by Diane Scherzler (diane.scherzler@dguf.de), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte (DGUF), Chair
"Archäologische Informationen", the specialist journal of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte (DGUF), has established a new review section titled "Archäoinformatik (Archaeoinformatics)" which will appear for the first time in Volume 43 (2020). The current digital revolution and the ever increasing significance of software in the humanities in general and archaeology in particular mean that digital publications and tools of relevance to archaeology should receive appropriate critical attention and acknowledgement. The reviews in English or German relate to software of topical archaeological relevance.
In the fast-moving and increasingly important world of open-source software, such as R and QGIS including all their packages and extensions, in particular, it is important that experienced experts identify new tools as being valuable and assess them for the benefit of less experienced users. What precisely is the tool intended for, is it worth trying it out and familiarising yourself with it, or are there more useful alternatives. Even experienced users would find the approach of trying everything out for themselves somewhat time-consuming in the long term – which is why a review section for software of relevance to archaeology is useful.
The "Archäoinformatik" review section is intended to help people quickly obtain a comprehensive idea of current developments. The reviews will help them to decide whether a tool should be used on a personal level or in the whole company; all practitioners know that it is normally not the licensing costs which decide the issue, but the range of functions, the length of time it takes to familiarise oneself with the system, and the subsequent ease of use and stability of the products. And last but not least, the new section is intended to be a concrete, publicly visible expression of acknowledgement which is justly deserved by those program authors who provide valuable software tools for the community. The Archäoinformatik review section could become a space where people are made aware of previously lesser known "little minions" as well as the generally known tools.
More on what a software review should contain, on how reviews come about, on the publication process etc. can be found at https://www.dguf.de/fileadmin/user_upload/publikationen/AI/DGUF-Dok_ArchInf_Review-Section-Archaeoinformatics.pdf
"Archäologische Informationen", founded in 1972, is published both online in (Platinum) open access and in a printed version of 900 copies; the journal is licensed explicitly CC BY. The submitted papers (German or English) are peer-reviewed. All papers published receive a DOI (not during early view). The online edition of Arch. Inf. was the most widely read archaeological journal at the Portal Propylaeum in 2018 and 2019; in 2019, it had a market share of 22.3% among the 13 journals hosted there.
All further information on the journal can be found at https://www.dguf.de/368.html
Contact: Editor-in-Chief Dr. Frank Siegmund, editor@dguf.de
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