The Oriental Institute Publication Program

James Henry Breasted, founder of the Oriental Institute, encouraged the publication of both scientific and popular reports on the results of the Institute’s research and activities in the Middle East. Ancient language dictionaries, text editions, archaeological reports, and related Middle Eastern studies are well represented in the more than 700 published reports since the early twentieth century (see the Catalog of Publications) with many more in preparation.

On October 27, 2004, the faculty of the Oriental Institute, led by Director Gil J. Stein, unanimously voted to issue all new publications both in print and online, printed copies to be sold and online copies to be free, and all older titles to be processed for complimentary download from the Institute’s website as time and funds permit. The project was completed October 1, 2013, with the Publications Office gathering together more than 700 titles, 128,000 files, in 510 gigabytes of data. We are certain the complimentary worldwide distribution of 700+ titles would very much please James Henry Breasted.

Aside from complimentary distribution of all titles in PDF format over the Internet, ISD distributes printed copies of the titles.

To request permission to reproduce content from an Oriental Institute publication, please click here.


Manuscript Guidelines and Templates for Authors and Editors

The two Word document templates below contain the paragraph styles used in OI publications as well as easy-to-use instructions and basic guidelines. All authors and editors, please use the “OI Manuscript Author Template” Word document. If you are the main editor for a work, you will also need the “OI Front Matter Author Template.” 

OI Manuscript Author Template
OI Front Matter Author Template

The following guide sheet is designed to help authors and editors prepare manuscripts for publication. All manuscripts are submitted to the director, who decides whether or not to pass the manuscript on to the Publications Committee. The Publication Committee reviews the manuscript and sends it to one or two external reviewers. When the external review is returned, the Committee recommends to the director whether or not to accept the manuscript for pubication. The director then recommends publication or declines. The review is shared with the author/editor and recommendations are given regarding desired edits, additions, or deletions.

Manuscript Submission Guidelines

Additional information:
Author Checklist
Artwork Submission Guidelines