Some Highlights From 2024: A Year in Review at the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Abstract

In this editorial, we reflect on the most read publications and some key highlights from 2024 in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. Of those papers published in the journal last year, the 10 most read titles are listed in Table 1. The journal publishes six issues a year, and so the time that these publications have been available to read does vary, but the most read publications are distributed across the year's issues (Figure 1). The 10 papers listed in Table 1 give a sense of the range of published studies in the journal, covering both human and animal osteoarchaeology and a range of methods and approaches.

Considering article access data for published content can provide helpful reflection on publications that successfully engage wider interest. In the top 10 most read papers, whereas two are case studies, the significant majority are more complex pieces of work indicating that larger datasets tend to attract the most interest from academics in our fields. There is a fairly even balance of animal and human osteoarchaeology papers, indicating both a balanced authorship and readership across the main specialisms of the journal. Topic-wise, there are four papers on improving osteoarchaeological skills and practice (no. 1, 3, 6, and 10), and six papers on applying existing techniques to better understanding archaeological assemblages (no. 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9) (Table 1). From a geographical perspective, where geography is relevant, a European focus does dominate the list, with one paper about New Zealand and another about the Levant. This is a subset of the broad geographical range of studies that the journal publishes from across the globe and may reflect a number of factors. We should consider the impact of open access publishing and the higher reads that these can achieve (e.g., Davis 2011), as all the research papers in Table 1 are open access. If papers were submitted by researchers without funding to support open access, then this could skew the geographic pattern we see in the most downloaded group. Research shows that article processing charges are a barrier to open access publication in particular for researchers from low-income countries compared to those from high-income countries (Smith et al. 2022).

The most full-text views in 2024 was achieved by Davis et al.'s (2024) photographic atlas for European freshwater and migratory fish remains (Figure 1). This work makes accessible a richly illustrated corpus to support the identification and analysis of these taxa. Photographic or illustrative guides and keys can play important roles in the different settings and stages of zooarchaeological analysis, from preliminary sorting of remains to final analyses. Davis and colleagues provide a researcher-friendly resource—one that can be used for supporting identifications when access to physical collections is not possible, can supplement comparative collections, or can be used for training purposes—and also include discussion of the difficulties and considerations for the analysis of freshwater fish remains. Recognizing the need to further support the publication of such identification guides and keys, in 2024, we also launched a new article type “Methods and Tools,” with greater capacity for illustrations (Bendrey and Mitchell 2024a; also see IJO author guidelines).

Academic publishing is a dynamically changing space—shaped strongly and often “top-down” by funders, research institutions, and publishers—and the move to open access continues to evolve with differing implications for researchers in different fields and employment situations (e.g., Jahn 2025; Schiltz 2018; McNutt 2019). Researchers in osteoarchaeology work in a range of contexts, for example, university, museum, government, private company, and freelance, with differential access to publishing support and funds. Although some work in contexts that have sufficient funding or transformative agreements with publishers for open access, such as higher education institutions in the Global North, open access article processing charges can be a barrier to others, such as younger researchers and those working in underfunded contexts (Jahn 2025; Shrier and Schmid 2019; Smith et al. 2022). As a hybrid journal, IJO provides a flexible and accessible forum for the diversity of researchers across the osteoarchaeology community to publish. With the increasing range and types of journals available, the diverse publishing ecosystem maintains academic freedom and provides the space for authors to choose the venue and publishing model that works for them.

As the wider publishing landscape continues to evolve in terms of funding models, production processes and diversity of venues, IJO has also made changes in 2024 in collaboration with the Wiley team that support the journal. Content for special issues is now published in the journal as it is accepted, with the full special issue content subsequently brought together in a virtual collection so that each author's work can be fully published as soon as possible while also maintaining the impact and significance of the special issue topic together as a coherent and searchable collection (see https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/10991212/homepage/specialissues).

One of the most read publications from last year is an editorial that was published in Issue 6 providing some tips for early career researchers around writing a first academic journal article (Bendrey and Mitchell 2024b). The location of this piece on the list may indicate an audience, and a need, for providing greater support and guidance for publishing and career development, especially given the continued precarity of many emergent academic careers, the challenging funding and recruitment situation across higher education and research in a range of countries, and the importance of publishing for career advancement in some contexts.

The papers highlighted here (Table 1) are intended to give a taste of the content published in 2024. The published studies cover the diversity of osteoarchaeological approaches. We are keen to continue to receive diverse content across the full breadth of topics and contexts covered by the journal remit and to continue to offer an inclusive, supportive and author-friendly venue.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.