Mission Statement

INTER-SECTION is a journal intended for students and staff affiliated with the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, as well as those interested in the range of student-research carried out here. The journal offers an accessible platform for the publication of individual research by undergraduate and graduate students. It appears once a year on this website and in a small number of prints. At INTER-SECTION, we emphasize career advancement and training for student-authors. Online open-access facilitates this by streamlining the addition of publications to CVs and network profiles (e.g. academia.edu).


'Publish or Perish'?
While studying should focus on your interests, skills training, and personal development, competition in academia demands more than traditional study programs offer. In addition to extracurricular activities, reviewers of funding and job applications expect junior archaeologists to have excelled in presentations and publications.

The curriculum at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, encourages students to write between 90,000 and 120,000 words for essays, reports, and theses, which often address theoretical and methodological issues relevant for a wider audience. Many of these texts have a limited readership, as converting them into scientific papers requires additional support. Contributing factors to low publishing rates among students include time constraints, unfamiliarity with the publication process, and insecurity over research impact. We aim to correct this by encouraging junior archaeologists to write brief, focused articles and by guiding them through peer-review by specialists. Since the rewriting process is critical to student-researcher development, INTER-SECTION provides support at each step of the review. Rather than narrowing focus to any one method, region, or time period, we aim to include diverse approaches that look beyond arbitrary divisions and place student-led research in a broader archaeological discourse.