A CIfA [Alliance member] report, funded by Historic England, has reviewed the standard of artefact reporting in England.
The project involved the analysis of a sample of 1000 unpublished specialist artefact reports and 61 published specialist artefact reports from journal articles against a checklist of criteria devised to assess their content and quality. The report showed that:
None of the reports in the sample met all the quality criteria
Only 12% met three-quarters or more of the criteria
44% met fewer than half, and of those
6% met fewer than a quarter of the criteria
The report makes recommendations to improve the quality of artefact reporting and concludes that ‘in a profession where resources are limited and commercial pressures are great, the onus is on all involved with artefact work to ensure that this work is carried out in accordance with existing standards and guidance and that where standards are not met, appropriate measures exist to remedy this situation’.