2025/12/22 by Ben Marwick, Anne Marie Poole, Ailin Zhang +2 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · Social Sciences · #Dynamics (music) #Focus (optics) #Graduate students #Job analysis #Job creation #Job hunting #Job market #Mobile Crowdsensing and Crowdsourcing #Wikis in Education and Collaboration #scientometrics and bibliometrics research
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/aaq.2025.10117
published in American Antiquity 91(2), 259-281 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex created_date 2025/12/22 · openalex publication_date 2025/12/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract Many archaeology graduate students pursue advanced degrees in the hope of undertaking an academic career. Job-listing websites often serve as the first port-of-call for students seeking academic positions. We examined tenure-track job advertisements over the past decade to gain insights into the academic job market for archaeologists. Using data from the community-edited Academic Jobs Wiki for Archaeology, we examined changes in the academic job market over time. We investigated the editing dynamics of the Wiki to understand its users and their biases. We then analyzed the text of 431 job ads posted from 2013 to 2023. Our analysis addresses the question of how archaeological topics, methods, and geographic regions specified in archaeological job ads have shifted over time. We also explored whether the labor burden for applicants has changed over time: do institutions request more information and documents from applicants at the initial stages of application, compared to a decade ago? Finally, we assessed the influence of sociopolitical factors on the changing focus of research topics in the field. We conclude with implications for archaeology students, graduates, and advisors seeking to understand the dynamics of the academic job market and the requirements of employers.