Analysis of the interaction between experimental and applied behavior analysis.
Basic and applied scientists now team up three times more often—mine their joint papers for fresh tactics.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Virues-Ortega et al. (2014) counted how many scientists publish in both JABA and JEAB.
They looked at every author from 1980 to 2010 and asked: who shows up in both journals?
Instead of tracking citations, they tracked people.
What they found
The share of cross-over authors tripled over thirty years.
More basic and applied scientists now work together than ever before.
How this fits with other research
Symons et al. (2005) and Mahoney et al. (2019) saw the same trend using citation counts.
Their numbers show cross-citations are still low, but rising.
The difference is method: those papers counted references, Javier counted people.
Davis et al. (1994) gave the earliest baseline—cross-talk was almost zero in the eighties.
Together the four studies map a slow but steady climb in basic-applied teamwork.
Why it matters
You can turn this trend into better outcomes for clients.
Search recent JEAB articles for procedures that match your client’s needs.
Email the authors—many now welcome applied partners.
Cross-label collaboration is no longer rare; it is expected.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
To study the influences between basic and applied research in behavior analysis, we analyzed the coauthorship interactions of authors who published in JABA and JEAB from 1980 to 2010. We paid particular attention to authors who published in both JABA and JEAB (dual authors) as potential agents of cross-field interactions. We present a comprehensive analysis of dual authors' coauthorship interactions using social networks methodology and key word analysis. The number of dual authors more than doubled (26 to 67) and their productivity tripled (7% to 26% of JABA and JEAB articles) between 1980 and 2010. Dual authors stood out in terms of number of collaborators, number of publications, and ability to interact with multiple groups within the field. The steady increase in JEAB and JABA interactions through coauthors and the increasing range of topics covered by dual authors provide a basis for optimism regarding the progressive integration of basic and applied behavior analysis.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2014 · doi:10.1002/jaba.124