Publication trends in 22 years of the ‘Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis’

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to update Northup, Vollmer and Serrett’s research published in 1993 in Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. A sample of 314 articles was selected from a population of 1.704 articles published between 1993 and 2015. Trends were analyzed based on categories defined by Northup et al. (1993): (1) type of article, (2) subjects, (3) setting, (4) behavioral change agents, (5) target behavior, (6) use of behavioral procedures, and (7) generalization and follow-up measures. The results indicated that, the typical agent of behavioral change is the experimenter and that most studies reported interventions with people with developmental disabilities; the most frequent setting is the analogue setting; positive reinforcement, verbal instruction and punishment are the most common procedures. Researches published still lack data on follow-up and generalization measures. In summary, it is discussed from the sample analyzed that in its majority the research published in JABA neither present planning for generalization nor follow up. It is also argued how important it would be for these dimensions to be planned and presented in such research, as Baer, Wolf and Risley (1968) have often advocated.