Preparation and Control of Bureau Publications

1. Purpose

This manual establishes the Bureau of Digital Antiquities’ procedure for the preparation, review, approval, release and subsequent control of formal institutional publications.

A Bureau publication forms part of the institutional record.

Publication therefore requires more than preparation of the document itself. The identity, authority, revision, status and relationships of the document must remain intelligible after release and through any subsequent amendment, supersession or archival retention.

The Publications Office maintains this procedure on behalf of the Bureau.

2. Scope

This procedure applies to formal publications issued through the Bureau publication system, including:

• Annual Reports;
• Field Reports;
• Preservation Bulletins;
• Technical Notes;
• Publications Manuals; and
• other publication series formally established by the Bureau.

Bureau Notices are subject to their own administrative requirements but may use the principles in this manual where appropriate.

Digital Object Records maintained through the Forgotten Web Exchange are catalogue records rather than Bureau publications and are therefore not assigned publication identifiers under this procedure.

Supporting research, examination notes and internal working documents do not become formal publications merely because they contribute to a published document.

3. Publication Responsibility

Every publication shall identify an issuing office.

The issuing office is the Bureau unit institutionally responsible for the substantive content of the document.

Responsibility should ordinarily follow subject matter.

A technical or preservation publication should therefore remain attributable to the office responsible for the underlying examination, procedure or determination even where the Publications Office has conducted editorial review.

The Publications Office is responsible for publication standards, document control and coordination of the release process.

Editorial control does not transfer substantive responsibility from the issuing office.

4. Publication Series

A document shall be assigned to the publication series appropriate to its purpose.

The principal series are:

• AR — Annual Report
  Periodic institutional reporting concerning Bureau activities, programmes and priorities.

• FR — Field Report
  Documentation of an examination, investigation or other field activity concerning one or more Digital Objects.

• PB — Preservation Bulletin
  Preservation positions, guidance or institutional practice concerning the treatment of Digital Objects.

• TN — Technical Note
  Technical procedures, methods, observations or explanatory guidance.

• PM — Publications Manual
  Editorial, documentary and publication-control standards maintained by the Publications Office.

The publication series should reflect the function of the document rather than the office that prepared it.

Creation of a new series should be deliberate and should not be used merely to distinguish an individual document.

5. Assignment of Identifiers

A unique publication identifier shall be assigned before public release.

The identifier consists of the publication-series prefix followed by a six-digit sequential number.

For example:

PM-000003

Identifiers shall not be reused.

Withdrawal, supersession or archival retention of a publication does not make its identifier available for reassignment.

Each publication shall additionally receive a document reference identifying the Bureau, publication series, year and sequence within that series and year.

For example:

BDA-PM-2026-003

The publication identifier and document reference serve related but distinct document-control functions and should both be retained.

6. Draft Preparation

Preparation begins with a draft under the responsibility of the issuing office or designated author.

Before editorial review, the draft should contain sufficient information to establish:

• proposed title;
• publication series;
• issuing office;
• author or authors where applicable;
• classification;
• document reference;
• revision;
• document status;
• related Digital Objects where applicable;
• related publications where applicable; and
• substantive publication text.

Draft material should conform as far as practicable to PM-000001 — Bureau Editorial and Style Manual.

Source material should be recorded in accordance with PM-000002 — Citation and Source Attribution Standard.

A draft is not a public Bureau publication.

7. Validation

Before editorial approval, the proposed publication shall undergo document and structural validation.

Validation should establish, as applicable:

1. that the publication identifier is unique;
2. that the document reference is correctly formed;
3. that required document-control information is present;
4. that classification and document status use recognised values;
5. that related Digital Object identifiers resolve;
6. that related publication identifiers resolve;
7. that the issuing office corresponds to an established Bureau unit; and
8. that the document can be processed by the Bureau publication system.

Failure of validation shall be corrected before release.

Successful technical validation does not constitute editorial approval.

8. Editorial Review

Following validation, the publication should undergo editorial review.

Editorial review considers:

• conformity with Bureau terminology;
• clarity and structure;
• document identification;
• citation and attribution;
• consistency of names and dates;
• distinction between evidence and Bureau assessment;
• appropriate treatment of uncertainty;
• relationships to other Bureau records;
• classification and document status; and
• suitability for public release.

Editorial review may result in return of the document to the issuing office for correction or clarification.

The Publications Office should not alter a substantive technical, preservation, historical or archival determination solely for stylistic reasons.

Where substantive uncertainty is identified during editorial review, the matter should be referred to the responsible office.

9. Preview

A publication that has passed initial validation and editorial review should be examined in its intended public presentation before release.

Preview review should confirm that:

• the document renders correctly;
• headings and lists are intelligible;
• metadata is displayed as intended;
• internal relationships resolve;
• external references are represented correctly;
• no unintended material is exposed; and
• the publication remains readable in the supported public presentation.

A successful preview does not itself constitute publication.

The preview represents a proposed public form of the document.

10. Approval

Formal publication requires approval appropriate to the document and issuing office.

Approval confirms that the document is authorised for public release in the form reviewed.

Approval should occur only after required validation, editorial review and preview have been completed.

Where material changes are introduced after approval, the document should be returned for review to the extent necessary to establish that the approved basis remains valid.

Approval should not be inferred solely from the technical ability to release a document.

11. Public Release

Following approval, the publication may be released through the Bureau’s public publication system.

Public release should preserve:

• publication identifier;
• document reference;
• publication date;
• issuing office;
• revision;
• document status;
• classification;
• related-record information; and
• the approved publication text.

The released document becomes part of the Bureau’s public institutional record.

Publication should be followed by verification of the public record to confirm that the approved document is accessible and correctly represented.

12. Post-Publication Verification

Following release, the publication should be examined at its public location.

Verification should establish that:

• the correct revision is available;
• document metadata is accurate;
• the publication text is complete;
• internal relationships function;
• associated images or supporting material are available where applicable; and
• no release error materially affects interpretation of the document.

A publication should not be considered operationally complete solely because the release process reported success.

Material release errors should be corrected promptly and documented where their significance warrants revision control.

13. Revision

A publication may require revision where errors are identified, procedures change, additional evidence becomes available or institutional guidance is amended.

The significance of the change should determine whether a new revision is required.

Substantive changes should not be introduced while continuing to present the document as though its earlier form remained unchanged.

Revision should preserve an intelligible documentary history.

A revised publication ordinarily retains its publication identifier while its revision information changes.

Where a later document substantially replaces the purpose or authority of an earlier publication, supersession may be more appropriate than revision.

14. Supersession

A publication is Superseded when a later publication or revision replaces it for current institutional use.

Supersession should identify the relationship between the earlier and later documents where the publication system permits.

The superseded document should ordinarily remain identifiable as part of the Bureau record.

It should not continue to be represented as current guidance.

Removal of the superseded document is not ordinarily necessary merely because a newer document exists.

The historical sequence of Bureau findings, procedures and policy may itself possess documentary value.

15. Archival Status

A publication may be designated Archived where it is retained principally for institutional or historical reference rather than current operational use.

Archival status does not imply that the publication was erroneous.

A document may become archival because:

• its reporting period has concluded;
• its operational purpose has ended;
• later procedures have made it unnecessary for current use;
• the underlying programme has concluded; or
• retention is appropriate principally as part of the institutional record.

Archived publications should remain clearly distinguishable from Current publications.

16. Withdrawal

A publication may be designated Withdrawn where the Bureau determines that it should no longer be relied upon as an active institutional publication.

Withdrawal may be appropriate where:

• substantial errors materially affect the document;
• the publication was released without appropriate authority;
• information should not have been publicly released;
• the document can no longer support the purpose for which it was issued; or
• another significant administrative reason requires formal withdrawal.

Withdrawal should not be used merely to conceal an earlier Bureau position or error.

Where continued public retention is appropriate, the document should be clearly identified as Withdrawn.

The reason for withdrawal should be documented internally and publicly where appropriate.

17. Relationship to the Institutional Record

Publication control exists to preserve documentary continuity as well as current information.

The Bureau’s understanding of a Digital Object may change.

Preservation methods may develop.

Technical procedures may be revised.

Earlier conclusions may be reconsidered when new evidence becomes available.

The publication record should make such development intelligible rather than retroactively presenting institutional knowledge as though it had always existed in its current form.

Revision, supersession, archival retention and withdrawal therefore form part of the documentary record rather than exceptions to it.

18. Standard Publication Workflow

The standard workflow for a Bureau publication is:

Draft → Validation → Editorial Review → Preview → Approval → Public Release → Post-Publication Verification

Where later changes are required:

Current Publication → Revision or Replacement → Review → Approval → Release → Supersession or Archival Retention where applicable

Individual publication types may require additional specialist review.

No stage in this workflow removes the responsibility of the issuing office for the substantive content of the publication.

19. Maintenance of this Procedure

This procedure is maintained by the Publications Office.

Changes to the Bureau publication system, approval process, document-control requirements or publication series should be reflected in subsequent revisions where they materially affect this procedure.

This manual should be read together with:

• PM-000001 — Bureau Editorial and Style Manual; and
• PM-000002 — Citation and Source Attribution Standard.

Together, these documents establish the general public publication framework of the Bureau of Digital Antiquities.

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Prepared by Robert C. Lieu
Director of Publications
Publications Office
Bureau of Digital Antiquities
1 October 2026