Journal of Lithic Studies

Journal of Lithic Studies

The Journal of Lithic Studies is a peer-reviewed open access journal which focuses on archaeological research into the manufacture and use of stone tools, as well as the origin and properties of the raw materials used in their production. The journal does not focus on any specific geographic region or time period.  

The Journal of Lithic Studies encourages submissions from a diverse population of researchers. We feel that to better understand the possible range of social phenomena of the past and to obtain more potential interpretations of the archaeological evidence, it is important that archaeology is studied and reported by researchers with a variety of geographic origins, cultures, personal identities, experiences and viewpoints. To this end, we encourage researchers who have a less frequently represented background to submit their manuscripts to the journal. We particularly encourage researchers who belong to descendant populations of the people being studied to submit their research for publication.

The Journal of Lithic Studies publishes several main types of articles: research articles, short reports, and methodology demonstrations. The journal also publishes special category articles such as editorials, summary or synthesis articles, interviews, and reviews of books and events. Authors who are interested in writing special category articles should contact the editor to discuss this in advance. You may contact the editor in advance (with a manuscript or abstract) if you have any questions on whether a particular manuscipt would be of a suitable topic for this journal.

The editorial board of the journal recognises the importance of many studies (large or small) to the local or nearby communities and we encourage researchers to submit articles and reports about studies even if they are considered very small scale or mainly of local relevance. There impact on local communities and collectively to the wider global fields of study are important. We also understand that reporting and publication processes, as well as writing styles and article formats, may be different in various parts of the world. The outlines and templates used by the journal are based on typical formats and styles used by many international journals. Using a similar format may help readers from many countries by presenting a familiar format, but authors should consider them as guides only. If the styles that you are familiar with seem very different from those used in our templates and in previously published articles, please contact the editors to let us know prior to peer review so that we can consider how to present this to the reviewers. If the peer reviewers suggest organising a paper in a format that varies from a local style, we will do our best to help the authors to find a way to incorporate both.

The Journal of Lithic Studies is published online and is freely available to the general public in the spirit of open scholarship. (There are no fees to download articles, nor are there any fees to submit, review or publish articles.) As an electronic publication, we encourage authors to take advantage of the wide variety of media available in this format in addition to those available in the traditional paper format. For details on manuscript formatting and layout, please see the instructions for authors page. Manuscripts should be submitted online through the "submissions" page.

In an effort to help with the dissemination of research to communities with connections to the research, we ask authors to consider a suitable language for the translated title and extended abstract that appears at the end of their paper.

JLS is indexed in several journal databases. The following are some of them.

• Web of Science (WoS, formerly known as ISI)
• European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS)
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• Index Copernicus International (ICI)