Author Guidelines

1         Scope

The Journal of Music Archaeology (JMA) is the first specialist academic Open-Access periodical in the field of music archaeology, continuing the spirit of Studien zur Musikarchäologie, which appeared within Orient-Archäologie. It addresses questions concerning the archaeology of sound and rhythmical behaviour of past cultures all over the globe, including the study and reconstruction of certain or possible sound tools, the investigation of soundscapes, especially where intentionally chosen or erected, as well as related historical, anthropological and ethnological research based on iconographies, literatures, and comparative studies reflecting the wide range of approaches and methodologies that has characterised music archaeology from its beginnings.

2         Ethical and Legal Conditions

The publication of a manuscript in a peer-reviewed work is expected to follow the highest standards of ethical behaviour for all parties involved in the act of publishing: authors, editors, and reviewers.

Specifically, any use of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ must be made transparent according to the rules published at https://www.berlin-universities-publishing.de/en/ueber-uns/policies/ki-leitlinie/index.html.

3         Online Submission

JMA uses an online submission system to guarantee an efficient selection and peer-review process. Authors should submit their manuscript online at: http://jma.vlg.oeaw.ac.at/.

JMA uses a double-blind peer review system, which means that manuscript author(s) do not know who the reviewers are, and that reviewers do not know the names of the author(s). Please make sure that the manuscript of your original submission does not reveal your or your institution’s identity. The names and the document properties of the files containing the contribution must also be anonymised.

Name, affiliation and contact details of contributors are instead submitted in a separate document (see ‎7.1 below).

4         File Formats

For the initial submission, either a PDF file or a Word document or compatible are admissible; no special formatting is required. The final revision must include a source file in Microsoft Word or a compatible format and abide by the formatting guidelines below.

5         Contact Address

For any questions relating to your manuscript please contact jma@oeaw.ac.at.

6         Submission Requirements

6.1         Language

The preferred language for manuscripts is English, but manuscripts in French, German, Italian or Spanish may be considered when relating to a respectively localised field of research. The manuscript should have been checked by a native speaker of the respective language.

6.2         Diacritics, Non-Roman Scripts and Symbols

Texts should employ Unicode encoding as far as possible. If your article contains non-Roman scripts or symbols, please also submit a PDF file in which all characters are displayed correctly. If your article uses non-standard fonts to display more exotic Unicode characters, please provide these fonts.

6.3         Length

Articles should not be more than 8,000 words long including footnotes. For longer articles the author should contact the editors.

7         Submission Structure

We provide a template with preferred settings, upon which submissions may be based, or which may be used to format the submission prior to submitting: http://isgma.info/jma/JMA.dotx. Using that template is not compulsory. Avoid any paragraph formatting to the submitted text except using standard paragraph styles (those your word processor software provides by default) for headings and captions.

Also, refrain from applying any font formatting except italics, superscript, subscript, and, where absolutely required, font type (for special characters), bold and underline.

In short, never format your text by selecting it in its entirety or large chunks of it, for instance in order to change the font size. If you must, change the settings in your document’s Normal style.

Original submissions (prior to acceptance) need not necessarily abide by the following rules; but please make sure you submit a separate Titlepage file along with an anonymised version of your paper. When a contribution is accepted, please provide a fully compliant form.

7.1         Titlepage

The Titlepage document should contain the following information:

7.1.1         Title of your submission

7.1.2         Author’s Names and ORCIDs

Names should be in roman with capitals as normally used by the author, first name or initials as preferred. Non-Roman versions may be juxtaposed especially for names normally written in a logographic script.

7.1.3         E-mail Addresses

E-mail addresses of authors should follow each author’s, but at least the corresponding author’s, name.

7.1.4         Affiliation

The institute where the work was done should be indicated below each author’s name, with the first letters of major words in capitals.

7.2         Manuscript

The main document of your submission consists of its title, a summary, (English) keywords, and the text with footnotes, tables with their captions, and figure captions.

7.2.1         Summary and Keywords

Each article should be accompanied by a summary in English no longer than 200 words, which should mention all the principal facts and conclusions set forth in the paper. Three to eight keywords should be given.

7.2.2         Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments should follow the text under a separate heading.

7.2.3         Headings

For headings of up to three levels, the standard styles for headings in the word processor should be used (Typically named “Heading 1” to “Heading 3”, or the equivalent in the system language). If you require more than three levels, please check with the editors.

7.2.4         Punctuation

Quotation marks may follow punctuation only where that punctuation can be regarded as part of the quotation.

Please avoid sequences of more than one parenthesis (better rephrase or use footnotes), and also nested parentheses, wherever possible.

7.2.5         Italics

Italics should be used for words transcribed from other scripts, words and expressions in languages other than that in which you write, including work titles and their abbreviations, and words that need to be emphasized (no italics for: e.g., i.e., et al., etc., cf.).

In the case of transcription from cuneiform, please use italics for Akkadian, Hittite, Hurrian, and Ugaritic, normal letters for Sumerian, smallcaps for ideographic and logographic writing.

Use italics also for musical notes in Western alphabetic notation when referring to a pitch in a specific octave (C c c' c''…), but uppercase non-italics for functional note names irrespective of their actual pitch (a C major chord consists of the notes C, E and G).

7.2.6         Bold

Bold should only be used exceptionally, in cases of emphasis in a context that includes italics for other purposes, or in certain formulas.

7.2.7         Figures and Tables

References to tables and figures should consist of the complete word, first letter capital plus number in Arabic numerals. Examples: Figure 1; Table 2. While tables may form part of the manuscript, please provide figures (also) in separate files.

7.2.8         Tables

Use the table feature of your word processor for tables, keeping them as simple as possible. The caption should state all details that are needed to understand a table.

7.2.9         Figures

Figures should be submitted as separate source files in .svg, .eps, .tif, .png or .jpg format, in a size suitable for the typesetting area of the journal which is 162x235 mm. The resolution of non-scalable formats should be at least 300 dpi for half-tone figures, and 600 dpi for line drawings. It is not admissible to submit tables as raster-graphic formats; use the word processor’s table functions instead. Similarly, charts and similar should be submitted as scalable formats (SVG, EPS, even Windows metafile, if you must).

The files must be numbered according to their captions; their (approximate) position in the manuscript is indicated by the caption in one or more separate paragraphs formatted in the Caption style.

Figure captions need to include the source, the rights, and where applicable and not evident from the figure itself, the scale.

Make sure that the text in a figure is legible. Optimally, the lettering size should be the same for all figures in the manuscript.

Figure rights must be cleared by the author in advance of publication.

7.2.10     Captions

Captions should consist of type (“Figure”/“Table”) plus number (using automatic numbering is recommended), followed by a colon, a brief description of the content, a full stop and the source/copyright (may be omitted for tables), e.g.:

Figure 1: Reconstructed bone flute. Photo by J. Smith.

Figure 2: Drawing of reconstructed flute. © J. Smith.

Table 1: Measurements of M31.

Additional information required for reading an illustration may be appended in another paragraph.

7.2.11     Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be followed by ‘.’ unless the abbreviation is written with the last letter of the original word at the end position (thus: i.e. / e.g. / cf. / etc. but eds / Dr / edn); measures (such as Hz mm cm m s l) are always written without ‘.’. Use ‘c.’ for ‘circa’.

Please use BCE and CE (both following the date range) instead of BC and AD.

7.2.12     Quotations

Use single quotation marks (‘…’) for special uses of isolated words or conceptions, double quotation marks for literal quotes from modern authors and translations following source texts in ancient or little known languages (“…”). Place unquoted full stops and commas outside the quotation marks.

Short inline quotations of text in Latin and in transliterated scripts should be in italics.

Longer quotations of text (2 lines or more) and poetry are set on separate lines using the paragraph style “Quotation”.

7.2.13     Footnotes

Use the standard footnote functions provided by your text-processor. Footnotes should be numbered consecutively with (automatic) superscript Arabic numbers.

Punctuation marks, if present, should precede the number, unless it must be made clear that a footnote refers only to a single word.

No footnotes are allowed in the title of the article or in the summary. Acknowledgements may be added at the start of the first footnote or – preferably – at the end of the article in a separate paragraph with the heading “Acknowledgments”.

7.2.14     Numbers

In running text, please spell out smaller numbers, unless they are dates or precise measurements: “seven strings”, “thirteenth-century literature”.

7.2.15     Bibliography

All publications referred to in the contribution should be listed in a separate bibliography. We provide a CSL (Citation Style Language) template for convenience (http://isgma.info/jma/journal-of-music-archaeology.csl), which works with many citation software packages (Zotero, Mendeley; cf. https://citationstyles.org/).

If you do not use compatible citation software, please make sure that entries in the bibliography are formatted according to the examples below. Note that

• English titles do not use titlecase,
• journals are referred to by full titles, while
• series titles for books can be omitted, but may be given when particularly relevant (“Musikgeschichte in Bildern…).
• Roman numerals are avoided.

Please supply DOI links where available.

For titles in non-Latin script you are welcome to either quote them in the original script and supply a translation in square brackets or quote them in transliteration to Latin script.

Alföldi, A. and Alföldi-Rosenbaum, E. (1990). Die Kontorniat-Medaillons (Antike Münzen und geschnittene Steine 6.2). Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.

Anon. (2020). Water organ animation 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D-xMANSL1w [Accessed: 18 January 2022].

Barker, A.D. (2018). Migrating musical myths: The case of the Libyan aulos. Greek and Roman Musical Studies 6, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1163/22129758-12341308.

Lynch, T. and Rocconi, E. (eds) (2020). A companion to ancient Greek and Roman music (Blackwell companions to the ancient world , 1st edn). Hoboken: Wiley.

Martinelli, M.C. and Pintaudi, R. (2009). P.Vat.Gr. 7: un nuovo papiro musicale di età tolemaica. In: M.C. Martinelli, F. Pelosi and C. Pernigotti (eds), La Musa dimenticata. Aspetti dell’esperienza musicale greca in età ellenistica. Convengo di studio Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore 21-23 settembre 2006, Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 287–92.

West, M.L. (1992). Ancient Greek Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The volumes of Studien zur Musikarchäologie are treated like a journal:

Byrne, M. (2002). The 40° lyre. Studien zur Musikarchäologie (Orient-Archäologie) 3 (10), 322–33.

Editions of ancient texts may be included in a separate bibliography (“Primary sources”) when deemed appropriate. If these have been consulted mainly in a translation, please indicate this as follows:

Ptolemy, Harmonics: Die Harmonielehre des Klaudios Ptole maios, ed. I. Düring. Göteborg Hög­skolas Årsskrift 38.2. Göteborg 1932. Accessed through: Barker, A.D. (1989). Greek Musical Writings: Volume 2: Harmonic and Acoustic Theory. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

7.3         References to Ancient Authors and Works

Since JMA includes contributions from a wide variety of disciplines, abbreviations should be avoided wherever possible. For common reference works such as lexica, abbreviations are admissible but should be explained in a separate List of Abbreviations preceding the bibliography.

Please use full author names (in their common English form) and titles, except where these are very long and abbreviation is unequivocal. Always use an established standard system of quotation: do not quote a random edition by page. On the other hand, it is encouraged to add pages and lines of an established standard edition to a standard quotation: Claudius Ptolemy, Harmonics 1.5, p.11.5–8 Düring.

Use commas to separate several quotations from the same work; semicolons, to separate different works.

Papyri are also quoted in full: Papyrus Vienna G 29825c.1–3.

In all cases, strive to make quotations as transparent as possible to colleagues not specialised in your particular field.

7.4         References to Secondary Literature

References to secondary literature may either refer to the author(s) as person(s) or to the publication

West (1992: 153–55) argues that…

… as argued in West 1992: 153–55.

Two authors are separated by “and”; use “et al.” for more than two authors. Page numbers in references should be kept as short as possible, with possible consideration of pronunciation in the language of the text (20–23; 100–108; 110–25; 123–25). A range of two pages or lines (e.g., 27–28) is indicated by the first number followed by ‘f.’, without spaces (e.g., 27f.); this does not apply to year numbers.

7.5         Transliteration Norms

Greek:        use macrons to distinguish η ‘ē’ from ε ‘e’ and ω ‘ō’ from ο ‘o’ and indicate accents (acute ‘á’, grave ‘à’, circumflex ‘â’; a circumflex also implies a macron: ῆ ‘ê’). Transliterate subscript iota as adscript (āi, ēi, ōi); υ either as ‘y’ or as ‘u’, as suggested by the context.

Arabic:       the standards set out by the DMG (Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft/German Oriental Society) are recommended. Make sure to represent ʿayn by Unicode 02BF and hamza ʾ by Unicode 02BE.

Mandarin: use pinyin, indicating the tones by diacritics.

Akkadian, Sumerian and adjacent cuneiform languages: use numerals to indicate homonyms, not accents (e.g. a₂ not á, ša₃ not šà). Use italics for Akkadian but normal letters for Sumerian, as stated in 7.2.3 above.

7.6         Proper Names

You are welcome to spell out first names at the first appearance of a given person. Otherwise, please abbreviate first names when referring to ‘real-life’ persons (“J. Smith first introduced…”; “Photo by J. Smith”), but omit first names in the context of scientific discourse (“As already stated by Smith…”), unless this would be ambiguous.

7.6.1         Additional material

In addition to ‘printable’ content, authors are invited to submit research data and audio content, which will be published online and referenced by permanent links. Preferred formats are MP3, FLAC, MP4, AVI.

Due to limited storage space, video content as well as extensive audio content should rather be uploaded to one of the established platforms, providing a permanent link.

Non-anonymized videos (e.g. showing faces) must be uploaded as audio-only. A video format will be requested if your submission is accepted.

Video and audio captions need to be submitted in a separate document and include the source and the rights.

8         Publication

8.1         Proofs

Upon acceptance, a PDF of the article proofs will be sent to the author by e-mail to check carefully for factual and typographic errors. Authors are responsible for checking these proofs, making use of the Comment & Markup toolbar to note their corrections directly on the proofs. At this stage in the production process only minor corrections are allowed. Proofs should be returned to the Editors within two weeks, unless stipulated otherwise.

8.2         Transfer of Copyright

By submitting a manuscript, the author agrees that the copyright for the article is transferred to the publisher if and when the article is accepted for publication. For that purpose the author needs to sign the Consent-to-Publish form which will be sent with the first proofs of the manuscript.

8.3         Open Access

Articles are generally published in Open Access, under a Creative Common License, either CC-BY or CC-BY-ND.