History

Journal History

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 that 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, and its surrounding regions; these thousands of rivers, which branch 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.

The existence of these rivers led humans to become aware of their surroundings, think and 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, implying that every inch of land in the region of a thousand rivers in Kalimantan contains invaluable sources of knowledge. This source of knowledge needs to be explored, studied, socialised, preserved, and developed for public benefit.

During its development, Naditira Widya has consistently been published biannually and provides significant information. This continuing condition encouraged submitting the journal 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, Naditira Widya was accredited grade C; this accreditation was applicable for three years from September 2006 to November 2009. Hence in 2006, Naditira Widya became the first accredited journal within the National Research Centre for Archaeology and among its ten archaeological institutes then and has continuously supported the dissemination of archaeological research results to the public.

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 was for only one year, from 28 August 2009 to 28 August 2010, and should be reaccredited afterwards. Despite of determination of the editorial board, Naditira Widya’s accreditation was revoked in 2010 due to the inability to meet the reaccreditation due date. Therefore, new board members were assigned to improve the quality of publications. Regardless of the revocation of status, Naditira Widya remains to be published twice a year, i.e. in April and October. In early 2016, a team was formed to resubmit Naditira Widya for accreditation. By the IIS Director’s letter number 715/Akred/P2MI/LIPI/04/2016, Naditira Widya was officially accredited Sinta 2 (S2) in April 2016 and lasted for three years.

Before 2016, Naditira Widya was published using a print system. Still, to maintain its accredited S2 status the publishing system was supported by an open-access online system or open journal system (OJS). Naditira Widya volume 10 number 2 for October 2016 edition was planned to be published online. Unfortunately, Naditira Widya’s website was hacked; hence the publication of the October 2016 edition was deferred. Following the website cleaning, Naditira Widya was eventually issued online in November 2016. However, the impact of the hacked system had affected some failures of the OJS functions then, especially for the April and October 2017 editions. Nevertheless, by the end of 2017, the OJS was upgraded and both editions were successfully published.

In 2018, Naditira Widya was submitted for a reaccreditation. By the letter of the Director General of Research Strengthening and Development of the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia (GRSD-MRTHE) number 10/E/KPT/2019, Naditira Widya was officially accredited Sinta 2 (S2) for five years until April 2023. During this, the OJS of Naditira Widya was simultaneously upgraded from version 2.4.6 to 3.1.2.4.

Throughout 2022, there was a liquidating process of the organizational structure of the South Kalimantan Province Institute of Archaeology, and a migration process from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia (MECRT-RI) to the National Research and Innovation Agency. This process delayed Naditira Widya's operations. The migration process also resulted in the absence of a budget to publish Naditira's journal using the print system. As a result, the Naditira Widya journal has imposed an article processing charge (APC) to support its operational continuity, starting in the October 2022 issue.

In addition, Naditira Widya's website experienced another hack in mid-2022, causing several metadata dialogues to change. With the policy of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture which still provides hosting and domains, as well as cleaning up Naditira Widya's website, the journal's operations can continue and two editions of volume 16 in 2022 have been successfully published. In the first half of 2023, websites are still utilizing MECRT-RI’s hosting and domain, while waiting for the migration process of hosting to the National Research and Innovation Agency.