The Ephemeris Napocensis archaeological yearbook was founded at the same time with the Institute of Archaeology and History of Art of the Romanian Academy-Cluj-Napoca Branch (I-1991). The first Editor-in-chief was Mihai Bărbulescu followed by Nicolae Gudea.

The journal continues the research traditions of the academic center of Cluj from the period before the WW II, known by archaeological publications as 'The Yearbook of the Classical Studies Institute', or the 'The Yearbook of the Historical Monuments Commission-Transylvania'. Our yearbook was publishing from the beginnings studies of the Institute’s members and of other Romanian specialists written in Romanian with abstracts in foreign languages, based on the results of the archaeological, numismatic and epigraphic researches. The themes approached in our yearbook start from Paleolithic till to the Middle Ages. Besides studies the journal lodged also information on the scientific life of the Institute, reviews and evocations.

Starting with 2006 (a new editorial board, editor-in-chief Coriolan H. Oprean) the journal got a new format, a new cover design and a higher graphic quality (hardback, good quality paper, colored illustration), being published more studies in foreign languages, besides ones in Romanian language. The twentieth issue (2010) marked the imposing of the rule of publishing only in foreign languages, abstracts in the same languages, keywords, and the correspondence addresses of the authors. The journal was indexed CNCS, B category. It is included in international databases, such as Scopus and ERIH Plus.

The journal organized an Advisory Board composed by well-known academics from Romania and abroad: AProf. Dr. Mihai Bărbulescu, member of the Romanian Academy (The Romanian Academy, Romania), Prof. Dr. Alexander Bursche (University of Warsaw, Poland), Prof. Dr. Falko Daim (University of Vienna, Austria), Prof. Dr. Andreas Lippert (University of Vienna, Austria), Prof. Dr. Bernd Päffgen (Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany), Prof Dr. Marius Porumb, member of the Romanian Academy (Director of Institute of Archaeology and History of Art Cluj-Napoca, Romania), Prof. Dr. Alexander Rubel (Institute of Archaeology Iași, The Romanian Academy, Romania), and Prof. Dr. Peter Scherrer (University of Graz, Austria). The peer review system of selection of papers was also adopted.