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Notes for Contributors

The following notes provide guidance on the minimum standard that we ask contributors to observe in submitting text and illustrations for publication in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (PPS). 

PPS is published annually in hard copy in December. Articles are published online in advance of the hard copy using the Cambridge University Press FirstView system, after being peer-reviewed, copy-edited, and typeset. Articles receive a digital object identifier (DOI) and are fully citable from the point of publication online. It is our general policy not to publish papers online more than 12 months ahead of print publication. 

All articles, other than grant-aided excavation reports, should be no longer than 8,000 words (excluding bibliography, tables, and captions); authors considering submission of articles of greater length must discuss them with the Editor-in-Chief in advance of submission. Grant-aided excavation reports of up to 25,000 words will be considered; longer reports may be considered but authors are advised to discuss the matter with the Editor-in-Chief before submission. Short notes should generally be up to 3,000 words in length. 

Colour figures will only be allowed in the hard copy publication if a grant or the authors cover the cost; colour is free the online publication. Information about fees for colour print can be found on the Fees and pricing page. Supplementary material may be supplied for publication on the web only and this may include colour images (see below). 

Reports on state-aided work in Britain and Ireland (Historic England, Cadw, Historic Scotland, OPW etc.) may be eligible for a publication grant. The Editor-in-Chief will be pleased to provide an estimate of costs on request. It is essential that manuscripts of all reports eligible for grant-aid, from whatever source, be read by the relevant organisation and a grant approved in principle before it is submitted to PPS. On acceptance of the report for publication a copy of the relevant in-principle offer should be forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief.  

Preparation of articles for the Proceedings 

All articles must begin with a title and the names of all authors and contributors. The postal and email addresses of principal authors should also be provided. Email addresses will be published unless authors indicate that they should not be. All articles must include a brief abstract of 150–250 words which will be translated into French, German, and Spanish.

Manuscript Preparation

The paper should be submitted in Word (.docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf) at 12pt with 1.5 line spacing, justified left. There are four levels of heading used in PPS. Please clearly indicate your hierarchy of headings: H1, H2, H3, H4.  

Articles should be arranged in the following order:  

1. Title 

2. Author(s) name(s) 

3. Contributor(s) name(s) 

4. A brief abstract of 150–250 words (which will be translated into French, German, and Spanish) 

5. Keywords (5–6) 

6. Main text 

7. Endnotes (if any) 

8. Acknowledgements (if any) 

9. References 

10. Appendices (if any) 

11. Figure and table captions 

12. Postal and email addresses of principal authors (the email address of the lead or corresponding author will be published unless authors indicated otherwise) 

Please do NOT: 

• use footnotes (endnotes are permissible) 

• use numbered sections for segments of text (use headings only) 

• incorporate tables or figures in the text 

• inset extra line spaces between paragraphs 

• insert double spaces at the beginning of sentences 

• insert spaces before or after obliques or before punctuation marks 

• insert hotlinks in the text 

• use ‘track changes’, automatic hyphenation, autoformatted headings, soft hyphens, headers, footers, rules, boxes, tints, or other kinds of autoformatting 

• use software such as ‘Endnote’ to compile your bibliography or heading hierarchy. All within-document links must be removed before submission 

• present your bibliography as a table 

• use underlining for emphasis (instead, use italics) 

Figures

Figure sizing

All images should be supplied as separate files, preferably TIFF or EPS. Other accepted file formats and guidelines can be found in the Journal Artwork guide. These must be a minimum resolution of 300dpi at the printed size, or larger in the case of line drawings (1000dpi). All embedded text should be a legible font and readable at print size.  

The maximum image area for figures is 4793 pts (text width) and 700 pts (text height), but allow space for captions. The maximum width for a single-column image is 230 pts (text width). All figures are to be supplied at approximately the size in which they are to be reproduced in the journal.  

Figures provided at larger than page size will always be reduced to fit. If reproduction to a specific scale is required, figures must include a bar scale and be supplied to fit the correct image area wherever possible (it is NOT possible to print images which exceed the stated maximum size). Fold-outs are not allowed.  

All figures supplied in colour will appear in colour in the online version of the paper at no charge to the author. Please see Colour print charges for printing in colour. Colour images must be saved in CMYK mode. 

Tables 

Tables should be submitted as a separate Word/RTF file. In tables of numbers, please place a dash (-) or 0 where there is no entry. Proof corrections to tables are expensive, so all should be checked very carefully before submission. 

Figure and table captions  

Figure and table captions should be presented as a separate list. PPS does not use separate plate sections; photographs are integrated into the text. All figures should be numbered in one sequence. Bar charts/pie/scatter diagrams and maps are considered figures. All tables should be numbered in a separate sequence. 

Supplementary material 

Supplementary material files should be clearly identified as such. Individual items of supplementary material should be named in such a way as to clearly identify their content: 

• Smith_appendix_table_1.xls 

• Smith_supplement-movie1.mov 

All Supplementary material is subject to the same copyright requirements as primary material; this is clearly specified in the copyright form that will be sent to the author with first proofs.  

House style

Final submitted papers which make no attempt to conform to house style will be returned.

Footnotes and endnotes

Footnotes are not to be used. Endnotes are accepted but should be used sparingly. Their position in text is indicated by superscript numbers running in sequence. Please do NOT use automatically generated endnotes; add the numbers yourself and super-script them. 

Radiocarbon dates

Please see Guidance notes for the use and quotation of radiocarbon dates for the correct citation of radiocarbon dates and models. All dates should include laboratory reference, uncalibrated date and calibrated date, with probability stated.  

Numbers

One to ten to be spelt out, 11 up to 9999, no comma; 10,000 plus, use comma.

Cross-references

Avoid the use of cross-references to specific pages of your text; use “see above/below”. All figures and tables must be referred to in the text. The general rule is that all figures and tables are placed as close as possible to the first reference to them in text. Any instructions to the contrary should be indicated on the manuscript. References to figures and tables within the paper are spelled out and written with a capital letter, e.g.: (Figure 1) / (Table 1) / As visible in Table 2. Figures and tables referenced from other sources are abbreviated and have no capital letter, e.g.: (Brown 1987, fig. 2, tab. 5). 

Bibliographical references in text

Please use the Harvard system of author and year (Taylor 1989), (Taylor 1989, 123–5), or ‘Taylor (1989, 123) says’. Note that there is no comma before the year but there is before the page reference. For three or more authors use eg Taylor et al. 1978; use a semicolon between references (Taylor 1989; 1990; Smith 1993). Generally where multiple references are cited they should be given in chronological order, or with the major reference first. Papers ‘in prep.’ cannot appear in the bibliography in sufficient detail to be helpful to the reader; reference to them should be avoided (pers. comm. is preferable), a ‘forthcoming’ paper is one which has been accepted for publication and for which it is possible to cite the volume or journal, and for an ‘in press’ paper virtually a full bibliographical reference should be available. Page numbers in both the bibliography and in-text references should be shortened eg, 14–15, 23–5, 114–15, 123–5. All references must be cited in both text and bibliography but references occurring only in supplementary material should not appear in the main bibliography (see ‘supplementary material’ above).

Acknowledgements

Appear at the end of the main text.

Appendices to be included in the printed paper

No separate bibliography or figure numbers.

Bibliography

Please note that journal and book series titles are always given in full as PPS has an international audience. Books should have place of publication and publisher and papers in multi-author volumes require page numbers. All authors names should be cited in full – et al. is not acceptable in the bibliography. The correct date for a paper in a journal is the year for which the journal was published. If publication is several years behind schedule the actual year of publication may be given in brackets at the end of the reference. The following are examples of different types of entry. Please refer to the most recent volume of PPS for further examples. Note that where a volume is part of a series (eg, British Archaeological Reports, East Anglian Archaeology), only the series is listed not the publisher.

Bibliographical entries in PPS have no final full stop and should include all author names except in instances such as papers appearing in Nature where the number of authors may exceed a dozen. First author name and et al. may be used in these cases. For multiple first initials, do not use spaces in between

Chapter in an edited book

Miles, D. 1981. Social landscapes: Pattern and purpose? In M. Jones & G.W. Dimbleby (eds), The Environment of Man: The Iron Age to the Anglo-Saxon period, 9–18. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 87

Driesch, A. von den. 1975. Die Bewertung pathologischanatomischer Veränderungen an vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Tierknochen. In A.T. Clason (ed.), Archaeozoological Studies, 413–25. Amsterdam: Elsever

Chapter in an edited volume (in which two or more references appear)

Harding, P. 1990. The comparative analysis of four stratified flint assemblages and a knapping cluster. In Richards 1990, 213–25 (with Richards 1990 as a separate reference)

Edited book

Brück, J. (ed.) 2001. Bronze Age Landscapes: Tradition and transformation. Oxford: Oxbow Books

Garrow, D., Gosden, C. & Hill, J.D. (eds). 2008. Rethinking Celtic Art. Oxford: Oxbow Books

Journal article

Bedwin, O. 1980. Neolithic and Iron Age material from a coastal site at Chidham, West Sussex, 1978. Sussex Archaeological Collections 118, 163–70

Holst, M., Rasmussen, M., Kristiansen, K. & Bech, J. 2013. Bronze Age ‘Herostrats’: Ritual, political, and domestic economies in Early Bronze Age Denmark. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 79, 265–96

Book

Helms, M. 1988. Ulysses' Sail: An ethnographic odyssey of power, knowledge, and geographical distance. Princeton: Princeton University Press

Lambrick, G., Robinson, M. & Dodd, A. 2009. The Thames Through Time: The archaeology of the gravel terraces of the Upper and Middle Thames: The Thames Valley in late prehistory, 1500 BC–AD 50. Oxford: Oxford University School of Archaeology

RCHMS (Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of Scotland). 2008. Kilmartin: An inventory of the monuments extracted from Argyle. Volume 6. Edinburgh: RCHMS

Unpublished Report / thesis / paper / in press / forthcoming

Cotswold Archaeology. 2014. South Wales Pipeline Project Site 38.17, Land North of Llwyn-Meurig, Trecastle, Powys: Archaeological Excavation. Cotswold Archaeology: Unpublished typescript report 13315

Bourgeois, Q. 2013. Monuments on the Horizon: The formation of the barrow landscape throughout the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Unpublished PhD thesis, Leiden University

Hindson, T. & Elphick, L. 2012. Yews, Taxus baccata L. at Crowhurst Churchyard in Sussex: The Parish Church of St George, visit of May 2012. Unpublished Manuscript

Bradley, R. & Nimura, C. in press. The Use and Reuse of Stone Circles: Fieldwork at five Scottish monuments and its implications. Oxford: Oxbow Books

Connor, A. & Mortimer, R. forthcoming. Prehistoric and Roman Occupation Along Fordham Bypass, Fordham, Cambridgeshire. Norwich: East Anglian Archaeology

Copyright and reproduction fees

A link to the necessary copyright form will be sent to the (leading author) by CUP when proofs are issued. This form should be completed and returned to the CUP address advised, not to the editor. Failure to sign and return the form will result in non-publication. If an article, including any supplementary materials, includes textual or illustrative material not in the author’s copyright and not covered by fair use/fair dealing, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission from the relevant copyright owner (usually the publisher or via the publisher) for the non-exclusive right to reproduce the material worldwide in all forms and media, including electronic publication. Please note that illustrative material (such as photographs/drawings) are not included in fair use/fair dealing provisions, even if acknowledged, and permission should be sought for their use in the article. The relevant permission correspondence should be attached to the copyright transfer form and sent to Cambridge University Press. Neither the Prehistoric Society nor Cambridge University Press will pay any reproduction fees arising, these are the responsibility of the author.

The Editor will be pleased to discuss any aspect of the preparation of papers.

Guidance notes for the use and quotation of radiocarbon dates

As much information as possible about the identification of radiocarbon dated samples and the specific context from which they derive should be provided. Following international convention, radiocarbon ages should be cited as ‘BP’ with the laboratory code and error range (e.g. OxA-8006, 4410±40) and calibrated radiocarbon ages cited as ‘cal BC’.  

Details of the facility or facilities that produced the results, and how samples were pretreated, prepared for measurement and dated should be included. The latest available international calibration curve should be used for calibration and named, as should the software and the method used for calibrating the dates. Calibrated radiocarbon dates are usually cited at 95% probability, although 68% probability can also be provided. It is conventional to round calibrated age ranges outwards, to the nearest 10 years if the error is 25 or more, by 5 if it is less than 25. Please quote δ13C and δ15N values if they have been obtained.  

If statistical modelling is employed, it is important to specify the structure and rationale of the model and the software and calibration dataset used. PPS prefers OxCal (http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/); the most recent version should be used. Modelled dates and probabilities are always in italics, and the specific model cited, whether this is in the current paper or citing the work of others (e.g. ‘The outer circuit of Chalk Hill was built in 3760–3675 cal BC (95% probability; build outer Chalk Hill; Bayliss and Marshall 2022, fig. 65’). 

For further guidance, please see: Bayliss, A. and Marshall, P. 2022. Radiocarbon Dating and Chronological Modelling: Guidelines and Best Practice. Historic England: London. Available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/research/methods/archaeology/scientific-dating/ (Section 3.6.1). 

Supplementary material should be provided as appendices numbered S1, S2, etc and any included tables or images should be named Table S1, Fig. S1 etc. these should be referred to as such in the main text. Supplementary material should include it’s own bibliography as appropriate.