Inaugural Issue (Volume 1, Issue 1): Toward a Liberated Black Behavior Analysis
Call for Papers
The Journal of Black Behavior Analysis (JOBBA) invites submissions for its inaugural issue,
Toward a Liberated Black Behavior Analysis. This first issue marks the historic launch of the first scholarly journal dedicated to advancing behavior analysis through the histories, cultures, knowledge systems, and lived realities of Black communities throughout the African Diaspora.
For decades, behavior analysis has generated powerful technologies for understanding and changing behavior. Yet the field has too often developed apart from the historical, cultural, political, and structural conditions that shape the environments in which behavior occurs. As a result, many questions central to Black life have remained understudied, mischaracterized, or absent altogether.
The inaugural issue seeks to establish the intellectual, scientific, cultural, and ethical foundations for a liberated Black behavior analysis—one that recognizes behavior as inseparable from history, context, systems of power, community, and culture. We invite scholarship that expands behavior analytic science while remaining grounded in empirical rigor, conceptual precision, and accountability to the communities it seeks to serve.
This issue asks how behavior analysis itself might evolve when Black experiences, epistemologies, and futures become central rather than peripheral to scientific inquiry. We welcome contributions that challenge assumptions, develop new conceptual frameworks, introduce innovative methodologies, and demonstrate culturally responsive applications of behavior analysis across diverse settings.
JOBBA welcomes submissions from scholars of all backgrounds whose work advances the scientific understanding and liberation of Black communities through behavior analysis. Manuscripts must be submitted following APA 7th edition guidelines by January 31, 2027.
Topics of Interest
Submissions may include, but are not limited to:
● Conceptual analyses advancing Black behavior analytic thought
● Historical examinations of Black contributions to behavior analysis
● Community-based participatory behavioral research
● Cultural adaptations of behavioral interventions
● Racism, discrimination, and systemic inequities as behavioral environments
● Health disparities and behavioral health
● Education and educational equity
● Criminal legal systems and behavioral science
● Organizational behavior management in Black communities
● Public policy and systems change
● Behavioral economics and resource inequities
● Language, verbal behavior, identity, and culture
● Relational Frame Theory and culturally situated cognition
● Trauma, resilience, and healing
● Liberation psychology and behavior analysis
● Behavioral approaches to social justice and collective action
● Ethics and culturally responsive behavioral practice
● Methodological innovations for research with Black and Afro-Diasporic populations
● International perspectives from the African Diaspora
● Emerging theoretical directions for Black behavior analysis
Interdisciplinary scholarship is especially encouraged.
Types of Manuscripts
JOBBA welcomes a broad range of scholarly contributions, including:
● Original empirical research
● Systematic and scoping reviews
● Meta-analyses
● Conceptual and theoretical papers
● Methodological papers
● Case studies
● Practice papers
● Brief reports
● Commentaries
● Invited responses
Our Vision
The Journal of Black Behavior Analysis exists to cultivate scholarship that is scientifically rigorous, culturally grounded, historically informed, and socially meaningful. We envision a behavior analysis that not only explains behavior, but also contributes to the liberation, dignity, health, and flourishing of Black people worldwide.
The inaugural issue represents the beginning of that conversation. We invite scholars,
practitioners, educators, students, and community partners to help shape this new chapter in
behavioral science.