Marriner, N. 2009. Currents and trends in the archaeological sciences. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE 36 (12): 2811-2815.

[Eugene Garfield]

Marriner, N. 2009. Currents and trends in the archaeological sciences.
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE 36 (12): 2811-2815.

Author Full Name(s): Marriner, Nick

Language: English
Document Type: Article

Abstract: Here I use ISI Web of Knowledge to build on a recent paper by
Butzer (2009) and track current trends in the archaeological sciences. I
researched eight thematic keywords replete in the title, abstract, keywords
and main body of archaeological science literature for the period 1970-2008.
For all keywords investigated a steady rise in archaeological science
research is evidenced after 1980, with pronounced growth occurring after
2000. I attribute this pattern to the standardisation of research production
and academic evaluation, in addition to the democratisation of new
information technologies, notably the Internet. The evolution of 10 leading
archaeological science journals was also tracked. Since the 1970s, the
bibliometric data show that nine of the ten journals have successfully
expanded on an annual basis. I found that the biggest growers (the Journal
of Archaeological Science [JAS], the Journal of Human Evolution and the
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology) are all published by Elsevier. In
2008, the JAS was ranked first for five of the eight thematic keywords by
ISI, underlining the popularity and interdisciplinary scope of the journal.
According to the 2008 journal Citation Reports, the JAS ranks second for
total citations (4219) in archaeological science and third for its overall
impact factor (1.779). (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Addresses: Univ Aix Marseille, CNRS, CEREGE, UMR 6635, F-13545 Aix En
Provence 04, France

Reprint Address: Marriner, N, Univ Aix Marseille, CNRS, CEREGE, UMR 6635, BP
80, F-13545 Aix En Provence 04, France.

E-mail Address: marriner at cerege.fr

ISSN: 0305-4403
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2009.09.009