, they are advised to let us know about the situation before writing the review.
Length: maximum two pages (including the title, cover image, and first page footer)

Event reviews

These articles give a summary of an event (e.g. a conference, workshop, lecture series, etc.). They should include opinions and may include a few images.
Length: maximum two pages (including the title, first page footer, and figures)

Interviews

Interviews may be conducted with well-known or otherwise important people in the field of lithic studies. This category of article is presented mainly in the form of an audio file accompanied by an abstract, a transcript of the audio file and short commentary (up to 300 words) which is not part of the audio transcript. In addition to contacting the editorial board for approval to submit an interview, interview questions and discussion points must also be presented to the editors for review prior to conducting the actual interview.
Time limit: flexible but 10 minutes is ideal

Image galleries

Images (individual or sets) of stone artefacts which have some special importance may be published in the journal. These may be sets of artefacts which clearly demonstrate particular lithic traditions. They may also be exemplary examples of a particular artefact which has recently been found. All images or sets of images must be accompanied by an abstract.

Letters to the editor

These are short replies or comments by readers relating to an article in JLS, particularly important additions to the topic of the article. Authors should clearly state which article they are commenting on, and if applicable they should cite the passage in which they are specifically interested. Letters should be concise and objective.

Privacy Statement

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The University and this journal adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which replaces the Data Protection Act 1998 in regulating how we collect, use, store and dispose of personal data.

Before you make a submission to this journal, please ensure you have read our Privacy and Consent Policy, and agree to its terms.

Updated May 2018