International publication trends in basic, applied, and conceptual behavior‐analytic journals

Curiel et al. (2023) counted where authors of our top journals live. They looked at every article in JEAB, JABA, and PBS from 1997 through 2020. They recorded the country listed in each author’s address.

North-American schools still dominate. Between 79 and 96 percent of articles came from the USA or Canada each year. Joint papers with authors from two or more countries stayed under 12 percent for the whole period.

Bennett et al. (1998) and Palya (1993) show another gap inside the same journals: women’s share of authorship and editorship also stayed low. Geography and gender audits line up—both find the same narrow slice of voices.

Lim et al. (2003) saw a similar pattern in Australian ID/DD journals during the 1990s. Most papers came from just two countries: Australia and the USA. The new data say the trend never shifted in our flagship outlets.

King et al. (2020) add a twist. They found most behavior-analytic reviews are narrative and leave out search details. If reviewers rarely look beyond North-American databases, they may keep citing the same local authors and miss global work.

If you only read JEAB, JABA, and PBS, you are seeing mostly North-American questions, participants, and cultural contexts. Hunt for studies from other continents or team up with international colleagues. Adding one non-US co-author or citing one overseas study can widen the lens for your clients and students.