Submissions

Author Guidelines

To submit an article, please log in or create a new account. For general questions and issues related to registration and submission please contact editorial-staff@paleoanthropology.org. 

SUBMISSION

Submission to the PaleoAnthropology journal proceeds online within our online submission platform. You will be guided stepwise through the uploading of your files.

ARTICLE MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Papers should be submitted in English using American spelling, and should be typewritten in double spacing throughout (including references, captions, and footnotes). Tables may be submitted in single-spaced type. The position of tables and figures should be indicated in the text. Footnotes, tables, and figure captions should be typed separately at the end of the manuscript. All pages should be numbered serially, and manuscripts should be line numbered throughout. Manuscripts should be submitted in a complete and finished form in Word format. The Editors reserve the right to return unacceptable material to authors for revision.

MANUSCRIPT SECTIONS

Submit the parts of the manuscript in the following order:

• Title Page 
• Abstract
• Text
• Acknowledgements
• Endnotes
• References (new page)
• Figure captions (new page, captions listed sequentially)
• Figures
• Tables (separate page for each)
• Supplementary Materials

TITLE PAGE

This page should contain the following information: 

• Title: concise and informative title
• Author(s) and affiliation(s): names, complete mailing addresses, and e-mail addresses for each author
• Corresponding author
• Running Title: a running title of no more than 40 characters suitable for page headings, unless the full title is less than 40 characters
• Up to six keywords

ABSTRACT

Abstracts should be intelligible to the general reader. Recommended length is 300–500 words. Please avoid abbreviations and references.

SECTION HEADINGS

Please do not exceed three levels of headings. Primary headings should be typed in capitals and centered, secondary headings should be typed in capitals and flush left, and tertiary headings should be typed using initial capital letters on significant words and flush left

TABLES

Tables can be submitted either single or double spaced. Please provide a short and informative title for each table. All other information should be presented at the bottom of the table.

IN TEXT REFERENCE CITATIONS

All references cited in the text should also be present in the reference list (and vice versa). Unpublished results, manuscripts in preparation, and personal communications should not be included in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text using 'author's unpublished results', 'in prep.', 'pers. comm.' within parentheses. If citing a personal communication, please ensure that you supply verification from the person providing the communication that they agree to it being included in your submission.

Simple citation with no page numbers specified: (Dibble 1995)
Two authors: (McBrearty and Brooks 2000) 
Three or more authors: (Clark et al. 1988) 
Citations with pages, figures or tables specified: (Olszewski 2003: 232), (Rosenberg 1988: Figure 1), 
(Coinman 2005: Table 2) 

Please list citations in the text in alphabetical, not chronological, order, e.g., (Clark et al. 1988; Dibble 1995; McBrearty and Brooks 2000). Semicolons are used to separate works by different authors, and commas are used to separate distinct, chronologically ordered works by the same author.

When indicating the authorship of a taxon, a comma must be inserted after the author, in compliance with the requirements of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, e.g.,  Homo Linnaeus, 1758.

REFERENCES

References should be listed alphabetically at the end of the paper. Please use format references per the following sample references (or follow the reference template for the Journal of Human Evolution in reference management software programs). Use of DOI is encouraged.

- Single author article in a journal:

Wurz, S., 2013. Technological trends in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa between MIS 7 and MIS 3. Curr. Anthropol. 54, S305-S319.

- Two author article in a journal:

McBrearty, S., Brooks, A.S., 2000. The revolution that wasn’t: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior. J. Hum. Evol. 39, 453-563.

- Multiple author article in a journal:

Scerri, E.M., Thomas, M.G., Manica, A., Gunz, P., Stock, J.T., Stringer, C., Grove, M., Groucutt, H.S., Timmermann, A., Rightmire, G.P., d’Errico, F., Tryon, C.A., Drake, N.A., Brooks, A.S., Dennell, R.W., Durbin, R., Henn, B.M., Lee-Thorp, J., deMenocal, P., Petraglia, M.D., Thompson, J.C., Scally, A., Chikhi, L., 2018. Did our species evolve in subdivided populations across Africa, and why does it matter? Trends Ecol. Evol. 33, 582-594.

- Chapter in edited volume:

Boëda, E., 1995. Levallois: a volumetric construction, methods, a technique. In: Dibble, H.L., Bar-Yosef, O. (Eds.), The Definition and Interpretation of Levallois Technology. Prehistory Press, Madison, pp. 41-65.

- Book:

Schwartz, J.H., Tattersall, I., 2002. The Human Fossil Record, Vol. 1: Terminology and Cranial Morphology of Genus Homo (Europe). Wiley-Liss, New York.

- Dissertation:

Hublin, J.-J., 1978. Le torus occipital transverse et les structures associées: évolution dans le genre Homo. Ph.D. Dissertation. Université Paris VI.

- Software:

R Core Team, 2019. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna.

FIGURES/ILLUSTRATIONS

Authors are responsible for supplying all figures (including photographs, maps, line art) as high-quality digital images in separate files. Images in jpeg or tiff formats are acceptable. All figures should be prepared remembering that the maximum area for figures in the journal is 7 in by 9 in (17 cm by 22 cm). All figures should be referred to as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc., rather than Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc. There are no limitations or costs on use of color images.

Digital images for color and greyscale photographs should be no less than 300 dpi at final size. Line art should be no less than 600 dpi at final size. Please ensure that all images submitted are finalized, e.g., no clean-up needed of date stamps, dust marks, etc. Please do not submit original slides, prints, etc.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

Supplementary Information files can be provided as Word documents or as pdfs. Datasets (e.g. excel files) should be uploaded to an online repository (e.g. Zenodo), with the link added into the manuscript. 

DATA AVAILABILITY AND PERMITS

Please provide a statement explaining where the research data associated with your paper is available (e.g. link to a public repository), and under what conditions the data can be accessed (e.g. openly available or available upon request).

In the acknowledgments please list all permits (including their reference number) that were obtained to access any archaeological, paleontological or other samples. 

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

For manuscripts submitted from 2025, the contribution(s) of each author must be succinctly described before the Reference section, following the  CRediT taxonomy: https://credit.niso.org/.

PROOF CORRECTIONS

Proofs in pdf format will be provided to the corresponding author for checking. Corrections should normally be limited to small typographical changes or formatting errors. Changes that represent substantial alterations from the accepted manuscript will not be accepted.

USE OF GENERATIVE AI IN SCIENTIFIC WRITING

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies should only be used to improve readability and clarity during the writing process. If used, AI should be applied with human monitoring and control, and authors should carefully evaluate and revise the results, as AI can provide incorrect, incomplete, or prejudiced output. Please remember that authors are ultimately liable and accountable for the content published in their name.
Authors must declare the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by including a statement at the end of their manuscript and before the list of References.
Statement: The author(s) utilized [NAME AI TOOL] to [REASON] in the writing process of this text. After using [NAME AI TOOL], the author(s) read and adjusted the text as needed and accept(s) full responsibility for the publication's content.
The declaration of AI technology is not required when using basic tools for checking grammar, spelling and references.