Another great open access review article. And perhaps speaking to a similar training issue: being told to “pair” or “build rapport” without any further instruction.
Several other links tied for 3rd, but these two in particular had nearly twice as many clicks.
Some of the “ABA this week” posts have inexplicably higher view counts (again, people don’t typically click the links, so perhaps there’s popular subject matter in the other sections? Or coincidence?). For example, October 13th ABA this week and September 15th have nearly 50% more views than October 20th. The Sept 15th post also has the most opens by percentage of subscribers. The long post on Mathetics somehow has less views than any of those.
Fortunately, a post with original reporting edged them all out:
#1 Unmasking “Dr. E” and the story of Sunland Miami
This post involved reaching out to people involved; contacting the state of Florida for a copy of the McAllister report; combing through contemporary newspapers; and too much writing.
Taking inspiration from Tom Critchfield’s valuable surveys of the literature, we are using data reported by Google Scholar called the h-5 index – a measure of the most-cited articles per journal over the last 5 years. There is a bias towards older articles, as they have more time to be cited by other authors. (Search for a journal yourself on this page by clicking the magnifying glass on the top right)
L Tsami, D Lerman, O Toper‐Korkmaz
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 52 (4), 1113-1129
Citations: 150
2019
LW Coyne, ER Gould, M Grimaldi, KG Wilson, G Baffuto, A Biglan
Behavior Analysis in Practice 14 (4), 1092-1098
Citations: 397
2020
AT Gloster, N Walder, ME Levin, MP Twohig, M Karekla
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science 18, 181-192
Citations: 526
2020
AA Sleiman, S Sigurjonsdottir, A Elnes, NA Gage, NE Gravina
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management 40 (3-4), 303-332
Citations: 108
2020
AL Odum, RJ Becker, JM Haynes, A Galizio, CCJ Frye, H Downey, ...
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 113 (3), 657-679
Citations: 143
2020
D Barnes-Holmes, Y Barnes-Holmes, C McEnteggart
The Psychological Record 70 (4), 605-624
Citations: 106
2020
M Tincani, J Travers
Perspectives on Behavior Science 42, 59-75
Citations: 129
2019
It seems that JCBS is finding more success – in terms of citations, reports in conventional media, and shares across social media. Beyond that, there are two categories in the last 5 years that have seen success: “big picture” review articles, and COVID articles. “Big picture” reviews are the Fixed Interval’s top two links clicked. By 2027, maybe the h-5 will be free of COVID.
For comparison, the #1 article (one of the earliest reports of COVID) in the #1 journal (Nature) was cited nearly 25,000 times.
MassHealth requires accreditation for all ABA providers within 2-3 years (and there are only 2 accrediting bodies)
NeuraLink introduces patented MonkeyTorture™ procedure, which includes behavioral training so the monkeys sit still
An article in the European Journal of Behavior Analysis was retracted, likely because it included links to real comments on FaceBook without the commenters’ consent
BF Skinner wins IgNobel Prize for Project Pigeon
Analyses of relational coherence and rule following: Consistent liars are preferred over occasional truth tellers
An open access article in JEAB that includes an experimental manipulation; cross-cultural collaboration; RFT; and a memorable title. It also lends itself to a simple conceptual analysis of politics.
The New Journal, a Yale student newspaper, published 2 different interviews with Skinner over the years. One was just a random fan, and one was a more formal interview. These were not exactly “lost media,” but we have not found them cited anywhere else.
We here at the Fixed Interval are dedicated to description, prediction, and control – so here are our predictions for the year 2025:
Ethics debates over AI: Presuming “AI” continues to get better (generative AI, what most people are talking about), then people will begin to debate what constitutes abusive treatment, such as how politely you must speak to your AI. The debate will involve how people feel about sentience. Fortunately for tech companies, they have never cared about sentience before.
Private equity slowly withdraws from ABA: The people who have to deliver ABA services are too expensive for private equity and always will be. Private equity will set its sights on something where the basic materials are cheap, but can be transformed into something expensive. The headline in Bloomberg will read: “How private equity is reinventing bread.”
Behavior analysis tackles literacy: Behavior analysis has a long and effective history with literacy. The literacy debate hit critical mass in 2023-2024, spilling into popular culture and spawning a movement toward evidence-based practices. Behavior analytic journals will publish a few incredible articles in mid- to late-2025, just in time to completely miss the public debate.
A behavior-analytic article breaks through: An article published in a behavior analytic journal will use a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. This is understood as the most appealing design to the general public, being associated with well-understood clinical trials. Both of the people who read it will be wildly enthusiastic.
A behavioral health company dives into contingency management: CM is one of the most effective treatments for many substance abuse disorders, but remains unpopular for philosophical reasons alone. A CEO of a larger behavioral health company will be frustrated with their results, and overhaul their process to include CM. It will be incredibly effective, and the CEO will publicly attribute CM to an article about Portugal discussed on a manosphere podcast.
An increase in “big picture” political prescriptions: We’re thinking Anthony Biglan-type papers and books looking to save the world. Why? It’s anyone’s guess.
Possible changes and projects here at the Fixed Interval:
Moving from Substack to Buttondown: it’s a maybe, when the time is right
Shorter articles: the articles don’t seem to inspire a lot of engagement, perhaps because they’re very long
Monitoring social media: would like to provide info on which journals get engagement
Website improvements: we have some ideas, but these may be long-term
Something new: guest authors? Interviews? Book club? Journal club? Something else?
