I am truly honored to have been appointed the ninth editor of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior (TAVB). My task as the journal’s steward for the next 3 years has been made considerably easier due to the stellar performance of my predecessor, Anna Petursdottir. Anna’s tenure as TAVB editor was truly remarkable. She managed the journal’s transition to a new publishing company (Springer), helped institute an increased publication frequency of two issues per year, and oversaw the publication of 49 articles during her term. Anna certainly left big shoes to fill.
Since I assumed editorial responsibility for new submissions in June 2014, there have been two new associate editor appointments. Dr. Amanda Karsten (Western New England University) began a 3-year term as associate editor in July 1 (replacing me), and Dr. Cindy Pietras (Western Michigan University) began a 3-year term as associate editor in December 1 (replacing Caio Miguel). Both of these individuals have established track records of expertise in verbal behavior and producing high-quality research, and they will assist the journal’s peer-review process by handling a breadth of submission topics.
I would like to publicly thank Caio Miguel for his long-standing dedication to the journal as he concludes an extended 3.5-year term as associate editor. This term followed his 3-year term as editor in chief, which was preceded by an initial appointment as senior associate editor and an appointment to the editorial board before that. All of us at TAVB are appreciative of Caio’s sustained and positive editorial and scholarly contributions to the journal.
I would like to announce two new ongoing features at TAVB. The first is the introduction of a new manuscript category. In addition to research articles, brief reports, discussion/review articles, and book reviews, we are introducing the Brief Review category in 2015:
Brief Review
Manuscripts reviewing emerging lines of contemporary (within the last 10 years) empirical research may be submitted as Brief Reviews. The review should cover a focused area of investigation, provide a critical synthesis of the findings, and present suggestions for additional research. Brief reviews must not exceed 2000 words, excluding abstract, references, table(s), and/or figure(s).
The Brief Review category is especially relevant for TAVB because many exciting lines of research in the verbal behavior literature are relatively early in their development and, thus, are small enough to be sufficiently reviewed in the new format. I encourage members of the verbal behavior community to submit brief reviews that summarize and organize burgeoning lines of research that will, hopefully, help to stimulate and direct additional studies in their respective areas.
The second new feature I would like to announce is the annual publication of an annotated bibliography of verbal behavior research published outside of TAVB. The Carr, Nosik, Lechago, and Phillips (2015) article in this issue is the first iteration of this new series, which will appear in each spring issue. These annual publications will include a reference list of journal articles on verbal behavior that were published outside of TAVB in the prior year, along with a brief summary of each article. The inclusion of these bibliographies will mean that TAVB subscribers will not only have access to the original scholarship published in the journal, but will also have a “road map” to the pertinent literature published in other journals. Hopefully, readers will find benefit from such a collection of recent verbal behavior research in one location.