SAIR:pilot programme

In recent years the demand for publication of full archaeological excavation reports in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and regional or local journals has begun to exceed the available space. Members of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, which has helped Historic Scotland (HS) by producing double volumes over the last few years, have argued against inclusion of large numbers of detailed archaeological reports. The costs to HS of traditional publication have been high. To address these problems HS convened a series of public meetings in the autumn of 1999. The meetings were attended by representatives of all sectors of the archaeological community – professional and voluntary, commercial, curatorial and academic. The consensus of opinion at these meetings favoured the establishment of a new Internet report series to be known as Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports (SAIR).

An informal consortium was established to produce Pilot publications. It includes HS (sponsorship), the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (refereeing and editing), and the Council for British Archaeology (production); as well as the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and the Archaeology Data Service for the linking of publications and archives.

Reaction to the first Pilot publication, Dundrennan Abbey, was mainly favourable, but, at different extremes of a wide range of views, some people still preferred traditional print and others wanted more technically ambitious non-linear presentation. It was therefore decided to extend the Pilot to April 2003 and to publish reports on field projects appealing to different audiences, to offer a further test of public opinion on this means of disseminating the results of archaeological fieldwork and research in Scotland.

Historic Scotland will host a further public consultation meeting in 2003. Should there be agreement on the success of the SAIR Pilot project SAIR will become HS's preferred means of publishing archaeological reports. The main criteria will be whether the Pilot publications are widely accessed and whether they are relatively cheap to produce.

IF THE PILOT IS SUCCESSFUL

It is currently envisaged that SAIR will be administered and published by a Management Group consisting primarily of representatives of the following bodies:

Archaeology Data Service
Council for British Archaeology
Council for Scottish Archaeology
Historic Scotland
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Representatives of other organisations (e.g. museums or universities) and also individuals (e.g. distinguished scholars or individuals with other expertise appropriate to the successful management of SAIR) may be invited to join the Management Group from time to time if this is considered appropriate by all members.

SAIR will be Historic Scotland’s preferred means of publishing reports on archaeological fieldwork in Scotland. Reports and research papers on Scottish archaeology commissioned or grant-aided by other bodies – including sponsors of developer-funded fieldwork – may also be accepted where a grant of publication costs is available from such bodies.

All reports and papers offered for publication will be subject to review by referees to the same standard of refereeing as Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. That means a report will count towards Academic Assessments just as much as the same report in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. would.

Short illustrated summaries of SAIR reports will generally appear in a printed local, regional or national journal, as appropriate, following full publication in SAIR.

It is envisaged that access to SAIR will, initially at least, be free. Most SAIR pilot publications will be in an Adobe PDF file format. This has been favoured because it is increasingly used by electronic journals, allows easy indexing and cross-referencing within individual reports and also allows consistency of format across digital and paper media (files can be downloaded as required and when printed will be identical in layout whatever the users' computer and printer configurations.

The Pilot includes production of printed versions of most reports. These will be available for purchase from CBA. The cost of printing, storing and distributing these is high and if they are not in demand during the pilot they will not be recommended in the proposals put to public consultation in 2003.

It is intended that in due course all SAIR reports will be linked to an index of archive material held by the National Monuments Record of Scotland (NMRS) – at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland – or other archive repositories, as appropriate.

IF THE PILOT IS NOT SUCCESSFUL

If the Pilot is not successful, HS will consider an alternative new publication vehicle for Scottish archaeological excavation reports such as a new paper printed journal or report series.

FEEDBACK

You can express views by e-mailingfeedback@sair.org.uk