Evaluation of accepted and rejected submissions in the <i>Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis</i>: Gender and experience
Experience, not gender, drives JABA acceptance—new authors should secure senior mentors before they hit submit.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kranak and the JABA editors counted every manuscript that came through the door in 2019. They looked at who got accepted and who got rejected. They noted each author's gender and how many papers the person had already published.
The team ran numbers on 641 submissions. They wanted to know if women or first-timers faced hidden bias at the journal.
What they found
Gender made no difference. Men and women were accepted at the same rate.
Experience mattered a lot. Authors with long CVs were 2.5 times more likely to get a yes than newcomers. In plain numbers, veterans won about one in three tries, while rookies won about one in seven.
How this fits with other research
Marshall et al. (2023) saw a similar gap in treatment choices. Their survey showed seasoned BCBAs pick evidence-based options more often, while greener certificants drift toward untested fads. Both studies flag the same risk: less experience can steer us off course.
Al-Nasser et al. (2019) offers a fix. They gave novices picture-rich self-instruction packets and hit near-perfect fidelity. Visual supports can close the skill gap fast, just as a senior co-author can steady a first manuscript.
LeBlanc et al. (2016) rounds out the picture. Their supervision review urges structured mentoring for new BCBAs. Pairing rookies with veterans boosts both clinical skill and, likely, publication odds.
Why it matters
If you are new to publishing, the deck is stacked against you. Team up with a veteran co-author or ask one to review your draft before submission. Use checklists, pictures, and peer pre-review to mimic the polish that experience brings. The same playbook—mentorship plus visual job aids—also sharpens your day-to-day clinical work.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Researchers have examined factors of authors such as sex of author, gender identity, and seniority within the field of behavior analysis to determine if any biases towards a certain group existed. Most recently, Kranak et al. (2020) found that women and new authors are well-represented in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA). However, that analysis included only published manuscripts. Thus, the degree to which these subpopulations are proportionally represented is unknown, because that analysis was unable to determine how often these subpopulations are submitting manuscripts. Therefore, the purpose of the current investigation was to extend Kranak et al. and analyze all accepted and rejected manuscripts submitted to JABA from 2015 - 2019. Results indicated that women and men had nearly identical acceptance rates during this time period, whereas veteran authors' acceptance rate was nearly 2.5 times greater than that of new authors. Implications for publishing, reviewing, and research mentorship practices are discussed.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2021 · doi:10.1002/jaba.828