Tennessee Archaeology Journal Editorial Policies

Editorial, Procedural and Stylistic Policies

Editorial Policy

Tennessee Archaeology publishes original papers on the archaeology of Tennessee. Manuscripts on areas adjacent to Tennessee or of a more general nature will be considered if they are of importance and demonstrate connections to archaeology in Tennessee. Manuscripts should be submitted to the Editorial Coordinators for consideration as Articles, Research Reports, or Comments. The Tennessee Archaeology editorial policy reflects many of the policies outlined in the Plains Anthropologist and American Antiquity style guide.

Accepted manuscripts will be assigned, at the discretion of the Editorial Coordinators, to one of the three categories listed above. Typically, articles include manuscripts that present data, a synthesis of research, and the conclusions generated by that research. Reports will tend to be shorter than articles and more specific in content (e.g. data reporting without substantial synthesis or conclusions; technical reports on specialized analyses, current or on-going research of substantive interest). Comments either provide new information of relevance to an article previously published in Tennessee Archaeology  or correct significant errors contained in previous articles. Comments simply presenting differing interpretations or opinions will not be considered – they must contain substantive new information. Comments will be sent out for review, as with other manuscripts, and if accepted, will be shown to the author(s) of the previous article so that they may reply to the comments. The comment and reply, if given, will be published together.

Authors are responsible for the contents of their work. This includes ensuring that all referenced materials are accurately cited and that all quotations are both accurately worded and correctly cited. Authors also bear the responsibility for obtaining written permission to use all copyrighted materials, including previously published images and tabular data covered by U.S. and international copyright laws.

The Editorial Coordinators reserve the right to reject, or return for revision, any manuscript that falls outside the scope of the journal, as well as those manuscripts judged to be of poor quality or excessive length.

Procedures for Processing Manuscripts

The Editorial Coordinators and two peer reviewers will evaluate submitted manuscripts. While the Editorial Coordinators will generally select reviewers, authors may make suggestions. Reviewers will usually be requested to return the review within four-six weeks of receipt of the manuscript, and they have the right to remain anonymous in the review. In addition to their comments, reviewers are requested to designate whether the manuscript should be: (a) published; (b) published with revisions; or (c) rejected. If both reviewers agree as to whether the manuscript should be published, the author is informed of the decision and the process continues. If the manuscript receives “mixed” reviews, it is sent to a third reviewer. In cases of genuine stalemate, the Editorial Coordinators reserve the right to make a final decision on whether or not to accept the manuscript for publication.

After a manuscript has been accepted for publication, the author receives the reviewer’s comments and is asked to make any substantive changes at this time. When all substantive changes have been made, the manuscript is sent back to the Editorial Coordinators for final editorial changes. These changes typically consist of minor spelling, grammatical, and/or style corrections. Minor changes to images and tables may be made at this time in consultation with the author(s). For multi-authored manuscripts, it is the responsibility of the lead author to distribute copies of all reviews to other authors and coordinate all changes before the manuscript is returned.

Galley proofs prepared by the Editorial Coordinators will be sent to the author, or the lead author in multi-authored papers, for final approval. Proofs will be sent electronically as PDF files. All authors are requested to return the corrected proofs to the editor within two weeks. If they are not returned within the time limit, it will be assumed that they are accurate as proofread by the Editorial Coordinators. No substantial changes are allowed at this time. Only those changes needed to correct for typographic, spelling, or punctuation errors in the text or in figures, tables, or illustrations will be allowed. Copyright release forms will be sent to the author at this time. The lead author is responsible for getting all other authors to sign the copyright-release form. This form is necessary for on-line distribution of the journal.

After the galley is returned to the Editorial Coordinators, no changes are possible. The manuscript will be prepared for final publication at this time.

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should be submitted in electronic format for distribution, but hard copies will be accepted for initial review. Final drafts must be submitted in electronic format. Regardless of format, the manuscript should be double-spaced throughout, including quotations and bibliography, with margins of at least 1 inch. Please do not include running heads, except for page numbers. Abstracts followed by up to 5 keywords are required for all manuscripts. The cover letter should include the author(s)’s telephone number, fax number and email address.

Submitted manuscripts should be sent as email attachments formatted as either PDF or Microsoft Word files. Images should be saved in a standard format at sufficient resolution for photo-quality publication.

Style Guide for Authors

The Chicago Style Manual is the basic reference for style used by the Editorial Coordinators of Tennessee Archaeology. It is the same style used by American Antiquity and the Plains Anthropologist.

Authors should pay close attention to style when writing in-text references, bibliographies, notes, and acknowledgements. Please follow these instructions carefully when preparing the revised manuscript -- do not attempt to format your manuscript to look like published Tennessee Archaeology articles. Upon receipt of the revised manuscript, the Editorial Coordinators will apply the stylistic format that is characteristic of published articles. Authors should check their bibliographies carefully for both style and accuracy. Only those sources cited in the text should be used in the bibliography.

Manuscript Format

Sections of the manuscript should be formatted and ordered as follows:

Title Page

Titles should be kept brief while still conveying the essence of the article. The author’s name(s) should be listed below the title. A complete mailing address and email for the first author should be provided.

The Middle Tennessee Explorations of Edwin Curtiss, 1877-1880

Michael C. Moore and Kevin E. Smith

Michael C. Moore, Tennessee Division of Archaeology, 5103 Edmondson Pike, Nashville TN 37211, <Mike.C.Moore@tn.gov>

Kevin E. Smith, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro TN 37132-0001

Abstract

An abstract MUST accompany each manuscript and should not exceed 200 words in length. The abstract should present a concise summary of the contents and conclusions of the paper, and should not be an introduction to or outline of the paper.

Keywords

Authors must provide a list of no more than five (5) keywords for each manuscript. Keywords should be descriptive, single words rather than short phrases. Site numbers are not acceptable keywords.

Textual Elements

Paragraphs should be typed as left-aligned, running text with no hard returns. Do not use section breaks or page breaks anywhere in the manuscript. The Editorial Coordinators decide the placement of figures and tables based on in-text references, and no additional directions (i.e. page breaks or comments such as “Place Figure 1 about here”) are necessary. Use a single space between sentences.

Headings

Do not enter additional lines before or after headings; this will be handled during final formatting. Primary headings should be typed in all capital letters and left aligned, but not bolded, underlined or italicized. Do not use “INTRODUCTION” as a header. Secondary headings should be title cased and left aligned, but not bolded, underlined, or italicized. Tertiary headings should be underlined and typed as part of the paragraph.

Numbers

Spell out numbers one through ten (1-10) in text. In text, spell out “first” or “second” rather than “1st” or “2nd.” Dates should be expressed as follows: 1920s (not 1920’s), 1991-1995 (not 1991-95), 300 years. Gives dates in order of month, day, year.

Radiocarbon Dates

In order to ensure that complete information on published radiocarbon dates is made available to present and future researchers, Tennessee Archaeology has adopted a policy similar to that of American Antiquity. Previously published radiocarbon dates may be reported as A.D. or B.C. (or, if calibrated, cal A.D. and cal B.C.), but a full citation, including page numbers, must be provided for the original publication. All previously unpublished radiocarbon dates must initially be reported in uncalibrated radiocarbon years. The uncalibrated radiocarbon age should be based on the 5,568-year half life of 14C (divide radiocarbon age based on the 5,730-year half life by 1.03) and should be reported in years B.P. (do not convert to radiocarbon years A.D./B.C.). It should also be be reported with the 1-sigma standard error provided by the laboratory. The sample identification number assigned by the laboratory should be provided for each date, and the author should identify the material that was dated (e.g. bone, charcoal, seeds, etc.). Finally, the author should indicate whether the date has been corrected for isotopic fractionation (the delta-13C value provided by the lab).

  • Example: 515 +/- 75 B.P. (A-11084; bone; delta 13C = -18.50)

Calibrated dates must always be identified through the convention of cal A.D. or cal B.C. The author must identify how the date was calibrated, identify whether it was made for 1 sigma or 2 sigma, and present the calibrated age as a range (or ranges) of calendar years. If the calibration program assigned probabilities to the multiple date rage possibilities, these probabilities should also be cited.

The radiocarbon ago 460 +/- 70 BP has calibrated age range of 1415-1489 cal A.D. (one sigma) and 1327-1645 (two sigma) (Both calibrated with CALIB 3.0.3c using the INTCAL93 data set [Stuiver and Reimer 1993]).

For the date 3550 +/- 50 BP, the possible calibrated ranges are 2028-1991 cal B.C. [p=0.058] and 1983-1742 cal B.C. [p=0.942] (Calibrated at two sigma with the program CALIB 4.1 [Stuiver and Reimer 1993] using the calibration dataset INTCAL98 [Stuiver et al. 1998]).

If citation is to a “gray literature” report or limited distribution manuscript, the Editorial Coordinators strongly urge that authors follow the reporting requirements for previously unpublished radiocarbon dates.

Quotations

Quotations of less than four typed lines should be incorporated into the text and set off by double quote marks (“). A citation must be given for each quote and must include the page numbers for the quote. The citation should be placed directly after the end quote and before the period, unless the author is referenced in the text immediately prior to the quote:

  • The study noted that “well over half of these sites produced major Woodland occupations” (Walthall 1980:141).
  • As Walthall (1980:199) notes, the Hiwassee Island occupation at Martin Farm “was characterized by shell tempered jars; loop and narrow-strap handles; red-filmed bowls… and wall-trench and single-post construction dwellings.”

Quotations longer than four typed lines should be set off from the text as block quotes:

Chapman believes that the people whose occupation is represented by the lowest levels of Icehouse Bottom in about 7500 BC, also other base camps, lived in a series of small hunter-gatherer bands who dwelt not only in the Little Tennessee Valley, but moved from there into the Upper Tennessee River drainage and into the southern Ridge and Valley Province of Virginia as well. (Fagan 1995:354)

In-text Reference Citations

Only cite those references that have been viewed first-hand by the author(s). Authors are strongly discouraged from relying on secondary source citations of primary sources materials (e.g. Thruston 1890:295 cited in Smith 1992:146); however, this will be allowed if the author can demonstrate that every effort was made to use the original source. This policy is an attempt to reduce replication of previously misquoted primary materials. Common forms of in-text citation:

  • One author: (Moore 2002) or Moore (2002)
  • Two authors: (Moore and Smith 2002) or Moore and Smith (2002)
  • Three authors: (Moore et al. 2003) or Moore et al. (2003)
  • Multiple references, different authors: (Fielder 1981; Moore 1999; Moore and Smith 1999; Smith 2001:86) Note: please list in alphabetical order.
  • Multiple references, same author: (Weaver 1985, 1999, 2000; Zeligman 1999)
  • Multiple references by same author(s) in same year: (Smith 1995a, 1995b)
  • Two authors, same last name and date: (K. Smith 1999; S. Smith 1999)
  • Two authors, same last name but different date: (Smith 1999; Smith 2000)
  • Government agency, company or similar entity as author: (National Archives and Records Service [NARS] 1960). Note: The next citation of this reference would be (NARS 1960)
  • Multivolume set: (Walling et. al 2000:II:68)
  • Earlier edition specified: (Thruston 1978 [1890])
  • Unpublished materials: (Cox 1928-1929; Myer ca. 1923) Note: It is no longer acceptable to use “n.d.”; please give a best estimate if a date is not available (e.g. ca. 1923, ca. 1930s)
  • Newspapers (non-authored): (Nashville Whig, 4 July 1856:page numbers (if available)
  • Primary source materials: (Rutherford County Archives, Murfreesboro, Tennessee 1880:Deed Book 1:5) (E. Curtiss F.W. Putnam, letter, 9 May 1878, Harvard University Archives, UAV 677.38, Box 1, Folder 1877) Note: Do not include primary-source citations in the References Cited section.
  • Personal Communications: (Kevin Smith, personal communication 2003). Personal communications should be cited in the text but not in the reference section. All personal communications should be mentioned in the acknowledgements, and the individual’s affiliation should be listed there.

Tables

Tables should be submitted electronically as individual files, and they should be formatted preferably as Microsoft Word table files, rather than Excel or other spreadsheet files. Tables should be numbered sequentially in the order cited in the text. Table titles should summarize the contents of the table; they should not provide background information or describe results. Preferably, tables should be submitted as single tables – the Editorial Coordinators will break these into consecutive parts, if needed, for publication format.

Illustrations, Figures, Photographs

Illustrations, figures, and photographs should be submitted in digital format as individual files at sufficient resolution for photo-quality printing. As an electronic-format print journal, we encourage the submittal of illustrations, figures, and photographs using color (rather than grayscale or black-and-white). However, authors should exercise good judgment when preparing materials in color, since some “readers” may print the journal in black-and-white format. While color photographs may reproduce well in black-and-white or greyscale, authors should carefully consider how color charts, graphs, and other figures will reproduce in black-and-white. For example, a pie chart using only colors will lose most of the important details in black-and-white – using color alongside shading and/or patterns will ensure that your chart works in both formats.

Authors should also ensure that figures are designed in such a way that important details, such as the lettering on maps, will not be lost during reduction. Authors should try to be consistent in lettering styles used on figures. The Editorial Coordinators reserve the right to modify or reject any figure that will not reproduce well or does not fit into the format of Tennessee Archaeology.

Figures should be numbered and referenced sequentially in the text. Include a list of figure captions on a separate sheet. Do not incorporate captions or titles into the artwork itself.

Notes

This section should include acknowledgements, accession information for artifact collections, and any endnotes referenced in the text. Endnotes should be used sparingly.

References Cited

Only list those sources that have been directly checked by the author(s) in the References Cited section. References should follow the American Antiquity style. Submitted references should look like this:

Smith, John D.
2001  Regional Variability in Tennessee Middle Archaic Projectile Points. Rudolph Archaeology 33:23-99.

When referencing an article or chapter in an edited volume or journal, always include the page numbers. For items in newspapers, always give the date of the paper and page numbers if present. For unpublished manuscripts, cite the year that the manuscript, field notes, etc. was written; if no date is available, give a best estimate (e.g. ca. 1936; ca. 1930s). Do not use “n.d.”. Furthermore, it is no longer acceptable to simply say “Ms. In possession of author”; complete information must be provided about where a copy of the manuscript may be obtained, such as a university department or agency.

Smith, Dasher
1920-21  Ruminations on Artifacts and Sites in the Little River Drainage. Manuscript on file at Tennessee Division of Archaeology, Nashville, Tennessee.