P-Transforms: Mapping Change in the Archaeological Publishing Landscape

The reward system for archaeologists in the academy is inextricably interwoven with the ecosystem of scholarly publication, a system going through rapid transformation. While the move to a digital landscape is not new, it has opened up a wide range of possibilities: open access journals, database publishing, easier international collaborations and dissemination, among others. The traditional publishers of journals, textbooks, and monographs have been forced to transform their publishing strategies in the face increasing competition from new players and new models -- generalist journals, book aggregations, and predatory publications. Citation indexes have become outsized in importance. The distinction between scholarly and popular audiences is increasingly blurred. A long-term specialty publisher of archaeology will outline some of these major changes, suggest what impact they might have on archaeologists’ publication strategies, and hypothesize some possible directions for the near future.