In mid-1995, the incumbent Director of the Banjarmasin Institute of Archaeology, Dr. Harry Widianto, and one of Indonesia's epigraphists from the National Research Centre for Archaeology, drs. Machi Suhadi, launched an idea of a journal which could accommodate archaeological research information for the development of archaeology and dissemination to the public. This journal must show an identity characterized by archaeological discoveries found in Kalimantan, a region sliced by a thousand rivers; these thousands of rivers, which branches and rises on the flanks of the Schwaner-Müller and Meratus Mountains and empties in the Karimata Strait, the Java Sea, and the Makassar Strait, have been the arteries of life in Kalimantan.
Based on the existence of these rivers, humans then become aware of their surroundings, think, and act to adapt to nature by creating objects to survive. Such ideology underlies the birth of Naditira Widya which literally means ‘knowledge by the river'. Etymologically, the name Naditira Widya derives from Sanskrit which implies that every inch of land in the region of a thousand rivers in Kalimantan contains an invaluable source of knowledge. This source of knowledge needs to be explored, studied, socialised, and preserved.
During its development, the Naditira Widya has consistently been published annually and provides interesting information. This continuing condition encouraged submitting the Naditira Widya for its accreditation to the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (IIS) in 2006. By the IIS Director’s letter number 44/ AKRED-LIPI/P2MBI/9/2006, the Naditira Widya was accredited grade C; this accreditation was applicable for three years from September 2006 to November 2009. In 2006, the Naditira Widya was the only accredited journal within the National Research Centre for Archaeology and its tenth archaeological institutes, and has continued to support the dissemination of archaeological research results to the public.
The Naditira Widya’s accredited status was extended in 2009 by the IIS Director’s letter number 231/AU1/P2MBI/08/2009, and graded C. However, the validity period of this second accreditation is only for one year, from 28 August 2009 to 28 August 2010, and should be re-accredited afterwards. After the accreditation was revoked in 2010, the editorial board of Naditira Widya worked hard to enable the journal to be re-accredited. New board members were assigned to improve the quality of publications. Despite the revocation of status, the Naditira Widya remains published twice a year, i.e. in April and October. In early 2016, a team was formed to reapply the Naditira Widya for an accreditation, and by the IIS Director’s letter number 715/Akred/P2MI/LIPI/04/2016 it was officially recognised since April 2016.
Prior to 2016, the Naditira Widya was published using a print system, but to maintain its status the publishing system was converted into an open-access online system or open journal system (OJS). The Naditira Widya volume 10 number 2 for October 2016 edition was going to be published online. Unfortunately, the Naditira Widya’s website was hacked; hence the publication of October 2016 edition was deferred. Following the website cleaning, the Naditira Widya was eventually issued online in November 2016. However, the impact of the hacked-system still exists and had affected some failures of the OJS functions, especially editions April and October 2017. Nevertheless, by the end of 2017, the OJS was upgraded and both editions were successfully published.