1. Authorship Guidelines
The editorial board accepts original articles that have not been previously published. Works submitted to ŚSA should not be under consideration for print in other publications. Works published in the journal must be signed by the individuals who authored them. Each author of an article must include a signed statement confirming that they are the actual creator of the work and that they transfer the copyright to the current publisher of ŚSA. Individuals whose contribution to the submitted work is minimal (such as providing materials) may be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section but should not be listed as authors. In cases of doubt, the editorial board requests clarification on the involvement of each person listed as an author. Authors should also disclose in the footnotes or acknowledgments any individuals and institutions that have contributed to the creation of the work through intellectual, material, or financial support.
All detected cases of scientific misconduct will result in the rejection of the article.
2. Types of Articles
Śląskie Sprawozdania Archeologiczne plans to publish works primarily in two sections:
a. peer-reviewed articles. A peer-reviewed article is understood to be a work that is accepted for publication based on the opinions of reviewers;
b. reviews and announcements. Reviews published in ŚSA should critically discuss broader scholarly works (e.g., monographs, conference volumes). They should not be confused with polemical articles. Announcements will contain important scientific life information, such as discussions of conferences, academic workshops, etc.
3. Article Submission
Please submit articles in electronic form via the online editorial system.
The online submission should consist of the following parts:
1. Manuscript text, ideally in a single document, including:
a. Title page, which must include:
- Author’s name or names of co-authors (arranged according to the contribution to the work/article)
- Institution represented by the author or authors, or a correspondence address if no institution is affiliated
- Academic degree/title
- Address, telephone number, and email address
- In case of multiple authors, indicate the author responsible for contact with the editorial office
- Title of the article (short and factual)
- Keywords;
b. Text
c. Bibliography;
2. Numbered tables, each in a separate file. Separate file for the list of table captions
3. Captions for figures
4. Numbered figures, each in a separate file
5. Abstract in Polish and English
4. Acceptance of Articles for Publication
In an effort to maintain the high scholarly standard of the journal, we use the following method for evaluating incoming works. In the first stage, the editorial team assesses the article for formal, technical, and scholarly content. If there are significant discrepancies in the manuscript relative to the proposed ŚSA template, the editorial board reserves the right to refuse publication of the article. Should there be minor inconsistencies, the article will be returned for necessary revisions.
n the next stage, texts accepted by the editorial team are evaluated by two independent, anonymous reviewers. Their comments are relayed to the authors for necessary amendments. If the author disagrees with the critical comments of a reviewer, they should justify their position by preparing a suitable letter to the editorial board. Upon the request of reviewers, an article that does not meet the requirements of ŚSA may also be rejected at this stage of evaluation. The editorial board reserves the final say in resolving any disputed issues.
5. Length of Contributions
Peer-reviewed articles cannot exceed 10,000 words, excluding the bibliography, which means that their main text should not be longer than 20 standard pages. The texts of reviews and occasional announcements, on the other hand, should not exceed 2,000 words (excluding the bibliography). The editorial board accepts articles prepared in Polish, English, German, French, and Spanish.
6. Article Structure
The text of a peer-reviewed article, regardless of its profile, must have the structure of scientific papers. This means that it should consist of the following parts: introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion and concluding remarks. All parts of the article, from the introduction to the conclusion, must be numbered.
Introduction
This section should contain a clearly defined aim and subject of the research preceded by the presentation of the research problem, for example, the prevailing theory, etc.
Materials and Methods
This part should include essential information about the data used in the scientific article. Typically, these consist of archaeological materials and/or documentation of spatial situations. It is also necessary to include data on chemical research, ecological studies, etc. Authors are asked to provide information about the location where the collections are deposited. In the subsection on methods, it is important to specify details about the techniques used during excavation works or other types of research (non-invasive research, test pits, exploration, methods of measuring objects and monuments), as well as accompanying natural sciences or geophysical studies.
Results
This section of the article should contain clearly presented results of analyses, for example, based on conducted archaeological or archival work. Results should be presented in a synthetic form (e.g., tables, charts). The editorial board excludes the possibility of publishing descriptions of objects or commonly found artifacts.
Discussion
This section should highlight the most important results of the study. The discussion aims to show the impact of the obtained results on the current state of knowledge in the field. Note: a common mistake is to restate results in this part. This issue can be addressed by combining the Results and Discussion sections. It is important to avoid excessive references to literature when discussing specific issues.
Concluding Remarks
This section should contain information about the most significant results of the conducted research. It cannot be a summary of the abstract or the discussion. This is not the place for commitments regarding further archaeological work or for outlining new research directions, etc.
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments should not appear as a footnote; they should be separated into a distinct section that concludes the article, thus coming after the Concluding Remarks.
7. Abstract
Abstracts are required for all peer-reviewed articles (approximately 300 words in length). The abstract should concisely and factually present the problem, objective, and subject of the research, as well as information on the most significant results of the conducted studies. The abstract will be published electronically on the publisher’s website as a separate file. As such, it must contain all kinds of information that will facilitate initial acquaintance with the article. The abstract should not include references to illustrations, tables, or literature, nor detailed numerical data. The abstract must be prepared by the author in English. The editorial board does not bear the costs of translation.
8. Technical Requirements for Text and Illustrations
We accept texts prepared in various text editors. Texts should be formatted using 1.5-point line spacing and commonly available fonts such as 11-point Times New Roman. Article pages should be numbered. Do not use Bold typeface or italics — the latter only except for foreign words and Latin terms. Avoid using automatic numbering or hidden characters, and do not use styles in individual sections (e.g., header 1, header 2, etc.).
Illustrations and photographs should be of very high quality. The editorial board reserves the right to reject any illustrations that do not meet quality standards. Due to high publishing costs, the editorial board is forced to limit the printing of color illustrations. For this reason, we encourage the preparation of illustrations, including photographs, charts, and drawings in grayscale. In justified cases (e.g., exceptional artifacts), we will undertake the publication of color illustrations.
The PDF version of the article may include color illustrations. The recommended resolution for graphic materials in formats such as TIFF, JPEG, and PNG (RGB or CMYK mode) is 600 dpi.
9. Bibliography and Footnotes
The bibliography should include only those items that are cited in the text. It should be prepared according to the following pattern:
Articles in Journals
Wilczyński J., Wojtal P., Sobczyk K. 2012. Spatial organization of the Gravettian mammoth hunters. site at Kraków Spadzista (southern Poland), Journal of Archaeological Science 39 (12), 3627-3642.
Thomas R., Ziehaus J., w druku, Spatial and chronological patterns of the lithics of hearth 1 at the Gravettian site Krems-Wachtberg, Quaternary International (2014), doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.10.031.
Articles in Collected Publications
Chmielewski W. 1975. Paleolit środkowy i górny, (w:) W. Chmielewski, W. Hensel (red.), Prahistoria ziem polskich, t. I, Paleolit i mezolit. Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków-Gdańsk: Ossolineum, 9-158.
Conkey M. W. 1983. On the origins of Paleolithic art: a review and some critical thoughts, (w:) E. Trinkaus (red.), The Mousterian Legacy: Human Biocultural Change in the Upper Pleistocene. Oxford: Oxford University Press (BAR Int. Series 164), 201-227.
Monographs
Gamble C. 1999. The Palaeolithic Societies of Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pankiewicz A. 2005. Grodziszcze Wczesnośredniowieczne grodzisko plemienne na Przedgórzu Sudeckim. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego (Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis 2768, Studia Archeologiczne 37).
Other Works
Conference materials duplicated, reports and accounts from laboratory expertises or excavation works.
Goslar T. 2005. Raport z wykonania datowań 14C w Poznańskim Laboratorium Radiowęglowym. Wrocław: Archiwum Instytutu Archeologii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego (maszynopis).
Works are made available exclusively by electronic means
Furholt M. 2003. Absolutchronologie und die Entstehung der Schnurkeramik, http://www.jungsteinsite.de (dostęp 30.12.2010).
Odniesienia do literatury powinny być uporządkowane chronologicznie, oddzielone średnikami (Burdukiewicz 1987; Bosinski 1989). Mogą się one odwoływać do całej pracy albo do określonej strony/stron, ryciny, tabeli etc. Mogą mieć one dwojaką formę: w opinii Bosinskiego (1989, 16)…. lub też (Bosinski 1989, 25; Terberger 1991, 141, ryc. 1).
Transliteration
In works intended for publication in Polish, foreign alphabets should be transliterated in the bibliographic record in accordance with the Polish Standard (e.g., for Slavic alphabets PN-ISO 9-2000; see http://so.pwn.pl/zasady.php?id=629693). However, in works in foreign languages, please use the transliteration standards accepted in those languages (e.g., for English it is the Library of Congress system, used as far as possible by the editing program (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/)).
10. Figures and Tables
Illustrations and tables should be prepared according to the following rules:
elements of illustrations marked with letters or Arabic numerals.
a. An illustration representing the documentation of artifacts (excluding sketches) should be equipped with a linear scale, and in the case of plans, a scale grid and a north indicator (compass rose or arrow).
b. The reference in the text should have the following format (Fig. 2a, c; 4g).
c. Titles and explanations for illustrations should be placed in captions attached to the main manuscript file; captions should not be treated as sentences, and therefore should not end with a period.
d. Captions should include the source of each illustration in parentheses, e.g., “photo by J. Poleski”; “drawn by K. Strauhold”, “drawn by K. Strauhold, digitally processed by J. Hen”.
e. In the case of materials (e.g., illustrations) derived from other published or unpublished sources, regardless of whether the author is the creator of the article under discussion, the source must be clearly specified – “according to Kostrzewski 1964, fig. 21”. Remember to ensure that the work to which we refer is included in the Bibliography.
f. The formatting and orientation of tables must be consistent with the format of the paper, which is A4. This means that tables cannot contain too many columns and rows. Vertically oriented texts should not be placed in the headers of tables.
g. Graphs should be clear and prepared in terms of hatching so that they are readable in grayscale. Avoid using 3D charts for presenting numerical/percentage shares.
11. Technical Recommendations for Illustrations Intended for Printing
Illustrations, along with the caption, should fit within the print field of the column. The column size for text is 126×188 mm.
Photographs should be included in a file in TIFF or JPG format. The resolution of the photographs should be up to 300 DPI – in the dimension required for printing. It is recommended to provide photographs without modifications to resolution and size.
Illustrations obtained by scanning should have the following resolution (at the size intended for printing):
– a minimum of 300 DPI for color illustrations or grayscale
– a minimum of 600 DPI for screenshots from various digital graphic devices or computers should be delivered in a file without any modifications (in the original size and resolution).
Vector illustrations originating from various graphic design programs should be submitted in a file format such as TIF, PNG, or JPG. When creating drawings in computer graphic programs, please use a line thickness of 0.5 points (0.2 mm). For grids made up of black lines, a line thickness of 0.35 points (0.12 mm) is permissible. However, colored lines should be thicker than 2 points (0.9 mm). The font size used in illustrations should be at least 10 points (these requirements for line thickness and font size apply to the final print size of the illustrations. If the illustration needs to be reduced, these sizes should be proportionally larger).
It is recommended to avoid fill patterns that are too light or too dark – aim for 15% to 30% black.
Charts originating from Excel programs should be submitted in their original files to allow for adjustment and typographic changes. If original photographs or illustrations are supplemented with additional content (especially text), they must be provided in a separate file.
Illustrative material will be placed within the text in accordance with typography rules, in a manner that does not interfere with the paragraph layout.
