Internet Archaeology: creating an Open Access success story
Internet Archaeology was established in 1996 with funding until
July 2001 from the JISC eLib programme. Innovative since its inception, it
was the first refereed online e-journal in Archaeology and has been very
successful in gaining international recognition as a high-quality academic
journal. In the UK it is fully recognised for RAE purposes and forms an
integral part of archaeological teaching and research.
Since its launch it has further enhanced its reputation as a highly
regarded and popular journal with positive reviews in key publications
including the Times Higher Education Supplement and New Scientist. It was
identified by Chris Rusbridge, eLib Programme Director, as one of eLib’s
major success stories. As a further testament to its popularity, the
journal attracts users from over 120 countries. Now in its 22nd volume,
Internet Archaeology attracts a continuous stream of offers of
high-quality research papers. The JISC Collections’ consultation survey,
conducted in spring 2006, indicated high levels of demand for the journal
from the academic and library community.
Internet Archaeology is unique in Archaeology in that it is a
multi-media journal available exclusively on the Web; it has no print
equivalent. It includes elements that would be impossible in a paper
publication, such as searchable databases to analyse online; full-colour,
interactive images; video footage; virtual reality models and access to
related digital archive material. This allows the subscriber to choose the
level of detail required through a variety of indexing and searching
methods to provide new opportunities to enrich teaching and research. For
example students can work interactively with archaeological material, which
facilitates active learning. Archaeologists can use this resource to
examine examples of best practice when designing fieldwork projects and
data management systems.
Internet Archaeology 2008-2009: Open Access for UK HE and
FE
Two year funding from JISC Collections will help Internet
Archaeology with the transition to Open Access. The funding for the
period from 1st January 2007 to 31st December 2009 will allow free access,
from January 2008, (to issues 22-25 of the journal) to the growing number
of universities and colleges that teach Archaeology, as well as extending
usage of the journal to a much wider range of disciplines (for example
History, History of Art, Creative and Performing Arts, Geography,
Biological and Earth Sciences). Internet Archaeology will also be
of interest to those in Information Science and Librarianship disciplines
and to users in the further education sector.
The funding period also provides Internet Archaeology with the
opportunity to develop its long-term Open Access model as it seeks to
generate a growing proportion of its revenue from publication subventions
from research councils, commercial developers, and state funding
archaeological agencies.
For full details and to for the licence agreement Internet
Archaeology 2008-2009 please see: http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/internetarchaeology
Internet Archaeology Archive 1996-2006
JISC Collections has also purchased the Internet
Archaeology Archive 1996-2006 (which includes issues 1 to 21
inclusive) on behalf of UK higher and further education institutions, which
means they can now have permanent access to ten years of rich multimedia
scholarly content completely free of charge. Content ranges from excavation
reports (incorporating text, photographs, data, drawings, reconstruction
diagrams, interpretations) and analysis of large data sets along with the
data itself, to visualisations and applications of information technology
in archaeology.
For full details and the licence agreement for Internet Archaeology Archive
1996-2006 , please go to: http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/internetarch
Notes for editors
1. Internet Archaeology is the first fully refereed
e-journal for archaeology and publishes articles of a high academic
standing which utilise the potential of electronic publication. Internet
Archaeology is published by the Council for British Archaeology and hosted
by the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. For further
information, please go to http://intarch.ac.uk/
2. JISC Collections was established as a mutual trading
company by the UK further and higher education funding councils in 2006 to
negotiate with publishers of online information and other owners of digital
content. The range of resources licensed for use by such agreements
constitutes a large national collection of online resources for education
and research. JISC Collections is funded by JISC (Joint Information Systems
Committee). For further information, please go to: http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk