Journal of Irish Archaeology – JIA

The Journal of Irish Archaeology (JIA) is the journal of the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland. It is a peer-reviewed, annual journal, comprising articles on Irish archaeology and related topics. Editorship of the journal changes every two years, rotating between the archaeology teaching staff in third-level institutions on the island of Ireland and the JIA Editorial Board.  The most recent issue, Volume XXXII (2023), will be published in November 2023. The call for papers for Volume XXXIII (2024), to be edited by Dr Kerri Cleary, of the JIA Editorial Board is now open. It will close on 31 January 2024 and publication is expected later that year.

With regard to the JIA on JSTOR, members should note that Vol. XXXI (2022) is now available on this vital digital library—access to which is one of the key benefits of being a member of the Institute.

Access the Digital Versions - Journal of Irish Archaeology

Current Issue

The most recent issue of the JIA is Vol. XXXI (for 2022) edited by Dr Helen Lewis, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin. This volume contains the following articles:

  • BRIAN G. SCOTT and RENA MAGUIRE
    A later Bronze Age linchpin provenance to Dunmore, Co. Galway
  • MAEVE TOBIN, DAVID MCLLREAVY, JOANNA MOORE and JANET MONTGOMERY
    Punishment in the Iron Age? A case study from Carrowwighter, Co. Roscommon
  • SAM HUGHES
    Edges of empire: a reassessment of Irish ‘sub-Roman swords
  • BRENDAN O’NEILL
    Treasured objects: piloting a first-stage methodology to assess technological complexity in early medieval Irish non-ferrous metalworking
  • MATTHEW SEAVER with contributions from PAUL MULLARKEY, GERARD BARRETT and KERRY ALLEN
    Radiocarbon dating of spearbutts of doorknob type from Deerpark (Co. Wexford), Maghery (Co. Armagh), Derrymore (Co. Sligo) and Hillquarter (Co. Westmeath)
  • ANDREW W. LAMB and MARTIN SCHÖNFELDER
    Spearbutts for horse bits: a new interpretation for certain bronze fittings from the Irish Iron Age
  • MARK E. HALL
    The metallography of Hiberno-Norse knife-edges from Dublin and Waterford – a summary
  • JUDITH CARROLL
    The seventeenth-century defences of Bandon – findings from the Flood Relief Scheme
  • ANDREW EUGENE ANDERSON† and MARION DOWD
    A study of cillíní (children’s burial grounds) in County Donegal

Numerous book reviews are also included. Copies of the journal are available through Wordwell and can be ordered by following this link.

Call for Papers

The call for papers for Vol. XXXIII of the journal (to be published in late 2024) is now open. It will close on 31st January. Articles published in the journal must have a strong analytical component. They may arise from various types of research including synthesis, survey, excavation, material culture studies and methodological developments. Researchers working in ancillary disciplines are also welcome to contribute. Submissions that place Irish material in a broad European or global context are particularly encouraged. If you would like to contribute to the JIA you are encouraged to contact the Editor, currently Dr Kerri Cleary (jiaeditor@iai.ie), for a preliminary informal discussion.

Submissions

Papers in the JIA must be original, have a strong analytical component and may have resulted from a variety of different research strategies (survey or excavation, for example). Contributions from ancillary disciplines are also welcome. Articles that synthesize results, deal with methodological developments, or that place Irish archaeological discoveries within broader European or global contexts are particularly encouraged.

In addition to longer PAPERS, the JIA is now also seeking submissions of shorter REPORTS. Both should have a strong analytical component, but PAPERS will have more substantial discussion sections in which the broader implications of the research are considered. REPORTS may be more technical, address a narrower topic, and/or have a narrower analytical context. For example, a PAPER on the excavation of a Mesolithic flint scatter may contextualise the new findings within a broader analysis of Mesolithic mobility and subsistence patterns. A REPORT on the same Mesolithic flint scatter may restrict its analysis to contextualising the finds within our current understanding of Mesolithic flint tool technology.

PAPERS should be no longer than 10,000 words, including bibliography, tables and captions. Authors considering submission of papers of greater length must discuss them with the Editor (currently Dr Dirk Brandherm) in advance of submission. REPORTS should be c. 3,500 words including bibliography, tables and captions. The Editor reserves the right to determine the categorisation of a submission as a PAPER or a REPORT. If an author is unsure about whether their work would be better submitted as a PAPER or a REPORT, they are encouraged to contact the Editor (jiaeditor@iai.ie). The JIA Editorial Board would particularly encourage archaeologists working in the commercial sector to consider making submissions of shorter REPORTS to the journal.

If you would like to submit a PAPER/REPORT to the JIA you are encouraged to contact the Editor (jiaeditor@iai.ie) for a preliminary informal discussion. Further details are available in the Guidelines for Contributors, available in .pdf format and can be downloaded at the link below. Following initial correspondence with the Editor, prospective contributors should submit for consideration an electronic copy of the PAPER/REPORT in Microsoft Word, with all illustrations as separate files. It is not necessary to submit hard copy text or illustrations. Guidelines for JIA Contributors

Peter Woodman Postgraduate Prize

The Postgraduate Prize is awarded for exceptional contributions by postgraduate students that have been published in the Journal. Formerly the JIA Postgraduate Prize, the IAI Board renamed the award in 2018 to commemorate Professor Peter Woodman (1943–2017) and to honour his outstanding contribution to the profession. This is not an annual prize and is only awarded when the Editor and the Editorial Board feel that a high-quality contribution merits the prize. Other criteria also apply:

  • The article has gone through the normal procedures for submission, peer-review and acceptance in the JIA.
  • The article was written and/or published while the author was a postgraduate student OR it arises directly out of research carried out while a postgraduate student and is published no more than three years since the relevant course of study was completed.

A joint prize will be awarded if two papers of equally high merit are published by candidates within the same year.

The Peter Woodman Postgraduate Prize has not been awarded since 2020

JIA Mentoring Scheme for Authors

The Editorial Board of the JIA runs a mentoring scheme for new authors to provide guidance, encouragement and realism before submitting work for peer-review. Peer-review is a rigorous process and rejection can be discouraging for researchers who are new to writing for academic journals. The aim of this mentoring scheme is to connect the author to a mentor who will go through their work and provide friendly advice, pointing out gaps in the research, commenting on the structure of the article, and suggesting the next steps to take with the work. Of course, the author will still be expected to do all the work on her or his own and participation in the programme is not a guarantee of inclusion in the journal. All papers are subject to the same rigorous peer-review process, which operates independently from the programme.

The scheme is confidential. If you are interested in being connected to a mentor, please contact jiaeditor@iai.ie with details of the topic of your article (so that a suitable mentor can be found) and an outline of the extent to which the prospective article has been compiled at this point. Please place ‘JIA mentoring scheme’ in the subject header of the email.

JIA Online Access

Archive copies of JIA articles are available online through the JSTOR digital library. To read electronic copies of these JIA articles, please sign up for a JSTOR account at the JSTOR Register and Read web page (http://about.jstor.org/rr). Volumes I–XXXI are currently available online.

The journal is also available online through Exact Editions digital library as a fully-searchable archive. The fully-searchable digital edition of JIA boasts a comprehensive search function across an issue, a year, a decade, or the entire archive at the click of a button. With a clean, high-quality interface, the resource also offers new issue notifications and cross-platform availability across web, iOS, and Android devices making this a very useful resource for all IAI members.

Each member can log in to Exact Editions and create an account using their unique subscription reference,  details of which are available to all up-to-date members.

JIA Open Access

The JIA is categorised as a “blue” Open Access journal by Sherpa Romeo, a database of publisher copyright and self-archiving policies. See our designation here. Blue Open Access status is based on our policy of allowing authors to archive pre-prints of their papers online after publication in the journal. Archiving of publisher copies of JIA articles is allowed two years after publication. Full details of our policies can be found in the Author Self-Archiving Policy (attached as a PDF below). In recent years it has become increasingly common for authors of journal articles to deposit digital copies of their work in institutional repositories or on similar archiving sites. We recognise the benefits that this can bring to both author and journal in terms of increased recognition for and access to the high quality research that is published in our journal. We are also mindful that openness and access to research outputs are now common conditions of funding provided by research councils and similar organisations. The Editorial Board of the JIA has therefore formulated this author self-archiving policy to help authors meet these conditions and to allow them to distribute the results of their research within clearly defined limits. JIA author self archiving policy December 2015

JIA Editorial Board

The Editorial Board for the journal assists the Editor in determining its content, actively encouraging the submission of papers, and assisting in the adjudication of the Peter Woodman Postgraduate Prize. The current members of the Editorial Board are:

  • Dr Katharina Becker, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
  • Dr Fiona Beglane, CERIS, Department of Environmental Science, Institute of Technology, Sligo
  • Dr Helen Lewis, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin
  • Dr Kerri Cleary, Editorial and Research Manager, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit (Editor)
  • Jean Farrelly, Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service
  • Dr Alan Hawkes, Consultant Archaeologist and Independent Researcher  (JIA Convenor)
  • Dr Carleton Jones, School of Geography and Archaeology, NUI Galway
  • Conor McDermott, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin
  • Cormac McSparron, Department of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University Belfast
  • Conleth Manning, Independent Researcher
  • Nick Maxwell, Wordwell Ltd (Publisher)
  • Dr Michael Potterton, Department of History, NUI Maynooth
  • Matthew Seaver, National Museum of Ireland
  • Dr Elizabeth Twohig, formerly Department of Archaeology, University College Cork

This web page was last updated on 10th November 2023.