Scholarly publications

Includes peer reviewed journals within and adjacent to behavior analysis

(Starred journals available to BCBAs through the BACB portal)

Behavior Analysis in Practice
12/1 Burnham Riosa, P.V. A Coherent Investigation or a “Dog’s Breakfast”? Exploring the Integration of Qualitative Inquiry and Behavior Analysis Through Mixed Methods Research. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01118-0
The author shares her perspective on mixed-methods research, including her own. Here is an example of her work, where they interviewed participants in the Special Olympics using photos to elicit responses 

Brown, K.R., Pence, S.T. Lessons Learned and Considerations in Behavior-Analytic Qualitative Research. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01126-0
Two researchers share lessons in qualitative research

12/2 Lindsey, L.S., Kemp, J.M. & Richling, S.M. Measurement of Emotions Tacting for Empathic Responding (METER): An Example of a Process for Creating an Inclusive Assessment of Emotion Recognition using Validated and Diverse Facial Expression Stimuli. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01133-1
(Open access) The authors detail a process for comprehensively assessing and teaching to tact emotions using an empirically validated set of stimuli 

Čolić, M., Ninci, J., Huntington, R.N. et al. An Investigation of Trainees’ Supervision Experiences in Applied Behavior Analysis Fieldwork. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01132-2
The authors found, in a survey of 137 participants, that there are organizational and personal barriers to effective supervision 

Voulgarakis, H.M. Ethical and Regulatory Investigations in ABA: A Qualitative Analysis of Practitioner Responses and Outcomes. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01134-0
In a survey of 14 individuals who were investigated by the BACB, the investigations were found to be emotionally taxing, sometimes beneficial, but procedurally lacking 

Linnehan, A.M. Teaching Autistic Adolescents to Identify Fear and Anger: A Preliminary Study. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01129-x
4 kids with ASD were taught to tact "fear" and "anger" using a computer program with examples and non-examples of the emotions in an environmental context

12/4 Crosland, K., Garcia, A. & Fuller, A.A. Embracing Qualitative Research for Developing Effective Behavior Analytic Assessments and Interventions within Child Welfare and Human Trafficking. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01131-3
The authors suggest that ongoing qualitative methods can help with...human trafficking? Sure, we work with a vulnerable population, but this is the strangest justification for qualitative methodology

12/5 D’Agostino, S.R., Pinkelman, S.E. Considerations for Applied Behavior Analysts Embracing Intersectional Qualitative Research Within the Context of Intervention Research. Behav Analysis Practice (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-025-01104-6
(Open access) The authors detail how to use intersectional qualitative data to examine systems of oppression in ABA

Behavioral Interventions *
12/3 Thomas, Rachel R., Sharon A. Reeve, Kenneth F. Reeve, Jason C. Vladescu, and April N. Kisamore. 2026. “ A Systematic Review of Brief, Nonvocal Auditory Feedback Across Fields,” Behavioral Interventions: e70066. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.70066
In a literature review, the authors found 35 studies that used auditory feedback, and nearly 95% of them reported positive results

Perspectives on Behavior Science
12/2 Soto, P.L. Relational Databases for Behavior Science. Perspect Behav Sci (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-025-00486-w
(Open access) The author argues for keeping relational databases to increase transparency and cooperation

Behavior and Social Issues
12/2 Guerin, B. The Necessity of Observing the Social Contexts when People use Political Beliefs: Contextualizing Left and Right Political Discourses as a Common Pool for Functional Conversations. Behav. Soc. Iss. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00238-0
The author suggests that, politically, "left" currently means a focus on fairness in relationships, without concern for resources; while "right" is a focus on resources without a concern for relationships. Therefore a person can use "left" viewpoints to sound caring and "right" viewpoints to sound strong. This seems to be advice to sociopathic politicians, perhaps delivered from a centrist that believes there are "two sides" to every issue

12/5 Cihon, T., Rakos, R. & Mattaini, M. Editorial: Building a Movement. Behav. Soc. Iss. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42822-025-00235-3
A discussion of how to build an activist movement

Behavior Modification *
12/1 Neely, L., Holloway, K., Miller, S., Cantero, K., Alaeddini, A., & Oyama, S. (2025). Wearable Technology to Measure the Occurrence of Self-Injury During a Functional Analysis. Behavior Modification, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01454455251397910
(Open access) The authors used in-vivo data recording, video coding, and accelerometer data for self-hitting, comparing all 3. The 3 methods generally had statistical alignment, though in 1/3 participants the data from the accelerometer indicated a different maintaining variable than the video coding. The data may have been more accurate than in-vivo coding, but also can capture false-positive movements

Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis (RMAC) Vol. 51 No. 2 (7 articles, 7 open access; all abstracts in English, 1 article in English)
Most intriguing: Impact of reward type on rule following
Real rewards result in more rigid rule-following as compared to hypothetical rewards

The Psychological Record Volume 75, Issue 4 (9 articles, 1 open access)
Most intriguing: An Episodic Thinking Intervention to Reduce Effort Discounting
Thinking in detail about future outcomes can reduce effort discounting

12/1 Wan, H., Green, L. & Myerson, J. Brief Assessments of Delay Discounting: Two-Amount Monetary Choice and Delayed Losses Questionnaires. Psychol Rec (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-025-00665-w
The authors shortened two questionnaires by removing the section that includes medium-sized amounts and delays. They found both statistical correlations and correlations in responding, implying that the short form is useful

Hronek, L.M., Kestner, K.M. Effects of Implementing DRO without Extinction Using Asymmetrical Magnitude of Reinforcement in a Human-Operant Arrangement. Psychol Rec (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-025-00663-y
The authors used DRO without extinction, wherein points were awarded at every interval and more points were given for an absence of target behavior. Apparently this did not work as well as a DRO with extinction (e.g., points for an interval without target behavior, no points for an interval with target behavior)

12/3 Flynn, M.K., Berkout, O.V., Malnar, C.S. et al. The Impact of a Brief Values Intervention on Approach Behaviors: A Test of Generalizability Using a Spider-Related Behavioral Approach Task. Psychol Rec (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-025-00666-9
Participants received a values plus tickets intervention, tickets only, or control, and the authors found no difference between the conditions. Other studies found values interventions can have an impact, so either these findings don't replicate or perhaps there are important variables within the values training

Acta Comportamentalia Vol. 33 Núm. 4 (10 articles, 10 open access; all abstracts in English, 0 articles in English)
Most intriguing: Treinamento de Cuidadores Formais Sobre Comportamentos Desafiadores de Pessoas Idosas
The authors used BST or written instructions alone to train staff to implement behavioral interventions with a confederate who simulated behavior of a person with dementia. BST significantly outperformed written instructions

Book publications

Textbooks, handbooks, manuals, or mass-market

Upcoming:
Navigating Ethics in Behavior Analysis: Dealing with Gray Areas, Carr (Available now)
Digital Technologies in Behavior Science: Theoretical and Practical Applications, Crone-Todd, Hantula, Layng (Eds.) (Pre-order Feb 2026)

Promoting Language for Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Verbal Behavior Guide for Practitioners, Vladescu & Kissamore (Eds.) (Pre-order)
AIM Navigators, Dixon (Pre-order)

Recent:
2025

2024

2023

Podcasts

ABA Inside Track
December 2025 Preview
Episodes will be:

• Tutorial: PECS with Judy Southey

• Culturally Responsive Leadership Practices in ABA w/ Denisha Gingles

• Operationalizing Assent

All Things Behavior
Functional Analysis Decision-Making Considerations with Katie Brown and Casey Irwin Helvey

Blogs

Generally these are produced by professionals

ABAI
Social Play and Elementary Social Behavior: A Preliminary Investigation
As we highlighted last time Sho Araiba posted, in the first week of November: someone, presumably Sho Araiba or his biggest fan, is clicking the heck out of the thumbs up button on his posts

The Fuzzy Application of Behaviour Analysis in Strange Waters (Part 2)
Using ABA for public health intervention in Singapore

OAR
Parenting a Non-Verbal Child

Licensing & professional organizations

BACB
December 2025 newsletter
Topics include: 

• RBTs who quit generally cite poor pay, inconsistent scheduling, and a lack of professional support 

• RBT application and recert changes 

• BCBA and BCaBA application changes 

• Guidance for licensure 

• Highlighting the page of people who fraudulently claim certification, some of whom you can google 

• In 10 years, the number of certificants have grown tenfold

ASAN
ASAN Condemns Dangerous Disinformation at ACIP Meeting

Business world

Autism services, behavioral health, etc.

CEO: human services ought to have fewer humans
Another story that insists that it is not enough to have a very good ABA business model, and in fact “other services” have to be included to be profitable (it seems that ALP can’t turn a profit in Texas, anyway). Also, AI must be a solution to a problem or nobody from an Nvidia-subsidized AI company will give you free money:

Cortica is using ambient listening technologies to help physicians and other therapists with their clinical documentation.

Which sounds like text-to-speech transcription? Uh…read to the end for more on this. Moving on, let’s see how investors in medicine are handling AI:

Health systems aren’t just excited about using artificial intelligence as a tool to improve back-office operations. They’re also keen to use it for clinical diagnosis.

This piss isn’t going to drink itself!

Accidentally behavior analysis

A mainstream news article that relates to behavior analysis

AI scribes may not save a lot of time on clinical notes, but they make clinicians happy, STAT News
Clinicians report liking the tools, but they don’t actually save significant time:

Physicians using Nabla saw their average time spent writing each note decrease by an estimated 41 seconds (from 4 minutes 30 seconds to 3 minutes 49 seconds) vs 18 seconds (from 4 minutes 22 seconds to 4 minutes 4 seconds) in the control arm.

Let’s be generous and say it is a savings of 30 seconds per note. Let’s say a physician writes 20 notes per day. This is a savings of 10 entire minutes per day – nearly a whole hour in a week!

Ok but! It reduces burnout:

[...] physicians in the Nabla and DAX arms experienced approximately 7% improvement in their burnout scores compared to those in the control arm

Well it must be good at something –

"Our trial revealed that while AI scribes deliver measurable benefits, they occasionally generate clinically significant inaccuracies. Physicians must remain vigilant in reviewing AI-generated documentation.”

Why would people like this system? Is it because people prefer slop sometimes? (Yes) 

Continuing education

UPCOMING:

BehaviorLive has free events: 12/9, 12/11, 12/16, 12/17

Flashback

Verbal behavior in 1934

In 1934, BF Skinner was approximately 30 years old and published “Has Gertrude Stein a Secret?” in The Atlantic. Our friend George Razran was arguing that shock withdrawal responses were valuable in studying animal behavior, but not in humans – because in various studies, humans acquired the conditioned response in 1 trial or 1,000. Hulsey Cason was arguing that, in fact, verbal behavior interfered with (or sometimes facilitated) conditioning.