The journal uses Scholastica, an online submissions management system, to manage articles and peer reviews. The publishing arm of AIATSIS, Aboriginal Studies Press, manages production of the journal. All articles are peer-reviewed.

The journal is comprehensively indexed with full text in the Informit Australian Public Affairs Full Text (APAFT) database and Indigenous Collection, ProQuest and EBSCO’s Academic Search Complete and Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre databases.

The journal aims to advance qualitative academic scholarship of significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia including, but not limited to, existing and emerging disciplines such as:

• Anthropology
• Archaeology 
• Country and Culture 
• Creative, Performing and Visual Arts 
• Cultural Heritage 
• Decolonisation 
• Education and Two-Way Learning 
• Enterprise Engagement and Development 
• Environment 
• Epistemologies, Ontologies and Praxiologies
• Ethics and Protocols 
• Health and Medicine 
• History 
• Housing and the Built Environment 
• Indigenous Knowledges 
• Languages and Language Revitalisation 
• Oral Histories and Story Telling 
• Postcolonialism 
• Psychology 
• Record Keeping and Record Seeking 
• Representation 
• Research Methodologies 
• Social Justice 
• Sociology and related fields.  

The Editorial Advisory Board of Australian Aboriginal Studies includes leading authorities in a range of disciplines and is comprised of:

• Ms Toni Bauman, AIATSIS
• Dr Michael Davis, University of Sydney
• Professor Mick Dodson, Australian National University
• Associate Professor Pat Dudgeon, University of Western Australia
• Professor Francoise Dussart, University of Connecticut, USA
• Professor Sandra Eades, Curtin University
• Professor Barbara Glowczewski, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), France
• Emeritus Professor Colleen Hayward AM, Edith Cowan University
• Associate Professor Melinda Hinkson, La Trobe University
• Emeritus Professor John Maynard, University of Newcastle
• Professor Fred Myers, New York University, USA
• Professor Martin Nakata AM, James Cook University
• Professor Yin Paradies, Deakin University
• Associate Professor Karyn Paringatai, University of Otago, NZ
• Professor Lester Irabinna Rigney, University of South Australia
• Associate Professor Jessa Rogers, University of Melbourne
• Emeritus Professor Tim Rowse, University of Western Sydney
• Professor Gaye Sculthorpe, Deakin University
• Dr Graeme Ward, Australian National University
• Professor Asmi Wood, Australian National University

Submissions

Australian Aboriginal Studies values ethical, community-led research that empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and facilitates their right to full participation in research that concerns them.

We seek articles that fall within the range of disciplines specified above and comply with the Aboriginal Studies Press style guide for authors and editors.

Length:            5000-7000 words (not exceeding 10,000 words)
Referencing:   Harvard in-text referencing; reference list at end.
Notations:       Endnotes
Abstract:         250-300 words
Keywords:       Not more than 10 
Authors:          Include names, institutions/employers and a contact email address
Biography:      Not exceeding 150 words for each author.
Format:            Microsoft word, A4, 12pt sans serif font, double spacing
Copyright:       Authors are responsible for copyright clearances
Publication:     Authors are required to enter into a publishing agreement with AIATSIS
Graphics:    

•  Graphics and images should not be included in the body of the text. Instead, include an instruction about where to include the image, with the images provided as separate low-res files, TIFF, EPS or JPEG. (High-res files will be required from you at the point of printing).
• Provide captions for all images, including the artist’s name, medium, date and name/s of copyright holder/s.
• Images are ideally at least 152mm wide.
• All scanned images should be at 300dpi or higher.
• Preferably no stippling/shading is to be used in figures (e.g. maps).

Submit your article through Scholastica. You will be advised whether your article has been accepted and referred for peer review in due course.

Email the editorial team with questions.

Following are examples of the AAS referencing style.

Books

Anonymous 1994 Creative Nation: Commonwealth Cultural Policy, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Neale, Margo and Sylvia Kleinert (eds) 2000 Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture. Oxford University Press.

Turpin, Myfany and Alison Ross 2004 Awelye Akwelye: Kaytetye women’s songs from Arnerre, Central Australia. Papulu Apparr-kari Language and Culture Centre, Tennant Creek (Audio CD with scholarly notes).

Articles in journals

Garde, Murray 2006 ‘The language of Kun-borrk in western Arnhem Land’. Musicology Australia 28:59-89.

Toner, Peter 2000 ‘Ideology, influence and innovation: the impact of Macassan contact on Yolngu music’. Perfect Beat 5(1):22–41.

Articles in edited books

Payne, Helen E 1989 ‘Rites for sites or sites for rites? The dynamics of women’s cultural life in the Musgraves’. In P Brock (ed.) Women, Rites and Sites: Aboriginal women’s cultural knowledge. Allen & Unwin, Melbourne pp.41–59.

Smith, Claire E 1991 ‘Female artists: the unrecognised factor in sacred rock art production’. In P Bahn and A Rosenfeld (eds) Rock art and prehistory. Papers presented to symposium G of the AURA Congress, Darwin 1988. Oxbow Books, Oxford (Monograph 10) pp.45-52.

Unpublished papers and presentations

Blythe, Joe and Michael Walsh 2006 ‘Murriny Patha song language and its relation to the “everyday” language’. Presentation to the Third Oxford-Kobe Linguistics Seminar, ‘The Linguistics of Endangered Languages’, Kobe, Japan, 4 April 2006.

Gillespie, Danny 1974 Documentation of the work AAB 534 of the Maningrida Arts and Crafts Collection held at the National Museum of Australia, letter to Bob Edwards of AIAS dated July 1974.

Pilling, Arnold 1958 Law and Feud in an Aboriginal Society of North Australia. Unpublished Doctoral thesis, University of California, Berkeley.

Web citations should include the date that the item was viewed

Crow, Kelly 2007 ‘A work in progress: Buying art on the Web – Saatchi Online offers a view of nascent internet market’ The Wall Street Journal 10 October 2007 <factiva.com> accessed 14 April 2008.

Tatz, Colin 2005 ‘From Welfare to Treaty: reviewing fifty years of Aboriginal policy and practice’. In GK Ward and A Muckle (eds) ‘The Power of Knowledge, the Resonance of Tradition’. Electronic publication of papers from the AIATSIS Indigenous Studies conference, September 2001. AIATSIS, Canberra.

Following these five simple guidelines for structure and content will help you to ensure that your abstract can be understood by a wide audience.

Ethics

• Indicate the ways in which your research approaches and methodologies are underpinned by ethical decision-making (refer to the AIATSIS Code of Ethics).

Purpose

• Explain the purpose of your study/paper.
• Ideally in one sentence, state the primary objectives and scope of the study or the reasons why the document was written.
• Also state the rationale for your research. Why did you do the research? Is the topic you are researching an ignored or newly discovered one?

Methodology

• Clearly state the techniques or approaches used in your study.
• For papers concerned with non-experimental work (such as those in the humanities, some social sciences and the fine arts) describe your sources and your use/interpretation of the sources.

Result

• Describe your findings, the data collected and the effects observed as informatively and concisely as possible.
• If these results are experimental or theoretical, note it.
• Give special priority to new and verified findings that contradict previous theories. Mention any limits to the accuracy or reliability of your findings.

Conclusions

• Describe the implications of the results — why the results of your research are important to your field — and how they relate to your investigation’s purpose.
• Include recommendations, suggestions and both rejected and accepted hypotheses if appropriate.