Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 1 | 2009 | Number 1
Publication Board Update
By Marc Branch
2008 was a significant year for ABAI in that it marked the publication of the inaugural volume of Behavior Analysis in Practice (BAP), a new outlet and the third journal for the association. Under the able guidance of editor Dorothea Lerman, the journal appears to be off to a good start. The journal has an editorial staff of nine associate editors and 46 editorial board members. Those numbers may be compared to the editorial staff for The Behavior Analyst (TBA), which consists of two associate editors and 24 board members and that of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior (TAVB), which has three AEs and 31 board members. A discussion of the roles and functions of associate editors and editorial board members may be beneficial for streamlining the editorial process of BAP.
Another development concerns the “flagship” journal of the association, TBA. Submissions to the journal have decreased the past two years. During the span from 2001-2006, about 35 to 40 manuscripts were submitted per year, but only 22 were received in 2007. That number increased to 31 in 2008, but that increase was accompanied by an acceptance rate of 23%, compared to an average of about 50% for the preceding decade. As he notes in his annual report, the editor, Michael Dougher, reports six manuscripts had been received through April of calendar 2009, fewer than half as many as had been received by this time in 2008. Finally, the page totals for the past two volumes are 201 and 227 pages, compared to the preceding several-year average of about 280. The local trend is therefore fewer high-quality submissions with the result of fewer pages published. The situation will be monitored to determine if some sort of action needs to be taken. The inclusion of TBA in the PubMed Central database could help spur increased quality submissions. The full archive of TBA (and TAVB) journals are currently at PubMed being scannedfor inclusion in the database. Expected posting is late August.
Under the new leadership of Editor Caio Miguel, The Analysis of Verbal Behavior (TAVB) is taking steps to increase visibility and availability. The experiment with establishing a Facebook presence is an interesting one and worth following.