Submission Information

Initial Submission

Articles should be written in English. Preference is given to articles of substantial length (at least 10,000 words, notes inclusive). Shorter pieces are welcome for submission in our “Notes and Reports” section. These might be concise but particularly outstanding studies; reports on excavations funded by Dumbarton Oaks; discussions or reinterpretations of other significant archaeological material; or studies of objects in the Dumbarton Oaks collections.

Submissions are expected to advance a clear, significant, and original thesis and should not be under consideration elsewhere for publication. The Editorial Board reserves the right not to send out for review any submission deemed inappropriate or insufficiently developed. Initial submissions need not follow any particular style guide, but they must be complete and polished.

Submissions for review must be made through our portal on Scholastica.

Peer Review

The peer review we conduct is double-blind: neither an author’s nor a reviewer’s identity is revealed to the other.

Every submission should be stripped of any phraseology that might identify an author, not only in the main text and notes but also in the header, footer, and metadata. We expect authors and peer reviewers to disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

Articles are typically sent to two reviewers, but may be sent to more at the Editorial Board’s discretion. The review process typically takes four to six months. Final decisions are made by consensus of the editors in consultation with the editorial board.

Final Submission

Final submissions must be prepared according to Dumbarton Oaks’ style guide and list of abbreviations, which can be found here. Any recent issue of the journal may also be consulted for examples.

Authors are expected to secure and pay for any necessary image permissions and prepare associated files according to our artwork submission guide. Dumbarton Oaks Papers charges no fees for publication and there are no article processing charges (APCs); we happily print images, including color images, without requiring subventions.

Upon publication of the year’s volume, each author receives a physical copy of the volume and a PDF offprint of their article. Dumbarton Oaks Papers encourages authors who wish to post a copy of their article to a secure digital repository.