Peeling Back the Curtain: A Primer on the General Peer-Review and Publication Process in Behavior Analysis

The peer-review and publication process can often seem opaque, especially to those outside of academia or settings in which research is a frequent occurrence. Those who may not have received training and mentorship on the peer-review and publication process could therefore be seen as being at a disadvantage when attempting to navigate those spaces. That lack of knowledge of the process could readily be seen as a barrier for those in less research-intensive settings, hindering their ability to submit their work for peer review. Accordingly, to alleviate such barriers, we provide a primer on the overall peer-review and publication process encountered in behavior analysis. This includes describing the process as a whole; types of decisions that could be rendered and received, and how to navigate each decision; how to select a journal to which to submit; timelines; and the roles of Associate Editors and reviewers in the process. We also describe several behavior-analytic journals most applicable to practitioners and the conditions under which they would (or would not) elect to submit to that journal. Moreover, and critically, we offer discourse on and clarify many common misconceptions surrounding the peer-review process (e.g., authors pay for publication).