About the Journal

Focus and Scope

ARYS. Antiquity: Religions and Societies is a journal co-edited by the Institute of Historiography at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the ARYS Association. It is dedicated to studying the complex interactions between religious phenomena and social structures and dynamics in the ancient world. Its focus lies at the interdisciplinary intersection of the history of religions, cultural anthropology, historical sociology, archaeology, and classical studies, with particular attention to how religious practices, beliefs, and representations shape—and are shaped by—the social, political, and economic frameworks of ancient societies. The journal's main objective is to analyse religion not as an isolated system but as a fundamental component of both public and private life. ARYS promotes research that sheds light on the relational, performative, and material dimensions of religion in ancient contexts of the circum-Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds, as well as in regions historically connected to these, from the Bronze Age (ca. 3500 BCE) to the formation of Islam. The journal provides a rigorous and open space to explore the various ways in which ancient religions were lived, represented, and transformed in constant dialogue with the societies that practised them.

The journal is published annually and is multilingual. Each volume consists of three sections: a monographic section, with its own scientific editing; a miscellany section; and a section dedicated to critical book reviews.

Editorial Team

See the following link: Editorial Team.

Open Access Policy

All content in ARYS is available with immediate open access, free of charge for users, who may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full-text articles for academic purposes only.

Authors are also encouraged to deposit the final version of the published work in institutional or subject-specific open access repositories, federated to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), in accordance with the deadlines and conditions set by funding bodies. The use of the e-CienciaDatos repository of the Madroño Consortium is especially recommended.

ARYS does not charge Article Processing Charges (APCs) to authors.

The texts are published under the Creative Commons 4.0 License: Attribution – Non-commercial – No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows the work to be copied, reproduced, distributed, and publicly communicated, provided the original author is properly cited. Derivative works and commercial use are not permitted.

ARYS Indexation

The journal ARYS is part of prestigious repositories and editorial evaluation systems, attesting to its recognised quality and international scope:

• Repositories in which it is indexed: ATLA RDB; CAPES (Brazil, with an A3 classification in the field of History); DICE; DOAJ; Dulcinea; EBSCO Discovery Service; ERIH Plus; ESCI (Clarivate); Humanities Source Ultimate; Interclassica; L'Année Philologique; Latindex 2.0; MIAR; MLA; OpenAlex; REBIUN; REDIB; RESH.

• Evaluation platforms where it has been assessed (2023): ANVUR (Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca, Italy, Fascia A); CARHUS Plus+ 2025 (B); CIRC (B); Dialnet (C1); FECYT (Quality Seal); SJR (Q2); Scopus (40% percentile).

ARYS. Antiquity: Religions and Societies has renewed the certificate of excellent journal and the FECYT Quality Seal in 2024.

Plagiarism Control

In order to guarantee the academic integrity of its publications, the journal ARYS uses the Feedback Studio application, which allows for the review of documents and detection of potential cases of plagiarism or incorrect citations.

Ethical Guidelines and Good Editorial Practices of ARYS

In order to preserve and promote scientific production based on the principles of integrity, honesty, and transparency that underpin the ethics by which the academic community operates, the editorial team of ARYS provides the following ethical guidelines and best practices for its readers. These guidelines adhere, among others, to the principles outlined in the Code of Conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

 1.      Object, Ownership, Management, and Publication Policy

a)   ARYS is a journal published by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

b)   The journal is managed by the "Julio Caro Baroja" Institute of Historiography and the ARYS Association.

c)   The journal focuses on the interaction between religious and social phenomena in the ancient world.

d)   ARYS is published annually.

e)   The editors are responsible for identifying and preventing the publication of articles that engage in academic misconduct. ARYS will not tolerate, admit, or promote such conduct under any circumstances.

f)  In the event that inappropriate conduct is detected after a paper has been published, ARYS is committed to making necessary corrections, rectifications, or retractions, in accordance with the principles of editorial transparency and integrity.

 2.      Definition, Duties, and Obligations of the Editorial Team

a)    The Editorial Team of ARYS consists of: a Director, a Co-director, a Secretary, Technical Secretaries, an Editorial Board, and a Scientific Committee. These positions are designed to ensure both the scientific quality of the content and adherence to the highest ethical standards in the editorial process. The full names and institutional affiliations of all editorial team members are available on the official journal website.

b)    The Editorial Team must respond to the requirements of readers and authors.

c)    The Editorial Team must work towards the continuous improvement of the journal.

d)   The Editorial Team must ensure the quality of published material through various mechanisms, including blind peer review and the use of plagiarism detection tools, such as Feedback Studio.

e)   The Editorial Team must ensure the exercise of freedom of expression.

f)    The Editorial Team must respect the integrity of the published works, maintaining them unchanged, unless a correction or modification is necessary for justified reasons.

g)   The Editorial Team must ensure that the journal's academic standards are never compromised by political, economic, or any other interests unrelated to scientific quality.

h)   The Editorial Team must be open to publishing corrections and apologies whenever necessary.

i)    The Editorial Team must promote academic integrity.

j)    The Editorial Team must encourage debate and the exchange of ideas.

k)   The Editorial Team must ensure that their performance of duties is always impartial and fair, avoiding any discrimination towards authors or the contents of the articles, whether based on gender, age, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political ideology, or any other personal circumstances.

3.      Guarantees Offered to Readers and Digital Archiving Policy

a)    All works published by ARYS have undergone a rigorous evaluation process by specialists whose qualifications are endorsed by the editorial team.

b)    The evaluation process has been impartial and objective, ensuring the absence of conflicts of interest and avoiding personal interference.

c)     All publications will follow the editorial standards.

d)    The Editorial Team will address any complaints or suggestions from readers.

e)    ARYS is an open-access publication. All content is freely available in its digital version from publication on the official website. Articles published can be read, downloaded, copied, distributed, printed, searched, or linked freely, as long as it is for academic and non-commercial purposes.

f)     In the event that ARYS ceases its activity, the journal will remain accessible through its website, which will serve as a digital repository to preserve public access to the already published articles.

 4.      Relationship with Authors and their Obligations

a)    Publishing in ARYS or submitting proposals for publication does not involve any fees from authors.

b)    Authors are required to submit the work they wish to publish in ARYS to the blind peer review process established by the journal.

c)    All signatories of a manuscript must have contributed substantially to its execution.

d)    Authors are required to carry out necessary corrections when instructed to do so.

e)    Each article must duly indicate and cite the works used, from which the published research has benefited, adapting the references to the style indicated in the editorial guidelines available on the journal’s website. Additionally, articles must include a bibliography with the cited and consulted works.

f)     If it is necessary to reproduce content from other sources, authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions.

g)    When the research results from specific funding, such as a project, the source of funding must be clearly indicated.

h)    All articles submitted to ARYS must be strictly original. It is not permitted to submit a previously published text, nor to submit the same work simultaneously to this and other scientific journals or editions. If the article’s content overlaps, wholly or partially, with prior works by the same author, the author must notify the Editorial Team and provide the relevant texts for comparison.

i)    It is not allowed to intentionally divide the results of the same research to submit them as independent articles to different publications.

j)    Every contribution will always include a precise and explicit mention of its authorship. ARYS will record the reception and acceptance dates of each article in writing.

k)    When an author detects a significant error in their work, whether published or under review, they must inform the Editorial Team and cooperate to correct the issue.

l)     The Editorial Team’s decision on the acceptance or rejection of an article will always be based on its importance, relevance, originality, and clarity, as well as its alignment with the journal's thematic focus.

m)    An already accepted article cannot be rejected even if there is a change in the Editorial Team, except for serious issues that were not previously detected.

n)     The journal is committed to maintaining its editorial standards and criteria, which are publicly available, so authors can adequately follow them. This also applies to the evaluation process.

o)     Authors have the right to know the reasons for rejecting their manuscripts and may appeal editorial decisions if deemed necessary.

p)     All information regarding manuscript submission and selection criteria will be publicly available on the ARYS website.

 5.      Evaluation Process and Relationship with Reviewers

a)    All content published by ARYS has undergone a rigorous peer review process.

b)    The evaluation is conducted by external reviewers, specialists in the subject matter of the manuscript.

c)     Reviewers agree not to retain or use the reviewed manuscripts for any purpose other than the assigned review.

d)    The reviewers must ensure the scientific and academic quality of the manuscripts, basing their evaluations on objective criteria and avoiding personal or subjective judgments.

e)     If dishonest practices or ethical irregularities are detected in the manuscripts, the reviewers must immediately inform the Editorial Team.

f)     The peer review process is conducted under the double-blind modality, ensuring anonymity for both the authors and the reviewers. After receiving the manuscript, copies are sent to two reviewers who do not know the author's identity and have no contact with each other. They prepare a report for the Editorial Team, indicating whether the article is publishable and, if applicable, suggesting corrections or improvements. Additionally, all manuscripts are submitted to a plagiarism detection system (Feedback Studio). The article is approved for publication once the review process is passed and the evaluation is positive.

g)    Reviewers must also evaluate and suggest improvements in the bibliographic references, especially if they detect the absence of relevant works for the topic discussed.

h)    Clear and precise instructions will be provided to the reviewers, including the corresponding evaluation form.

i)     The identity of the reviewers will remain anonymous.

j)      Reviewers are expected to act honestly and decline the evaluation of manuscripts in the event of conflicts of interest or personal motivations that may compromise the objectivity of the process.

Gender Perspective

ARYS is firmly committed to promoting gender equality in academia. Therefore, ARYS ensures a balanced representation of women and men in the Editorial and Secretarial Teams, the Scientific Committee, and the Editorial Board, as well as among the specialists chosen for the peer review process.

Moreover, the journal promotes and considers the adoption of a gender perspective in studies submitted for publication as a scientific evaluation criterion. This involves:

• Eliminating androcentric biases in the design, content, and research results.

• Evaluating the relevance of including sex or gender as an analysis variable and, if included, presenting and analysing sex- or gender-disaggregated data, determining their impact on the results obtained.

• Including and making visible the scientific contributions of women.

• Ensuring gender balance in research teams.

Furthermore, ARYS’ editorial guidelines establish the use of inclusive and non-sexist language in all publications, in accordance with the guidelines specified in the instructions for authors.

Ethical Commitment of Reviewers with ARYS

The double-blind peer-review process is based on the academic community's collective willingness to participate actively and on mutual trust between reviewers and the ARYS journal. Its proper functioning requires all parties involved to act responsibly and ethically.

Reviewers are obligated to carry out their task following ARYS's ethical principles and with a professional commitment. Clear and transparent communication between the journal and the reviewers is essential to ensure a rigorous, fair review process within reasonable timeframes. ARYS expects that the evaluation reports provide helpful guidance to the researchers and serve as reliable references for the editorial team's decision-making.

Accepting the review of a manuscript implies understanding that the text to be reviewed is a confidential and sensitive document. Its content should not be disclosed at any time, either during the review process or after its completion. Reviewers must refrain from accepting a review if they consider that there may be a conflict of interest (professional, institutional, familial, personal, or otherwise) that could compromise their objectivity. Moreover, they may not disclose or use, for personal or external benefit, the contents, arguments, images, hypotheses, interpretations, or conclusions of the reviewed manuscript, nor should they harm third parties with such information.

Failure to comply with these confidentiality principles or any actions contrary to academic ethics exempts ARYS and its governing bodies from any responsibility, as this statement clearly informs reviewers of their duty to act with honesty, responsibility, and respect for the editorial process.

Percentage of Rejected Articles

ARYS 18 (2020)

Accepted / rejected articles: 19 / 7

Percentage of rejected articles: 36,8%

ARYS 17 (2019)

Accepted / rejected articles: 16 / 4

Percentage of rejected articles: 25%

ARYS 16 (2018)

Accepted / rejected articles: 19 / 4

Percentage of rejected articles: 21%

ARYS 15 (2017)

Accepted / rejected articles: 15 / 1

Percentage of rejected articles: 6,7%

ARYS 14 (2016)

Accepted / rejected articles: 14 / 7

Percentage of rejected articles: 50%

ARYS 13 (2015)

Accepted / rejected articles: 10 / 2

Percentage of rejected articles: 20%

ARYS 12 (2014)

Accepted / rejected articles: 20 / 3

Percentage of rejected articles: 15%

ARYS 11 (2013)

Accepted / rejected articles: 19 / 0

Percentage of rejected articles: 0%

ARYS 10 (2012)

Accepted / rejected articles: 22 / 3

Percentage of rejected articles: 13,6%

Content Preservation and Archiving Policy

ARYS guarantees the preservation of its content through the implementation of regular backups of all its publications and online data. This measure ensures the protection of articles, supplementary materials, and the journal’s data against potential information loss, technical failures, or unauthorised access. In this way, ARYS reaffirms its commitment to the integrity, accessibility, and long-term durability of the scientific knowledge published in its editions.