








































Preface
We are very excited to take on the role of the Co-Edi-
tors-in-Chief of Bioarchaeology International despite 
the extremely challenging timing of the transition in 
July 2020, amid a global pandemic and increasing 
global awareness of the urgent need to revise ethical 
standards toward greater representation and equity 
in our discipline. The Founding Co-Editors-in-Chief, 
Sabrina Agarwal and Brenda Baker, have stepped 
down from their role after roughly four years of ded-
icated service, although they continue to play an inte-
gral advisory role as the founding editors of 
Bioarchaeology International. We want to begin by 
expressing our deep gratitude to Brenda and Sabrina. 
They instigated and led the huge effort to conceptual-
ize the scope of the journal, organize a prestigious 
advisory and editorial board, and design and imple-
ment all the processes and procedures for publishing 
the journal. As one of the earliest journals in the Uni-
versity of Florida Press lineup, they also helped lay 
the processual and procedural foundation for the 
press to publish nine other journals. For the years 
2016–2020, the journal flourished under their ex-
traordinary stewardship, and it brought to fruition 
their vision for a rigorous future of contextual, theo-
retically informed, and data driven bioarchaeology 
(Agarwal and Baker 2017). We applaud their success 
in bringing the journal to a point where it has a very 
strong international reputation in the field due to its 
high quality, and impactful, relevant articles, and we 
will endeavor to continue to build on this excellence. 

Despite our trepidation about beginning our term 
during incredibly challenging circumstances, our 
fears of the potential impact of the pandemic on sub-
missions, peer review, editorial activities, and most 
other aspects of the publication process were un-
founded. We are pleased to note that the journal cur-
rently has three issues in production, and we 
continue to receive truly excellent papers, which 
means Bioarchaeology International will be able to 
continue publishing the highest quality work in this 
vibrant field. We are also extremely pleased that the 
average time to make a first decision for the journal 
is only 42 days. That being said, we have also faced 
challenges moving papers through the later stages of 
the publication process this year, particularly at the 
copyediting and proofs stage. COVID-19 led to a hir-
ing freeze at the University of Florida Press, and 
frankly this is currently our greatest challenge, but it 
is being alleviated as the Press has hired new editing 

and proofreading staff. Therefore, we also want to 
take this opportunity to express our extreme grati-
tude to the staff and to all the authors who have 
stood with us as we work with the Press staff to clear 
the backlog related to the pandemic and we are 
hopeful for a return to normalcy soon. 

Building on the systems and processes established 
by Brenda and Sabrina, we have made a few changes 
since starting our term. We began with four major 
goals, three of which are related to ethics and repre-
sentation, and all of which were intended to expand 
the relevance and influence of the journal by encour-
aging the highest quality of submissions. Our first 
priority as new editors was to review the members of 
the advisory and editorial boards, to relieve members 
who had completed their terms, and to invite new 
members who will help us to fulfill our goals of inclu-
sive representation and ethical bioarchaeological 
practice. We want to take this opportunity to thank 
the former board members for their years of service 
and to welcome those who have taken on new roles 
on the advisory or editorial boards. In revising the 
board membership, we focused on more representa-
tion, including international and BIPOC scholars. 
Certainly, this will lead to better anthropology. Our 
new associate editors—Alexis Boutin, Graciela Ca-
bana, Carlina de la Cova, Jonny Geber, Ann M. Ka-
kaliouras, Tracy Prowse, Hisashi Nakao, Liv Nilsson 
Stutz, Laurie Reitsema, Dong Hoon Shin, Jorge Suby, 
Christina Torres-Rouff and Rachel Watkins—are ex-
ceptional scholars representing diverse topical areas 
and we are grateful they were willing to accept our 
invitation and to commit themselves to serving the 
field in this way. Some of our new advisory board 
members—D. Troy Case, Pamela Geller, Rebecca 
Gowland, John Krigbaum, Judith Littleton, and 
Tiffiny A. Tung—have moved from the editorial 
board, and we are so grateful for their willingness to 
take on this role and provide their expert advice. An-
other new advisory board member—Jane Buikstra—
is a new addition to the board. She is obviously a 
deeply admired scholar in the field who has already 
contributed suggestions to help us maintain the ex-
cellence of the journal. 

One of our goals was also to expand our ethical 
guidelines for publication in the journal to more 
closely align with current values of our field. We 
worked with the Press and the founding editors to 
update the research ethics, consent, and integrity 

Bioarchaeology International
Volume 5, Numbers 1–2: iii–iv 
DOI: 10.5744/bi.2021.5000



statement. We hope readers will take a moment to 
read our expanded statement, which acknowledges 
the importance in bioarchaeological research of col-
laboration with and permission from Indigenous 
stakeholders and local communities for research, 
publication, and to present photographs of human 
remains. 

We have also added a new statement on sexual ha-
rassment and sexual violence, which demonstrates 
the commitment of the journal and the Press to take 
sexual and interpersonal misconduct seriously and to 
provide an inclusive and safe environment for all 
members of our community. It is now a violation of 
Bioarcheology International’s ethical standards for 
prospective authors to engage in any conduct prohib-
ited under Title IX, including sexual assault, sexual 
harassment, dating violence, domestic violence, 
stalking, sexual exploitation, and retaliation. We re-
serve the right to make editorial decisions based on 
these ethical standards.

Finally, we worked with the staff at the Press to of-
fer further streamlining of the submissions process, 
which allows authors to “submit-as-you-like.” We 
hope this will be attractive to researchers, particu-
larly early career scholars. This new submission sys-
tem means authors do not have to format submissions 
specifically for Bioarchaeology International until ac-
ceptance. We continue to be one of the few journals 

in biological anthropology to offer professional copy 
editing upon acceptance and we are interested in ex-
panding our international authorship through these 
practices and in forthcoming special issues. 

Typically, special issues are proposed to the jour-
nal, but in 2020 we as Co-Editors-in-Chief solicited 
manuscripts for a topical special issue on Pandemics 
in the Past and Present: Contributions from bioar-
chaeology. Bioarchaeology is pertinent to address 
substantial challenges related to the third epidemio-
logical transition, emerging and re-emerging infec-
tions, climate and environmental change, social 
inequality and building a more equitable, sustainable 
future. We look forward to contributing to our field’s 
efforts to provide the long-term perspectives that 
build understanding and capacity for resilience in 
the context of current-day global challenges. 

Gwen Robbins Schug and Siân E. Halcrow  
Co-Editors-in-Chief of Bioarchaeology 

International

References Cited

Baker, Brenda, J., and Sabrina C. Agarwal. 2017. Stronger together: 
Advancing a global bioarchaeology. Bioarchaeology Interna-
tional 1 (1–2): 1–18. DOI: 10.5744/bi.2017.1005.

iv Preface


