ABAI Behavior Analysis Events Jobs Membership Journals Chapters Special Interests Store Learning Center

Mission | Strategic Plan | Org. Structure | Newsletters | Code of Ethics | Diversity Policy | Position Statements | Terms of Use

2010, August

The President's Column

Recap of ABAI 2010 in San Antonio

2010 Presidential Scholar's Essay

2010 Fellows of ABAI

Updates from ABAI's Boards and Committees

• Education Board
• Council of Graduate Training Programs in Behavior Analysis
• Membership Board
• Practice Board
• Insurance Billing Code Committee
• Publication Board
• The Behavior Analyst
• Behavior Analysis in Practice
• The Analysis of Verbal Behavior
• Science Board
• Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences
• Convention Program Committee
• Affiliated Chapters Report

Updates from ABAI's Affiliated Chapters

Updates from ABAI's Special Interest Groups

Inside Behavior Analysis

Volume 2 | 2010 | Number 2

The Behavior Analyst

By Michael Dougher

Journal Mission

The Behavior Analyst (TBA) contains general interest articles on theoretical, experimental, and applied topics in behavior analysis. Articles on the past, present, and future of behavior analysis, as well as its relation to other fields, are particularly appropriate for the journal. The Behavior Analyst also publishes literature reviews, discussions of previously published work, reinterpretations of published data, and articles on behaviorism as a philosophy that are suitable to the general readership of the journal.

This report covers activities of The Behavior Analyst for the calendar year of 2009. Current Editor Michael Dougher and Associate Editors Kate Saunders and Hank Schlinger began service in August of 2007, replacing Editor Marc Branch and Associate Editors Michael Dougher and Greg Hanley. All terms will end July 31, 2010.

Papers Published During 2009

Volume 32 of TBA contained 342 content pages (compared to 201 in 2008) and 27 papers (compared to 14 in 2008). Of these papers, 6 were featured articles (compared to 8 in 2008) and 15 were special articles (compared to 4 in 2000), including 2 introductions: one to the special section on clinical behavior analysis, and one to the special section on translational science. There was 1 "On Books" article (the same as in 2008), 3 "In Response" articles (as compared to none in 2008), and 2 "In Memoriam" articles, which are included in the "Special Papers" column of Table 1. The substantial increase in the number of content pages in volume 32 was the result of greater efforts to recruit manuscripts and the inclusion of two special sections. The special section on clinical behavior analysis, edited by Jonathan Kanter and Doug Woods, contained eight papers, and the special section on translational research, edited by Tim Hackenberg and Travis Thompson, contained five papers. It is clear going forward that the Editor and Associate Editors will need to actively recruit papers to fill the pages of future issues. Given the decreasing trend in numbers of submissions, there clearly is no need to consider increasing the number of issues per year at this time.

Table 1. Number of pages and content breakdown for The Behavior Analyst.

Processing of Manuscripts Submitted in 2009

Between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009, 18 new manuscripts were submitted (as compared to 31 for 2008). As of mid-April 2010, only six unsolicited papers had been submitted to the journal since the beginning of the calendar year, exactly the same number that had been submitted last year at this time. This trend raises concern about submission numbers going forward.

The percentage of unsolicited papers accepted in 2009 (28) was roughly the same as last year, yet substantially lower than the previous 5 years. Assuming similar reviewing and editorial standards, it appears that the quality of submissions is declining along with the number. As shown in Table 2, the mean processing time for articles in 2009 was 1.98 months, which was in the range of the past several years. Mean processing time is defined here as the number of months between the date a paper was received by the Editor and the date the Editor or Associate Editor informed the author of the initial decision. The longest time was 3.25 months. Action-Editor time, the time from the receipt of the last review to when a decision letter went out, was 11 days, which is well within the range of the previous 5 years. Relative to past years, processing times have continued to be reasonable, and are within the range of most major journals. Rapid turn-around for authors remains an important goal for TBA, and timely processing by reviewers and action editors will be emphasized again in 2010.

Table 2. Mean processing times for The Behavior Analyst.

Board of Editors

The Board of Editors at the time of this report is shown in the table below. Board members listed for 2007–2010 rotated off in May, 2010. The members listed for 2008–2011 began their term with the spring issue of volume 31 and will serve through May, 2011.

Table 3. TBA's Board of Editors.

Other Accomplishments

Kate Saunders and Hank Schlinger are to be commended for their service as Associate Editors. Kathy Hill continues her invaluable contribution as Managing Editor. Michael Dougher, Kate Saunders, and Hank Schlinger all ended their terms in May, 2010. Hank Schlinger has replaced Michael Dougher as Editor and Matthew Normand has stepped into one of the Associate Editor positions.

The conversion to an electronic submission process is complete. The last adjustment was to change the instructions for authors that are printed in the journal. Now both the print version and the website indicate that electronic submissions are preferred. All papers for the 2009 year were handled electronically, thus eliminating the need for, cost of, and delay caused by standard mailing. Both issues of volume 32 were processed on schedule. Through the energies and hard work of the ABAI office, TBA continues to enjoy a sophisticated web presence.

Additional Projects

Increasing the number of quality TBA submissions remains an important goal. Editors will continue to invite manuscripts on a range of topics. There has been some success in this regard, but there is significant lag time. The annual convention continues to be a good source of potential manuscripts.

Back to Board Updates

550 W. Centre Ave., Portage MI 49024-5364 Phone: (269) 492-9310 | Fax: (269) 492-9316 | E-mail: mail@abainternational.org