Instructions for authors

Logo de la revue Americae

Editorial policy

Americae accepts original manuscripts (i.e., previously unpublished) reporting on archaeological and/or ethnoarchaeological, as well as ethnohistoric research carried out in any region of North or South America and the Caribbean. Three main types of papers are published:

  • Articles. Articles are longer pieces that should address a broad audience, such as discussions of method and theory, or major findings that are of great importance to larger regions.
  • Research Reports. Reports are shorter pieces that may interest a more specialized audience, such as detailed descriptions of a specific excavation context, a new method protocol, analysis of a specific museum piece, etc.
  • Special Section. The papers published in the special section are all clearly focused on one specific theme and could be originally presented together at a conference symposium. The session coordinator should take responsibility for the submission of the collection and will serve as the intermediary between Americae’s editorial staff and the papers’ individual authors. We ask that the session coordinator have already edited the ensemble of manuscripts prior to submission (and made a selection of manuscripts to submit, if applicable). Those interested in submitting a collection of conference papers for publication should contact the editorial staff of Americae.

These three document types follow the same editorial evaluation process.

  • Book Reviews. Americae promotes scientific diffusion by publishing book reviews. Book reviews are evaluated by the editorial board, who will decide whether to publish or not.

A note on the language of publication

As Americae’s objective is to reach a broad audience in the Americanist community, we encourage authors to submit their manuscripts in English or Spanish, the two most widely read languages among Americanist scholars. Americae also accepts and publishes papers in Portuguese and French.

Editorial process

Review of the manuscripts

All submitted manuscripts are evaluated by a minimum of two anonymous experts who are selected among members of the advisory board and outside experts. They are provided with a review form to fill in, covering formal aspects and content. The review form must also be supplemented with a detailed opinion. The scientific quality and novelty of the papers are the main requirements. In particular, the reviewers examine the originality of the issue and how it is problematized, the robustness of the data and the argumentation, as well as the adequacy of the methods. The results must constitute a significant contribution to the research field.

The experts have one month to submit their evaluation report. The editorial board will take into account their recommendations. In the case of a strong discrepancy in the reports, a third expert is requested.

When modifications are required, the revised manuscripts are subjected to a second evaluation by the same reviewers or other experts from the editorial board.

Preparing the manuscripts

Manuscripts accepted are checked from a strict editorial point of view and may be returned to the authors for upgrading to the standards of the journal (bibliographic references, illustrations, etc.). They are then revised by the journal’s editorial staff and prepared for the various dissemination media (HTML, PDF).

Once online on the journal’s website, the original articles, reports and book reviews are deposited in the HAL open archive (in pdf format).

Recommendations for authors

Submission procedure

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically. Please specify if it is an article or a research note. Files should be sent in DOC, ODT or RTF format. No print manuscripts or PDF files will be accepted. Do not forget to attach any image files (see “Illustrations” section).

Preparing the manuscript

Americae accepts manuscripts written in English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese. Manuscripts should not exceed 12,000 words (excluding the bibliography).

Sections of the manuscript

A manuscript submission should contain the following sections (unless indicated differently below, each should begin on a new page):

  • Title page;
  • Abstracts and keywords (see below for details) in 3 languages;
  • Acknowledgments (should immediately follow the keywords, just before the text);
  • Text;
  • The captions of the figures are placed in the body of the text as close as possible to their call;
  • The tables are placed in the body of the text with their caption as close as possible to their call;
  • References cited;
  • Appendix (if applicable).

The title page

The title page should list:

  • The title of the manuscript in 3 languages;
  • The name(s) of the author(s);
  • Each author’s institutional address (should be combined for multiple authors from the same institution); Department or laboratory name (for example, Department of Anthropology), university or institute, city, country;
  • Each author’s email address.

As follows:
First name LAST NAME
Department or laboratory name (for example, Department of Anthropology), university or institute, city, country
mail@cnrs.fr

Example:
Marie Dupont
Archéologie des Amériques (UMR 8096), CNRS-université Paris Nanterre, France
marie.dupont@cnrs.fr

Abstracts

To maximize the accessibility of Americae’s content, all manuscripts must be accompanied by at least three abstracts (French, English, Spanish). A paper written in Portuguese would include an abstract in this language.

Once these requirements have been met, Americae is willing to publish additional abstracts in other languages of the Americas, such as indigenous languages.

Each abstract should be preceded by the title of the article and should be followed by a line with up to five keywords. The abstract should not exceed 200 words in length.

Currently, the journal is not able to provide a translation service. Thus, the preparation of the abstracts is the responsibility of the author(s).

The text

Please do not use tabs, spaces or page breaks to format your text, as they will disappear when the text is published online. The entire text should be single spaced.

  • The text: Times New Roman 12;
  • For the titles of your paragraphs use the style “title 1, title 2, etc.” accessible on your toolbar as following:

  • Hyperlinks must refer back to sites that are accessible on the World Wide Web; they should not be linked to local files on the author’s computer;
  • Tables should be created by using the menu “table + insertion” in word;
  • Graphics produced with Excel must be saved as XLS;
  • Concise, footnotes are accepted if absolutely necessary. They should be numbered sequentially and appear at the bottom of each page;
  • References cited should be placed at the end of the text in alphabetical order according to the names of the authors;
  • Appendices: the authors may provide supplementary digital data (text, Excel tables, sound files, video, etc.). These raw data will be deposited in the journal’s Nakala account (https://nakala.fr/collection/10.34847/nkl.8aaanpxf). Nakala is a Huma-Num platform created to share, publish, and enhance the data generated through scientific research. The data sets are attributed a DOI that allows them to be consulted and cited.
Chronological references

For historical dates Americae preferably uses BCE (before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era). For example: from 500 BCE to 100 CE.
Centuries are written in capital: IVth century AD.
Millennia are written as IIIrd millennium BCE or CE (in capitals).
We do not abbreviate dates: write 1914–1918 CE (and not 1914–18 CE).
Uncalibrated radiocarbon data will be expressed as BP (for example: 1535 ± 50 BP).
Calibrated dates: cal. 240–266 BCE (1 σ), cal. 540–595 CE (2 σ).

For each new radiocarbon date reported, the identifier of the dating laboratory, the sample code and the type of material analyzed must be included.

Radiocarbon dates that have been subject to Bayesian or other statistical modeling must be clearly stated as such, and the full methods, assumptions, and citations for programs or software used to generate them must be stated in the text or as supplementary files.

Radiocarbon dates that have been subject to statistical modelling should be presented in italics. All modelled date estimates should also include the highest probability density (hpd) and not standard deviations (sigma/σ), i.e., cal. 875–906 CE (68.3% hpd) or cal. 796–998 CE (95.4% hpd).

The complete OxCal or Chronomodel runfiles that were used to generate the reported results should be included in the supplementary materials or deposited in a repository (for example Nakala) and referenced in the text by a DOI or appropriate citation (e.g., tDAR.org).

Illustrations

Figures format

Figures should be inserted directly into the manuscript text, but they should also be attached as separate files. We recommend that you verify the quality of your figures when printed.

For photographs: TIFF format, 300 dpi, CMYK colorimetric model. If this is not possible, a .JPEG format is acceptable (but not preferred). For the publishable version, if you use Photoshop, you should “Save as” and not “Save for the web.”

For vector format documents (maps, drawings, etc.): Use only .ai, .eps, or .svg formats and and CMYK mode (not RGB)

Black lines should be in C = 0%; M = 0%; Y = 0%; N = 100%.

Frozen or compressed files will not be accepted.

It is preferable that plan and profile drawings be at similar scales and adapted to the journal’s format (1/100e, 1/250e, 1/3, etc.).

Figures may be submitted in two dimensions for insertion in the PDF version of the article: either 8.5 cm wide (column width), or 18 cm wide (full page width). The height may not exceed 25 cm. Intermediary sizes may be permitted, if necessary (e.g., coherence of scale).

Arial is the only font that may be used for figure legend. The minimum size is 6 pts. The width of lines and contours must be at least 0.25 pt. If you use different tones of grey, adjust between tones by at least 15% or 20% (e.g., 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%).

Because the PNG format tends to produce large files, it should be used only for manuscripts with very few figures. If your figures include transparent zones, do not use PNG format.

Figure placement in text

Figures embedded in the manuscript should be referenced in the text [e.g., Figure 1] and presented as follows:

  • Figure;
  • Figure title, numbered sequentially (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). The title will be located below the figure and thus should not be included in the figure file itself;
  • The source of your figure (required, see below);
  • All figures with objects (drawings or photographs) must have a scale;
  • All maps and plan drawings must have a scale and an arrow oriented to cartographic north;
  • The style of the scale and north arrows must be the same for all the figures.
Figure source

It is mandatory to specify in the legends the credits for each figure. Please indicate clearly the source of the figure (if it does not belong to you) and/or the source of the data used for the production of the image (e.g., US census, 2001). Please verify that you have the right to cite or reproduce the figure before submitting your article. If necessary, the payment of copyright to reproduce the illustration will be the author’s responsibility.

Please use the following terms:

  • “drawings” or “Computer Assisted Drawing (CAD)” for all drawing created with image processing software;
  • “photo” for all photographs taken during excavations, analysis, etc.;
  • “adapted from…” followed by a bibliographic reference, specifying the figure number and the page number in the original source.
Table placement in text

Tables should be embedded in the text and numbered sequentially (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, etc.). The title should appear below the table.

References cited

In-text citations

Bibliographic references cited in the text should follow the following formats:

Single author
Taylor (1964); (Taylor 1964); (Taylor 1964: 23-25); (Taylor 1964: tab. 2)

Two or three authors
Jones and Wilson (1971); (Jones, and Wilson 1971); (Jones, Dupont, and Wilson 1971: 215-216).

From four authors
Fisher et al. (2003); (Fisher et al. 2003); (Fisher et al. 2003: 49-57)

Several references (listed in alphabetic order)
Jones, and Wilson (1971), and Taylor (1964); (Jones, Dupont, and Wilson 1971; Taylor 1964); (Jones, and Wilson 1971: 215-216; Taylor 1964: tab. 2).

Presentation of the references cited

Under the title heading “References,” list all of the references cited in the manuscript using the appropriate format (see below). Do not include references that are not cited in the manuscript text. Authors’ first names should be spelled out completely (not abbreviated as initials).

Journal articles
EECKHOUT Peter, and Lawrence STEWART OWEN
2008, “Human Sacrifice at Pachacamac,” Latin American Antiquity, 19 (4): 375-398.

Book chapters
ALIX Claire
2009, “Persistence and Change in Thule Wood Use, AD 1100-1450,” in Herbert Maschner, Owen K. Mason, and Robert McGhee (eds.), The Northern World, AD 900-1400, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 125-135.

Books
BAUDEZ Claude
1994, Maya Sculpture of Copán. The Iconography, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman (OK).

Thesis
PEREIRA Grégory
1997, Potrero de Guadalupe : anthropologie funéraire d’une communauté pré-tarasque du nord du Michoacán, Mexique, PhD Thesis in Archaeology, université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris.

Electronic articles
HOFMAN Corinne L., Alistair J. BRIGHT, and Reniel RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS
2010, “Crossing the Caribbean Sea: towards a holistic view of Pre-Columbian mobility and exchange,” Journal of Caribbean Archaeology [online], Special Publication 3 (Mobility and Exchange from a Pan-Caribbean Perspective, Corinne L. Hofman, and Alistair J. Bright [eds.]), https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/files/7313/9445/7981/Hofman_etal.pdf, consulted the 05/01/2021.

Specifying the date of consultation indicates that the website is available at the time of publication.

Articles in a special edition of a journal
BÉLIGAND Nadine
2016, “El señorío matlatzinca, una manera de abordar el altepetl,” Americae [online], 1 (Dossier “Altepetl”), http://www.mae.parisnanterre.fr/americae-dossiers/americae-dossier-altepetl/el-senorio-matlatzinca-una-manera-de-abordar-el-altepetl/, consulted the 05/01/2021.

Other types of references

Supplement to a journal
LAST NAME First name (ed.)
date, Title, Editor (Suppl. to Journal title, number), city of publication.

Collection and reprinting with edition number
LAST NAME First name (ed.)
date [date 1st ed.], Title, editor (collection, number), city of publication.
LAST NAME First name (ed.)
date, Title, editor (collection, number), city of publication [2nd ed.].
LAST NAME First name (ed.)
date, Title, editor (collection, number), city of publication [date of new edition].

Conference proceedings/Exhibit catalog
LAST NAME First name (ed.)
date, Title, Round table proceedings [Conference location, date], editor, city of publication.
LAST NAME First name, and First name LAST NAME (eds.)
date, Title, Exhibit catalog [Exhibit location, date], editor, city of publication.

Excavation report
LAST NAME First name (ed.)
date, Titre, Excavation report, publisher or institute, city of publication or location where the report is archived, vol. 1, xx p.
Always mention the type of report (excavation report, final report…).