The archaeological Open Access journal ‘Bothros’

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The archaeological Open Access journal ‘Bothros’ is now published at the University of Zurich. The issues, published annually online and in print, cover all disciplines of archaeology and aim to offer young researchers in particular a platform to publish their work.

For some, a ‘Bothros’ is a rubbish pit, for others it is a collection shaft for precious objects. Only recently, the ancient greek term has also come to stand for an Open Access publication. The journal aims to be a platform for valuable basic research that has received too little attention up until now.

‘Bothros – Zürcher Hefte für Archäologie’ offers room for the publication of research results by young scientists from all archaeological disciplines and thus also stands for the diversity of methods and approaches in archaeological research.

Background & Origin

The journal was established in connection with the conference ‘Studentische Archäologische Forschungstagungen (SAFT)’ at the Department of Archaeology of the University of Zurich (UZH). SAFT started as a forum for interdisciplinary and intergenerational exchange of archaeological research in Zurich.

Now young researchers from all over Switzerland are invited to present their work – this year on 4 November 2023 (Call for Papers SAFT). Selected conference papers will be published in the journal Bothros after successful peer review. Alternating to this, Bothros will also publish thematic issues.

The Editors

The editorial work is carried out by a team of students and young researchers from the Department of Classical Archaeology: Dražen Aulić-Baumgartner, Agata Guirard, Julia Held, Martin Mohr and Philipp Tscholl. Support is provided by the editorial advisory board, which is formed from the chairs of archaeology at UZH.

In 2023, the editorial team realised the first Bothros issue, brought it to print and, together with the Open Science Services of the University Library, prepared the digital presence of the OA journal. Since March, Bothros has been online and openly accessible on the University of Zurich’s journal platform HOPE.

Agata Guirard, Department of Archaeology
Samuel Nussbaum, Open Science Services

HOPE stands for Main Library Open Publishing Environment. HOPE provides researchers at the University of Zurich with a platform for publishing open access journals. This service is offered by the University Library of Zurich (UB) based on the infrastructure of the Central IT. The open source software Open Journal Systems (OJS) is used as a basis, which enables the management and publication of scientific journals. If you are also interested in publishing a journal, please feel free to contact us at oa@ub.uzh.ch.