Scholarly publications
Includes peer reviewed journals within and adjacent to behavior analysis
(Starred journals available to BCBAs through the BACB portal)
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis *
7/18 Lee, G. T., Sun, Y., Xu, S., & Kang, K. (2025). Using matrix training to promote recombinative generalization by children on the autism spectrum in China. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.70025
4 children in China were taught objects and prepositions using matrix training; it was effective, though 2/4 did not display robust maintenance of the skills
Behavior Analysis in Practice
7/14 Cox, D.J., Brodhead, M.T. Toward Collapsing the Is-Ought Distinction: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Data-Informed Ethics in Behavior Analysis. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01080-x
A brief introduction
7/15 Diaz-Salvat, C.C., Marrer, C., Tiefenthaler, B.R. et al. The Influence of Monetary Factors on the Stay/Leave Decisions of Behavior Technicians. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01079-4
36 behavior techs completed a discounting task, and the following factors were correlated with turnover: "hourly pay, supervision, depersonalization, time spent working in the field, and education"
Munoz-Blanco, M.I., Quezada Velázquez, A.G. Dr. Maria Antonia Padilla Vargas: Impact of a Career Devoted to the Analysis of Scientists’ Training and Scientific Practice from a Behavior Analytic Perspective. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01078-5
The story of a pioneer from Mexico
Behavioral Interventions * Volume 40, Issue 3 (7 articles, 2 open access)
Most intriguing: Preliminary Outcomes From a Brief Response Blocking Assessment
(Open access) Response blocking arbitrary responses produced decreases, increases, and inconsistent effects. This contradicts some literature, perhaps because blocking is usually part of a package
Perspectives on Behavior Science
7/17 Austin, J.L. Advancing a Research Agenda for Trauma-informed Care in Behavior Analysis. Perspect Behav Sci (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-025-00464-2
Suggestions for studying trauma-informed care
Behavior and Social Issues
7/13 Pavlacic, J.M., Rheingold, A.A., Kellum, K.K. et al. Developing a Contextual Behavioral Science Research and Clinical Agenda for Studying Psychological Resilience to Promote Well-Being. Behav. Soc. Iss. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00206-8
The authors attempt to define resilience and explore how it would be possible to develop CBS interventions to increase resilience. They suggest idiographic research
7/14 Celli, L., Villa, C.P., Ogata, M.Y. et al. Pro-environmental Behavioral Changes Through Science Communication in the Digital and Social Media Ecosystem: The Effects of Clube da Caçamba—UEL Project. Behav. Soc. Iss. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00215-7
The authors find that posts on an environmentalism instagram saw changes in language among their 2,000 followers, plus reports of more pro-environmental behavior
7/16 Guerin, B. Comprehensive Contextual Solutions for Behavioral Challenges: Observations from the Social Sciences Minus Their Mentalisms. Behav. Soc. Iss. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00213-9
(Open access) After eliminating mentalism, how does behavior develop and how is it changed?
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior *
7/14 Friedel, J. E., Ashley Treem, K. M., Frye, C. C. J., Salem, S. K., Westberry-Nix, M. B., & Devonshire, L. (2025). Clarifications for calculating area under the curve for discounting data: A primer and technical report. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 124(1), e70041. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.70041
Some inside baseball on area under the curve discounting
Weinsztok, S. C., & Amlung, M. (2025). Research synthesis in behavior analysis I: An introductory guide to conducting systematic reviews. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 124(1), e70040. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.70040
A how-to
7/15 Oliveira, L., Green, L., Myerson, J., & Wan, H. (2025). Discounting of probabilistic food reinforcement by pigeons. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 124(1), e70042. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.70042
In pigeons, there was a small but certain amount of food, or a large probabilistic amount. In experiment 2, both were made probabilistic, with the smaller being more likely and the larger being less likely. The pigeons discounted the food according to its probability
7/17 Soares, C., Machado, A., & Vasconcelos, M. (2025). Pigeons' performance in the number-left task: Associative or computational mechanism? Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 124(1), e70035. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.70035
Pigeons could choose reinforcement on a fixed ratio or a variable ratio. In experiment 2, the variable ratio was first trained with the lowest and highest numbers (either 1 or 7), then changed to include all numbers from 1-7; performance was the same as experiment 1. In experiment 3, they repeated experiment 2 with more extreme numbers (5 and 50), but performance was the same
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior
7/14 Oliveira, J.S.C.D., Barall, R.J., Moeyaert, M. et al. Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Stimulus-Stimulus Pairings to Increase Vocalizations in Children with Language Delays: 2015-2024. Analysis Verbal Behav (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-025-00219-9
Stimulus-stimulus pairings to increase vocalizations (e.g., deliver a stimulus along with a specific vocalization) has had mixed results in the literature. The authors identified 12 studies from 2015-2024 and found a "significant" effect
Education and Treatment of Children
7/14 Criss, C.J., Carreon, A.C. Enhancing Novice Teacher Practice through Email Performance Feedback and Immersive Video within Virtual Reality. Educ. Treat. Child. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43494-025-00162-3
Teachers were given written performance feedback or watched video in a VR setup; both were equally effective in increasing their statements of behavior-specific praise
Journal of Behavioral Education Volume 34, Issue 2 (10 articles, 1 open access)
Most intriguing: The Use of Economic Manipulations to Influence Choice in Adolescents and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders
By manipulating the "costs" of reinforcers and the "pay" for completing tasks, kids started doing nonpreferred tasks without prompts. Imagine!
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
7/16 Integrating ACT with ERP for OCD Treatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial Examining Symptom Reduction and Psychological Flexibility Mechanisms
(In press) ACT with ERP (exposure and response prevention ) for OCD is A-OK
7/19 Enhancing Medication Adherence, Depression, and Values-Based Behaviors in HIV-Positive Individuals Through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Pilot Study
(In press) In 4 participants, depression symptoms improved, as did medication adherence -- which decreased viral load for 3/4 participants
Book publications
Textbooks, handbooks, manuals, or mass-market
Upcoming:
AIM Navigators, Dixon (Pre-order)
A.I.M. Explorers Curriculum Book Volume 2 Mountain Climb, Dixon (Pre-order)
Handbook of Operant Behavioral Economics, Reed, Kaplan & Gilroy (Eds.)
New this quarter:
Ethical Decision Making in Applied Behavior Analysis, Schwartz & Kelly
Leadership and Management Practices in Human Services Organizations, Gardner et al.
Principles of Applied Behavior Analysis for Behavior Technicians and Other Practitioners, 4/E, Wallace & Mayer
Behavior Analysis for Lasting Change, 6/E, Mayer, Wallace, & Sulzer-Azaroff
Using Functional Analysis in Psychotherapy, Niklas Törneke
Handbook for Behavioral Skills Training, Edition 1, Sturmey & Maffei-Almodovar
Research Methods in Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd Edition), Bailey & Burch
Multiculturalism and Diversity in Applied Behavior Analysis: Bridging Theory and Application (2nd Edition), Conners & Capell (Eds.)
Talk Behavior to Me: The Routledge Dictionary of the Top 150 Behavior Analytic Terms and Translations, Samuel
The Behavior of Social Justice, Parks et al.
A Practical Guide to Functional Assessment and Treatment for Severe Problem Behavior, Jessel & Sturmey (Eds.)
Handbook of Organizational Performance, Volume II, D. Johnson & C. Johnson (Eds.)
Recent:
Podcasts
ABA Inside Track
Episode 316 - Identifying Questionable Research Practices w/ Dr. Matthew Tincani
Behavioral Observations
How to Train Staff and Improve Outcomes in Adult Autism Services: Session 306 with Dr. John Guercio
Blogs
Generally these are produced by professionals
ABAI
Why Climate Action Won’t Wait, Part Three
Too expensive, for one thing
Epistemology 101: Why Does Evidence Fail to Excite?
...and why won't people accept the reality of garbage disposals?!
Licensing & professional organizations
Business world
Autism services, behavioral health, etc.
Nebraska Medicaid Rolls Out Steep Cuts to ABA Services
Nebraska once had the highest RBT reimbursement rate (see page 5) and a relatively high BCBA rate. Per this article, several providers opened up in Nebraska just to get those rates. Indiana may have been the canary in the coal mine, cutting rates after $120 million in ABA costs contributed to a $1 billion Medicaid shortfall.
Accidentally behavior analysis
A mainstream news article that relates to behavior analysis
The truth behind the endless “kids can’t read” discourse, Vox
The evil by whence kids can’t read is radio television internet AI. Meanwhile, reading scores for American kids are terrible, but have been depressingly stable for decades. Kids these days don’t want to read work in the Amazon fulfillment center compose training material for AI!
Continuing education
UPCOMING:
BehaviorLive is back to posting free events: 7/22, 7/23, 7/29, 7/30
The “EABA Summer School series” is happening weekly, starting 7/8, and looks interesting.
Flashback
Skinner pretends to talk to Thoreau for 3 minutes
In an Encyclopedia Britannica film from 1975, Skinner talks to an actor playing Thoreau, starting at timestamp 8:44. He explains why he named his book Walden II. It’s pretty weird.