Editorial.
JABA was born to publish rigorous single-case studies that bigger journals ignored, and later papers show you can now push that same work into mainstream or policy arenas.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Tager-Flusberg (1981) wrote a birthday editorial. JABA had just turned 13. The piece looked back at why the journal started and restated its core promise: publish tough single-case work that other outlets kept rejecting.
The editorial is short. It has no data. It simply reaffirms the founding mission.
What they found
The finding is a mission statement. JABA will keep welcoming careful behavior-analytic studies even when bigger journals say no.
The tone is proud. The field is still small, but it is alive.
How this fits with other research
Later editorials keep echoing this rally cry. Sidman (2002) and Simpson et al. (2001) both look back fondly and warn that the field must train new talent or the mission dies.
Normand (2014) and Friman (2014) flip the script. They say stop waiting for JABA to carry all the weight. Send your best work to pediatric and mainstream journals so outsiders see what we can do. This extends, not contradicts, the 1981 goal of wider acceptance.
Normand et al. (2021) and Napolitano et al. (2025) push even further. They urge behavior analysts to shape public-health policy, not just publish papers. Again, the spirit matches Tager-Flusberg (1981): take our science where it is needed most.
Why it matters
If you feel stuck sending perfect single-case graphs to journals that shrug, remember Tager-Flusberg (1981). The journal you trust was created for exactly this work. Keep polishing, keep submitting, and when you are ready, follow Normand (2014) and pitch that same study to a medical or public-health outlet. Your data can travel farther than you think.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
When the Journal of Applied Behavior Anal- ysis was first published in 1968 it was one of two journals devoted to what could be characterized as a behavioral approach to applied problems.Thirteen years later there are over 25.For what purpose was the Journal first published?Does this purpose still exist?If not, does the Journal aspire to new goals-are there new problems to solve?In 1968 JABA followed its sister publication, the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, into print as an outlet in the applied area for an approach and methodology that were not always welcome in other leading publications.As the first behavioral journal dealing with ap- plied problems in the United States, it addressed a content area often neglected in leading applied and clinical journals.Conceptually, JABA published approaches to problems that reflected some of the philosophical foundations of be- haviorism.These foundations and a method- ology emphasizing detailed analysis of indi- vidual behavior were puzzling to some and heretical to others.But JABA was more than policy and philos- ophy.Under the leadership of superb adminis- trators and editors, as well as prominent scholars, JABA developed a reputation among contributors for detailed and thoughtful reviews, fair editorial policies, and a generally positively rein- forcing experience whether the decision was favorable or unfavorable.New contributors were encouraged to pursue their efforts.Positive
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1981 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1981.14-1