About JAACA

History

JAACA has been the official journal of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Incorporated (AACAI) since 2013. Previous to this, Archaeological Heritage (ISSN 1834-6634) was the Association's journal with two volumes being edited by Dr Susan McIntyre-Tamwoy between 2008 and 2010 - twelve peer-reviewed articles, two book reviews and contribution guidelines featured in these volumes.

Dr Caroline Bird and Dr Jim Rhoads were the founding editors of JAACA when it launched in 2013, and until they resigned in 2023, they had overseen nine published volumes of the journal, which included twenty peer-reviewed articles and a guest-edited special supplement by Emma Beckett and JJ McDermott.

Current Editorial Team

In 2025, JAACA was re-launched with a new Editorial Team made up of individuals with wide experience in both consulting and publishing, with broad networks across historical and Indigenous archaeology, and geographical spread:

The Editorial Team has responsibility for:

  • Soliciting manuscripts in all categories and liaising with authors;
  • Editing manuscripts (including soliciting reviewers for full research papers);
  • Running Professional Development (PD) workshops for ECCs; and,
  • Reporting to the AACAI NEC.

Publication and Access

JAACA is a fully online, peer-reviewed journal that is accessible through the AACAI website (viewable and downloadable), with volumes published on an annual basis.

Access to all JAACA volumes is free. However, AACAI members will receive access to articles immediately when they are published (via the member profile portal).

At the end of each year, a complete volume (with each article for that year) will be published on the website and access will be free to the public.

The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for JAACA is ISSN 2202-7890.

Purpose

The objectives of the journal are:

  1. To provide a professional outlet for the publication of archaeological consulting-related research that might otherwise languish in the grey literature and that may not have an obvious home in domestic academic journal outlets;
  2. To provide a friendly publishing and supportive reviewing environment for consultants, especially Early Career Consultants (ECCs);
  3. To improve the writing skills of authors and AACAI members more broadly;
  4. To better educate the general public about heritage and why they should care about its protection.

Contributions to JAACA

Contributions are accepted in the following sections:

  • Peer reviewed journal articles (generally 1,000–8,000 words, including references);
  • Short reports (generally up to 3,000 words) which might be minimally edited versions of Executive Summaries from consulting reports, or Plain English Reports or methodological advice. These items will be lightly edited for grammar and tone to ensure consistency with the JAACA Style Guide. These items might be revised from their original format (i.e. in the consulting report from which they derive) by the consultant to ensure proponents and, where relevant, the Indigenous community, are happy with what is proposed to be made publicly available;
  • Opinion pieces – these might be solicited, or unsolicited, and should be on topical, current matters relevant to heritage. These would be similar in some ways to articles offered to ‘The Conversation’, i.e. short, sharp, pithy and relevant, written for a general audience as well as consultants. To ascertain whether a topic might be suitable, potential authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief;
  • Posters – that have been prepared for other forums, but for which the authors would like wider distribution; and,
  • Extended thesis abstracts – particularly those that relate to heritage management and consulting archaeology. Ideally recent graduates would work with a member of the Editorial Team to produce an extended abstract (which might also include figures) summarising research reported in their submitted thesis, without the daunting task of preparing a full journal article.

JAACA Style Guide

Contributors to JAACA must follow guidelines on content, layout, format, style, and referencing, as shown in the JAACA Style Guide.

The Editors of JAACA reserve the right to change these guidelines at any time. Please check the JAACA landing page for the latest version of the JAACA Style Guide.

Peer Review

Peer review is the formal system whereby research and its written reports are critically examined. These reviews are normally carried out by people who are knowledgeable about archaeological research and generally familiar with the subject matter of a particular study, but are not directly involved in the project.

The aim of JAACA is to facilitate publication in order to encourage communication and debate. Contributors can therefore expect their contributions to be published in a timely way provided they meet an acceptable minimum standard, or require only minor editing or amendment.

The purpose of peer review at JAACA is to foster high professional standards in the reporting and communication of work carried out by consultant archaeologists. It should also be regarded as a formal mentoring process for junior members of the profession. The peer review process will be managed by the editors, assisted by the editorial panel. Other AACAI members will also be invited to participate as peer reviewers from time to time.

Every paper submitted will be reviewed by the editors. Papers that only require minor editing or revision will be returned to the author(s) with specific suggestions for amendment and improvement. Once the paper has been amended to the satisfaction of the editors, it will be published online. Papers that would benefit from more substantial revision will be referred to a reviewer. The reviewer will be asked to provide constructive criticism and specific advice about how the paper can be brought up to publication standard. The editors will work with the author(s) to implement reviewer recommendations. The editors may seek a second opinion before finally accepting the paper for publication.

Copyright

It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that they have obtained any necessary permissions to publish images or data. Where appropriate, permission from Traditional Owners should be secured before submission.

Authors retain copyright over their submissions and will receive full acknowledgement in JAACA for their material. By submitting material to JAACA, authors grant JAACA the right to publish and archive the material in any relevant media format as part of an issue of JAACA.

JAACA may use published material to promote both the journal and individual articles.

Opinions expressed in JAACA are those of the authors and are not necessarily the view of AACAI.

Archiving

JAACA is archived by the National Library of Australia Pandora Australia's Web Archive at: https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/6333309