Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Selected publication trends in JEAB: Implications for the vitality of the experimental analysis of behavior

  • Published:
The Behavior Analyst Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To provide some insight into the current vitality of the experimental analysis of behavior, we updated and extended an analysis by R. A. Williams and Buskist (1983) of selected trends in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Specifically, the number of articles published and the percentage of those articles that were empirical, the number of different affiliations of authors and number of articles per affiliation, the types of subjects used in empirical articles, and the topics investigated were analyzed for the years 1958 through 1999. Although several trends may point to a decline in the overall well-being of the experimental analysis of behavior, they may also be interpreted as signs of progress for the field.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Azrin, N. H., & Holz, W. C. (1966). Punishment. In W. K. Honig (Ed.), Operant behavior: Areas of research and application. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baum, W. M. (1982). Choice, changeover, and travel. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 38, 35–49.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Branch, M. N., & Malagodi, E. F. (1980). Where have all the behaviorists gone? The Behavior Analyst, 3, 31–38.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P. L., & Jenkins, H. M. (1968). Autoshaping of the pigeon’s key-peck. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 11, 1–8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Buskist, W. (1987). On talking to ourselves. Behavior Analysis, 22, 1–2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buskist, W., & Morgan, D. (1987). Competitive fixed-interval performance in humans. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 47, 145–158.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Buskist, W., Sherburne, T. R., & Critchfield, T. S. (1996). A home for human operant research: Contributions of The Psychological Record. Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin, 14, 4–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, N. (1959). Review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. Language, 35, 26–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, D. G., Sidman, M., & Herrnstein, R. J. (1958). The effects of deprivation upon temporally spaced responding. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1, 59–65.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Critchfield, T. S., Buskist, W., Saville, B., Crockett, J., Sherburne, T., & Keel, K. (2000). Works most frequently cited in the experimental analysis of human behavior. The Behavior Analyst, 23, 255–266.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dews, P. B. (1958). Effects of chlorpromazine and promazine on performance on a mixed schedule of reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1, 73–82.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty, D. M., Nedelmann, M., & Alfred, M. (1993). An analysis and topical bibliography of the last ten years of human operant behavior: From minority to near majority (1982–1992). The Psychological Record, 43, 501–529.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferster, C. B., & Skinner, B. F. (1957). Schedules of reinforcement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Galizio, M. (1979). Contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior: Instructional control of human loss avoidance. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 31, 53–70.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gamzu, E., & Schwartz, B. (1973). The maintenance of key pecking by stimulus-contingent and response-independent food presentation. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 19, 65–72.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hake, D. F. (1982). The basic-applied continuum and the possible evolution of human operant social and verbal research. The Behavior Analyst, 5, 21–28.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harzem, P. (2000). Towards a new behaviorism. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 1, 51–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrnstein, R. J. (1961). Relative and absolute strength of response as a function of frequency and reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 4, 267–272.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Herrnstein, R. J. (1970). On the law of effect. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 13, 243–266.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hursh, S. R. (1984). Behavioral economics. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 42, 435–452.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hyten, C., & Reilly, M. P. (1992). The renaissance of the experimental analysis of human behavior. The Behavior Analyst, 15, 109–114.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Keller, F. S., & Schoenfeld, W. N. (1950). Principles of psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michael, J. L. (1980). Flight from behavior analysis. The Behavior Analyst, 3, 3–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nevin, J. A. (1982). Editorial. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 38, 1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newland, M. C., & Marr, M. J. (1985). The effects of chlorpromazine and imipramine on rate and stimulus control of matching to sample. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 44, 49–68.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Odum, A. L., & Schaal, D. W. (2000). The effects of morphine on fixed-interval patterning and temporal discrimination. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 74, 229–243.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Poling, A., Picker, M., Grossett, D., Hall-Johnson, E., & Holbrook, M. (1981). The schism between experimental and applied behavior analysis: Is it real and who cares? The Behavior Analyst, 4, 93–103.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, G. S. (1961). Behavioral contrast. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 4, 57–71.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Robins, R. W., Gosling, S. D., & Craik, K. H. (1999). An empirical analysis of trends in psychology. American Psychologist, 54, 117–128.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saville, B. K. (2001). The experimental analysis of human social behavior: Reflections and future directions. Unpublished manuscript.

  • Schaal, D. W., Miller, M. A., & Odum, A. L. (1995). Cocaine’s effects on food-reinforced pecking in pigeons depend on food-deprivation level. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 64, 61–73.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sidman, M., & Tailby, W. (1982). Conditional discrimination vs. matching to sample: An expansion of the testing paradigm. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 5–22.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: MacMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperry, R. W. (1988). Psychology’s mentalist paradigm and the religion/science tension. American Psychologist, 43, 607–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staddon, J. (2001). The new behaviorism: Mind, mechanism, and society. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terrace, H. S. (1966). Behavioral contrast and the peak shift: Effects of extended discrimination training. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 9, 613–617.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Todd, J. T., & Morris, E. K. (1983). Misconception and miseducation: Presentations of radical behaviorism in psychology textbooks. The Behavior Analyst, 6, 153–160.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Todd, J. T., & Morris, E. K. (1992). Case histories in the great power of steady misrepresentation. American Psychologist, 47, 1441–1453.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, D. R., & Williams, H. (1969). Automaintenance in the pigeon: Sustained pecking despite contingent reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 12, 511–520.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, R. A., & Buskist, W. F. (1983). Twenty-five years of JEAB: A survey of selected demographic characteristics related to publication trends. The Behavior Analyst, 6, 161–165.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zeiler, M. D. (1984). The sleeping giant: Reinforcement schedules. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 42, 485–493.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zeiler, M. D. (1999). Reversed schedule effects in closed and open economies. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 71, 171–186.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 36849-5214, USA

    Bryan K. Saville, L. Kimberly Epting & William Buskist

Authors
  1. Bryan K. Saville
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L. Kimberly Epting
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. William Buskist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bryan K. Saville.

Additional information

We thank Andy Lattal for providing us with data on submission and acceptance rates for JEAB over the last 10 years. Portions of these data were presented at the Association for Behavior Analysis conference in May 2000.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Saville, B.K., Epting, L.K. & Buskist, W. Selected publication trends in JEAB: Implications for the vitality of the experimental analysis of behavior. BEHAV ANALYST 25, 45–55 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392044

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392044

Key words

Search

Navigation