The Register of Professional Archaeologists is a listing of archaeologists who have agreed to abide by an explicit code of conducts and standards of research performance, who hold a graduate degree in archaeology, anthropology, art history, classics, history or another germane discipline and who have completed a thesis or dissertation (or its equivalent) that addresses a substantive archaeological research question.

Registration is a voluntary act that recognizes an individual's personal responsibility to be held accountable for his or her professional behavior. By formally acknowledging this relationship between personal actions and the wider discipline of archaeology, the act of registration is truly what sets the professional archaeologist apart from all others who are involved with or interested in archaeology.