PUBLICATIONS

Introduction

The “ARWA Journal” is the research journal of the International Association for Archaeological Research in Western & Central Asia. This journal showcases archaeological research that takes place within or otherwise intersects with the geographical extent covered by the ARWA organization: from the Southern Balkans and Northern Pontic to the Arabian Peninsula, and from the Mediterranean to the edges of Central Asia and the Greater Indus. The ARWA Journal is published Open Access as a volume of articles each year, covering all time periods of past human activities in this area.  

We invite submissions of articles about any topic related to archaeological research in the ARWA region, including synthetic research and field reports, theory and method advances, perspective papers, technical and scientific analyses, heritage studies, or links with philology, cultural anthropology, history, geography, etc. All submissions are subject to a double-blind peer-review process. Thanks to volunteers, the ARWA Journal is currently Diamond Open Access, which means that publication is free for authors, and all articles are available online for anyone to read for free. Research articles are typically 6,000-8,000 words in length, but shorter or longer contributions will be considered, when appropriate to the topic.

How to contribute

(Submissions should be sent to: journal@arwa-international.org)

Submissions should be emailed to the journal, either as file attachments or by a link to an online shared folder containing the file. A single Microsoft Word document is the preferred file format for your initially submitted article, but other similar file formats that are easy to work with will also be accepted. The initially submitted article file can be in any style, as long as it is internally consistent and easy to read. There is no need to initially submit extra files such as cover letters or full-resolution images. Instead, please place any images directly within the Word document at places appropriate to the text, and resize the images similar to the intended final physical size so that reviewers can judge legibility. You can use lower-resolution images to keep the overall file size low. You may submit supplements to the text as separate files if they are needed.  All submissions must include an AI declaration statement, either confirming that no artificial intelligence tools or large language models were used in writing the article, or specifically detailing how the tools were used. If you would like to suggest reviewers, please include their contact information in your email.     

In order to maintain Diamond Open Access, authors of accepted papers will be expected to carefully edit their papers prior to publication, improving writing and updating style according to instructions from the editors. After acceptance, authors will also be asked to provide full-resolution imagery, a two-page summary of their article in the modern language related to the area of their research, and other finalized supplements.   

If you would like to know if your research is appropriate for this journal, you may email a brief abstract of a proposed article to the journal for feedback.  

Submissions are accepted year-round, but articles submitted within the first half of the calendar year are more likely to be included in that year’s annual volume.

Editors (2020-2026)

Vanesa BOSCHLOOS, Ghent University (co-editor-in-chief)
Peter J. COBB, University of Hong Kong (co-editor-in-chief)
Nasir ESKANDARI, University of Tehran
Nathalie KALLAS, German Archaeological Institute Berlin
Dorota ŁAWECKA, University of Warsaw
Arkadiusz SOŁTYSIAK, University of Warsaw

Editorial board (2020-2026)

Çiler ÇILINGIROĞLU
Nadezhda DUBOVA
Jaafar JOTHERI
Lori KHATCHADOURIAN
Peter MAGEE
Holly PITTMAN
Thilo REHREN
Jason UR

Editorial assistant (2026)

Yishu DENG, University of Hong Kong