Heritage Science

Aims & Scope

npj Heritage Science will consider original research papers for the scientific study of heritage, based primarily on physical, chemical and biological measurements and / or computations. Reviews may also be considered. All articles must be of international interest, although we welcome case studies from lesser studied cultures. Articles must demonstrate both a sound scientific and a sound heritage basis and an innovation of general interest. Case studies of purely local interest will not be considered. The main topics are below. Inorganic Heritage Materials eg ceramics, metals, glass. ORGANIC HERITAGE MATERIALS, eg paper, papyrus, parchment, books, inks, wood, textiles, physical archives. COMPUTING FOR DIGITAL REPRESENTATION, eg 3D representation, BIM / HBIM, Lidar, virtual restoration. COMPUTING FOR MODELLING AND COMMUNICATION, eg artificial intelligence, expert systems, large language models, neural networks, VR / AR. DIGITAL HUMANITIES involves critical analysis of digitised heritage (galleries, libraries, archives, museums, built heritage material and intangible heritage) and digital textual analysis. GEOGRAPHY IN HERITAGE eg GIS / HGIS, cartography, historic city planning. EPIGRAPHY, study of ancient writing systems using computational methods and/or imaging. CONSERVATION SCIENCE involving innovative methodology of international interest. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE FINE ARTS eg paintings, sculptures. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT ON HERITAGE eg pollution, climate change, storage conditions, biodeterioration. SOCIAL SCIENCES, ECONOMICS AND EDUCATION IN HERITAGE involving innovative computational models and theories; small surveys using well established statistics will not be considered and sample sizes must be adequate for the model. NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL HERITAGE eg ecoheritage. BUILDINGS eg built heritage, masonry, structural stability. The journal offers more choice to Nature Portfolio authors who are seeking a fully open-access and more inclusive platform for publishing their work. The journal is led by subject-matter academic experts who collaborate to cultivate high-quality research. As part of the npj Series , this journal focuses on fostering global partnerships with the research community and other Springer Nature journals.

A twelfth criterion — whether APC fees are clearly disclosed — is not scored here; it is left out of the total rather than counted as a failure. Publication charges appear in the metrics card above.

Based on the Think.Check.Submit framework by DOAJ, COPE & OASPA. All data from verified open sources.

Source: OpenAlex · Each year’s green bar = citations earned by that year’s papers, counted to date — so recent years look lower simply because their papers haven’t had time to be cited yet.

SJR Quartile by Discipline

Scimago ranks this journal separately in each subject category — its quartile can differ by discipline.

Subject Classification