All,
Here is the latest version of the Schematic Outline that was presented earlier. Needless to say, comments, suggestions, questions, etc. would be appreciated. If you have any, you should send them to
info@palanth.comMy best,
Jacques Cinq-Mars
------------------------
PALANTH - International Journal of Palaeoanthropology – A Schematic outline
Purpose and scope of the Journal
The International Journal of Palaeoanthropology will be published online (with PDF support for some sections or modules), in English, and will be found at the following URL:
http://www.palanth.com/This new journal will provide international coverage of interdisciplinary palaeoanthropological research (sensu lato). All aspects of research that are relevant and pertinent to our understanding of human biological/cultural evolution and dispersals will also be considered. The journal will focus primarily, but not exclusively on Pleistocene questions. Holocene issues (pertaining to biological anthropology, relatively recent archaeology, and ethnography, etc.) will also be covered. The journal will be open to all discussions that focus on the prehistory of human dispersals and adaptations.
The general presentation approach will make the most of the WEB’s capacity to offer to the readership large quantities of scientifically relevant visual material, something that, as you know, researchers can rarely afford when publishing in printed journals. Contributors will be encouraged and. Even. Urged, to present a broad range of good quality, informative images (e.g., site context, profiles, photographs/drawings of specimens, maps, graphs, etc.). This new approach, which implies somewhat of a change in “communication culture” on the part of many researchers, will be dealt at length in the first “call for papers” and in the editorial of the Inaugural Issue which will be available by late October or in November. The technical requirements will be explained in Module 11 – Instruction to authors.
Finally, it should be noted that all efforts will be made to ensure that no (non scientific) barriers will be placed on who may contribute to the Journal. Anything that passes Editorial Committee filter and/or peer-review will, by principle, be acceptable. This means that information that is relevant, at whatever level, to the palaeoanthropological discourse could be contributed by professionals and established researchers, as well as by students and informed “amateurs”.
Some organizational notes
Many sections of the journal will be freely accessible to all (Modules 01, 02.1, 02.3,02.4, 02.5, 02.6, 02.7, 03, 04, 09, 13, and 14). Note, here, that the Journal reserves the right to change, at any time and depending on the needs and circumstances, various aspects of this “free access” policy. The remaining Modules and (sub)modules will be accessible by subscription only. A subscription fee of 35 US $ is envisioned for individual subscribers. Institutional subscription rates will be provided later. Details regarding the latter will be provided later. These are meant to cover the cost of the journal’s design, programming, server space, and actual production and maintenance.
Some advertising and, possibly, sponsorship will also be used as a means to cover a portion of the production costs. Needless to say, it will be in harmony with PALANTH’s design and purpose, i.e., restricted to ads directly related to palaeoanthropological scientific research (e.g., books, journals, Departmental programs, Foundations, etc.).
Some of the “by subscription only material” will also be made available for downloading as PDFs (Module 11). These will be put together by the Journal. Note, here, that since the hoped for quantity and quality of visual material is likely to yield, at times, rather heavy (PDF) files, it is likely that the latter will, at times, need to be segmented in a number of consecutive files in order to make downloading easier.
The site design and ongoing maintenance is done by a firm called Mediacinq.com and myself.
Journal content
* Note, here, that the following modules only represent a listing of the “functionalities” that will be included in the Journal, and do not necessarily correspond to the actual TOC structure.
Module 01
Title page. - This shows the name of the Journal, the logo and a pertinent image. It is likely that the latter will be changed with every new issue, in order to maintain the “visual” dynamics of the Journal. Similarly, the small icons associated with the logo may also change within the same issue or from one issue to another. A preview of this page can be seen at
http://www.palanth.com/ and, together with the already activated PALANTH – Forum ( see below, Module 14, -
http://www.palanth.com/forum/ ), should give you a clear illustration of the presentation design and approach that have been chosen for the Journal.
Module 02.1
Editorial. - This will consist of a general introductory statement regarding the purpose, scope and organization of the Journal., followed by comments and notes on other issues that are of palaeoanthropological interest. Also, it is planned for the first Inaugural Issue to be “introduced” by a “Guest Editor”. The same will apply whenever the Journal will come up with “special” or “thematic” issues.
Module.02.2
Copyright. - Unless other arrangements are made with the Journal, all articles, research reports, and review-essays contributors will retain the copyright on their texts and images, for use as they fit. Details concerning the right of the Journal to distribute this material (as PDF) and maintain an archival system that will be accessible to all subscribers will be provided later. The copyright for all other materials will be retained by the Journal. It is also a given that the Journal will retain the right on its basic presentation design.
Module 02.3
Site map (self explanatory).
Module 02.4
Contact. How to contact the Journal, for subscription, comments, questions, etc., and how to be put on a mailing list for detailed announcements and updates (this, for subscribers only). Note, however, that with regards to “announcements and updates”, the non subscribers may be provided with summaries of what is going on in the Editorial (04) and, possibly, in the Table of Content (03), which may include very short abstracts of the content of the articles and research reports.
Module 2.5
Editorial committee. - The present Editorial committee is composed of:
Margherita Mussi (Italy - University of Rome, "La Sapienza" -- Co-editor);
Raymond Le Blanc (Canada - University of Alberta -- Co-editor);
Nicolas Rolland (Canada -University of Victoria -- Co-editor);
Greg Laden (USA - University of Minnesota -- Co-editor);
Ken Jacobs (Canada - University of Montreal -- Co-editor);
Jacques Cinq-Mars (Canada - Canadian Museum of Civilization -- Editor).
Module 2.6
Editorial advisory committee. - At present time, it is composed of:
Theodore Schurr (USA - University of Pennsylvania - Molecular biology, America and Siberia).
Roger Lass (South Africa - University of Cape Town - Palaeolinguistic).
Daryl Habel (USA - Avocational palaeonthropologist).
Alan Bryan (Canada - University of Alberta - American Palaeo).
Ruth Gruhn (Canada - University of Alberta - American Palaeo).
David Lubell (Canada - University of Alberta - North Africa and Western Mediterranean area).
Heather Pringle (Canada – Vancouver – Science journalist).
Alan Cooper (England – Oxford University – Molecular biology).
Ariane Burke (Canada – University of Winnipeg – Zooarchaeology).
Paul Bahn (England - Freelance archaeological writer and contributing editor to
Archaeology magazine).
Iain Davidson (Australia – University of New England – Armidale – Archaeology).
Francesco d’Errico (France – University of Bordeaux, Institut de Préhistoire et Géologie Quaternaire - Palaeolithic art, prehistoric technology and the evolution of human cognitive abilities).
O’Connell, James F. (USA – University of Utah Ecology of prehistoric and modern hunters; ethnoarchaeology; Western North America, East Africa, Australia).
Module 2.7
International network of “correspondents”. These individuals will serve as ongoing scientific news providers who, at times, will, hopefully, be contributors of actual articles, research reports, reviews, etc. The selection criteria that are being used in developing this network are based on both geography and (sub)disciplines.
AT this time, the list of “correspondents” includes:
Shoh Yamada (Japan – Archaeology).
C. Loring Brace (USA – University of Michigan, Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology – Biological anthropology).
Knut Helskog (Norway - Tromsø Museum – Archaeology and Rock art)
Module 03
Table of content (current issue and links to archived ones), and updated “Scientific News” announcements. - As mentioned earlier, it might be useful for the TOC to present very brief summaries or description of the available Articles and Research reports. It will also be used to “advertise”, as it were, the content of future issues.
Module 04
Scientific News. - The “news” will be provided primarily by the network of “international correspondents” who, as mentioned above, will have everything to gain from being frequent contributors of Articles and Research reports. The “Scientific news” material provided by the “correspondents” will be reviewed in-house, by the members of the Editorial Committee.
Module 05
Articles (with or without comments – the former, by invitation only); this module will also include lengthy essays based on book or important article reviews (also by invitation only – peer-reviewed).
Module 06
Ongoing Research reports (peer-reviewed).
Module 07.1
Congress, conference, colloquium, and museum exhibit reviews or reports. - It has become clear that the Journal could well become an important outlet for the systematic and rapid dissemination of information (under the form of summaries, critical accounts, etc.) on the palaeoanthropologically relevant congresses, meetings, conferences, colloquia, symposia, and pertinent exhibitions that are held all over the world, on a year round basis. These will also be reviewed in-house, and approved by the members of the Editorial Committee.
Module 07.2
Book reviews, book notes. - Also to be reviewed in-house, and approved by the members of the Editorial Committee.
Module 08
Letters to the Editor, (rejoinders, and miscellaneous comments, etc.). - This will only be available to subscribers. (Also to be reviewed and approved by the members of the Editorial Committee).
Module 09
Short WEB site and CDROM reviews (followed by important/pertinent links). In this regard, it appears such reviews could well be used to turn this particular Module into some sort of a “Guide Michelin” of “Palaeoanthropology on the Web”. Just to give an example, Peter Brown’s excellent site on Australian and Asian Palaeoanthropology which can be found at
http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~pbrown3/palaeo.html would be awarded ***. Also to be reviewed in-house, and approved by the members of the Editorial Committee.
Module 10
Instruction to authors. – Unless exceptional circumstances (to be evaluated on a case by case basis), all contributors will be asked to provide electronic files, for both text and images; texts will have to be sent as “unformatted/normal” RTF files; the images, which should be – whenever possible -- of good quality, will have to be sent at a relatively high level of resolution, in JPEG or GIF format. This will be explained in detail in a “Graphics Protocol. Also, the contributors will have to ensure that all the elements of the submitted visual material will be accompanied by pertinent captions (short or lengthy, depending on the needs) that will be well keyed to the text. In order to maintain a uniform quality of presentation (design, style, etc.), the actual layout of any given contribution will be handled by the Journal. As for the style that we will use for References/Bibliography, etc., the Journal of Human Evolution model should be used.
Module 11
PDF access (for subscribers only).
Module 12
Access to archived material (previous issues). – Unless changes are made by both parties (i.e., the Journal and the individual authors) to the initial “copyright agreement, the rules will be the same as the ones that presently apply to access to the “Current Issue”.
Module 13
The dynamics of the Journal will also be greatly enhanced by its own Forum, which, as mentioned earlier, is already functional and active. Since the Forum is meant to facilitate exchanges between all people (contributors, subscribers and non subscribers) who have a genuine interest in various Palaeoanthopological. topics and issues and to serve, on the long term, as a important catalyst with regards to content, it obviously needs to remain accessible to all and free of charge.
Module 14
Finally, we also feel that it will be useful for the Journal to serve as a point of entry for people interested in getting access to the important “Archives” of the now defunct, three year old “Palanth-l” discussion list. Discussions are presently underway to obtain additional server space. These “Archives”, once downloaded and properly “cleaned up” (this process may take some time) will become fully accessible to both subscribers and non subscribers. Here again, this particular aspect of the “access” policy will not change.
Jacques Cinq-Mars, PALANTH Editor, 26 August 2002.
