The impact of applied behavior analysis on diverse areas of research.
ABA spread far by 1974, yet tight basic-applied links are still forming—so keep building bridges.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The author counted where ABA papers were cited from 1968 to 1974.
He looked at journals in education, medicine, business, and other fields.
The goal was to see how far ABA ideas had spread outside behavior journals.
What they found
ABA methods showed up in at least nine different disciplines.
Journals that never printed behavior articles before were now citing ABA.
The map proved ABA was already moving beyond its own walls by the mid-70s.
How this fits with other research
Davis et al. (1994), Symons et al. (2005), and Mahoney et al. (2019) kept the same score for later years.
They show cross-citation between JABA and JEAB stayed low, yet Virues-Ortega et al. (2014) found the number of authors publishing in both journals tripled from 1980-2010.
The counts look opposite: low journal-to-journal citations but growing scientist overlap.
The difference is method: citation tracks who reads, co-authorship tracks who works together.
Mueller (2025) extends the story further, arguing ABA has become its own global profession, not just a borrowed tool.
Why it matters
You can use these maps to spot gaps. If you work in mental health, see if local psych journals cite ABA; if not, offer a review. When you write, cite both JABA and JEAB to tighten the basic-applied loop the numbers say is still loose.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The impact of applied behavior analysis on various disciplines and areas of research was assessed through two major analyses. First, the relationship of applied behavior analysis to the general area of "behavior modification" was evaluated by examining the citation characteristics of journal articles in JABA and three other behavior-modification journals. Second, the penetration of applied behavior analysis into diverse areas and disciplines, including behavior modification, psychiatry, clinical psychology, education, special education, retardation, speech and hearing, counselling, and law enforcement and correction was assessed. Twenty-five journals representing diverse research areas were evaluated from 1968 to 1974 to assess the extent to which operant techniques were applied for therapeutic, rehabilitative, and educative purposes and the degree to which methodological desiderata of applied behavior analysis were met. The analyses revealed diverse publication outlets for applied behavior analysis in various disciplines.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1975 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1975.8-213