The Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions (JPBI) is published quarterly. The journal’s mission is to expand the knowledge and practice of effective behavioral support in school, home, and community settings, with a focus on comprehensive outcomes in the lives of children, youth, and adults. More specifically, the goals are to extend the empirical database; enhance the conceptual framework; and provide a forum for researchers, professionals, families, and policymakers concerned with the behavior of individuals with developmental and behavioral disabilities.
Types of Articles
JPBI) publishes empirical investigations, including experimental analyses; detailed case studies; and research using descriptive, survey, and qualitative methods. Articles may be submitted as full-length manuscripts or as brief reports of innovative interventions or case illustrations. Detailed, data-based case studies are encouraged. Experimental designs are not required for case studies; however, data are expected to meet rigorous standards of credibility. The following types of manuscripts are appropriate for submission:
Discussions, literature reviews, and conceptual papers are authoritative considerations of issues that pertain to school, home, and community-based supports. Reviews and syntheses of the literature and presentations of issues and positions are encouraged.
Programs, practices, and innovations include program descriptions and research-to-practice articles that delineate strategies for implementation. Articles describing programs that include evaluation data are especially encouraged; however, articles without data will be accepted if they are judged to have heuristic value consistent with the goals of disseminating useful and credible strategies of extending meaningful behavioral support. Descriptions of innovative practices are encouraged. Innovations should describe novel extensions of existing practice that are replicable and consistent with the existing empirical literature
Forum consists of brief articles that present the authors’ views on topical subjects relevant to the mission of the journal, including perspectives on controversial issues, thoughtful responses to material published in the journal or in other sources, individual accounts or stories of positive behavioral interventions, and personal experiences of family members or individuals with behavioral support needs. Article length can be no more than 8 double-spaced manuscript pages.
Reviews of published material consists of book reviews and reviews of other available material (e.g., videos, software) that pertain to school, home, and community support. Reviews are generally accepted following invitation from the editors.
Acceptance Criteria
All articles accepted for publication must be (a) of high quality in the presentation of data, perspectives, and ideas and (b) relevant for the development and application of behavioral support in school, home and/or community environments. In addition, articles should be consistent with the journal’s mission and goals. Research articles are evaluated in terms of pertinent criteria relating to internal, external, ecological, and social validity. Research articles should address questions and topics that pertain to practical issues and procedures involved with enhancing behavioral adaptation in natural settings. Studies conducted in laboratory or other artificial contexts will not be accepted for publication except in rare instances where the implications are obvious and of major significance for practice.
Manuscript Preparation
JPBI prefers to receive all manuscript submissions electronically.
Please note: This journal does not accept Microsoft Word 2007 (for Vista operating system) documents at this time. Please use Word’s “Save As” option to save your document as an older (.doc) file type.
Guidelines specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA; 5th edition, 2001) should be followed. Pay particular attention to the sections concerning guidelines for nonsexist language (APA 2.13, p. 66), avoiding ethnic bias (2.15, pp. 67), and disabilities (2.16, p. 69).
General
1. Because this journal uses blind peer review, make sure that the files you load during submission DO NOT CONTAIN ANY IDENTIFYING INFORMATION, such as author names, acknowledgments, or bios. You will provide this information later if your manuscript is accepted for publication. Make sure your file names do not include an author name.
2. Articles should be double spaced, using left alignment, a nonproportional font, and 12-pt. type. Include the title of the paper, an abstract of no more than 150 words, and 4 to 5 keywords.
3. Set all margins to 1 inch.
4. Format for 8½ in. by 11 in. paper. Do not format for A4 paper.
5. Please type all copy upper and lower case—do not use all capitals or small capitals.
6. Place all figures and tables in a separate file. Tables need not be double spaced. Indicate the location of tables and figures in text in boldface, enclosed in angle brackets, on a separate line.
Example: <Fig. 1 here>
7. Please use your tab key and centering functions to do head alignment, paragraph indents, etc. DO NOT USE THE SPACE BAR.
8. Use endnotes as sparingly as possible. Number them with Arabic numerals starting with 1 and continuing through the article; for example: “(see Note 1).” Do not use footnotes.
Artwork
Figures must be provided as production-ready. Do not use rules or tick marks smaller than 1 point in size. Acceptable electronic formats for figures or other art are: TIFF, EPS, Word, or Excel. If you have trouble loading Excel files, copy and paste them into a Word document. Scans must be at least 300 dpi (also sometimes called lpi). Scans done at lower resolutions will have a very poor print quality, even if they look crisp and clear on a laser printout.
Permissions
Obtaining written permissions for material such as figures, tables, art, and extensive quotes taken directly—or adapted in minor ways—from another source is the author’s responsibility, as is payment of any fees the copyright holder may require. Because permissions often take a considerable amount of time to be granted, authors should start the request process as soon as possible. Authors should never assume that material taken from software or downloaded from the Internet may be used without obtaining permission. Each source must be investigated on a case-by-case basis. Authors can download the Sage Permissions Request form at Manuscript Central. The form has been written to cover all necessary provisions; however, copyright holders may require use of their own form. In these cases, the author should read any forms carefully to make sure that the language is broad enough to allow publication in all formats, worldwide, as well as in both electronic and print versions. Failure to obtain permission will result in either removal of the particular item or the article being pulled from the journal issue.
Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted online through Manuscript Central.
Starting the Submissions Process
1. Launch your Web browser (Internet Explorer 5 or higher, Netscape 6 or higher, or Mozilla Firefox) and go to the Manuscript Central homepage.
2. Log in or click the “Create Account” option if you are a first-time user of Manuscript Central.
3. If you are creating a new account:
• After clicking on “Create Account” enter your name and e-mail information and click “Next.” Your e-mail information is very important. Continue entering information as prompted.
• Enter a user ID and password of your choice (we recommend using your e-mail address as your user ID) and then select your areas of expertise. Click “Finish” when done.
4. Log in and select “Author Center.”
Submitting Your Manuscript
Make sure you have the following items and information available: your original manuscript files; keywords for the manuscript subject matter; all coauthors’ full names, addresses (city/state), and e-mail addresses; # of figures, # of tables, # of words in the manuscript; if the manuscript is for a special issue; if you submitted manuscript previously, and if so, ID number assigned by the journal editorial office.
5. After you have logged in, go to the Author Center and click the “Submit a Manuscript” link.
6. Enter data as prompted, clicking the “Next” button to save your work and advance.
7. You will be prompted to upload your files:
• Click on the “Browse” button and locate the file on your computer.
• Select the description of the file in the drop down next to the Browse button.
• When you have selected all files you wish to upload, click the “Upload” button.
8. Review your submission (in both PDF and HTML formats) before sending. Click the “Submit” button when you are done reviewing.
Copyright
After your article has been accepted for publication, please go to the journal’s Manuscript Central Web site to obtain the Transfer of Copyright form. Please download, fill this out, and send it to the JPBI editorial office: Fax: 805/893-2658.
Ordering Reprints
Information regarding reprints will be sent with the complimentary printed copy of the journal issue in which your article appears.
English Language Assistance
Authors who want to refine the use of English in their manuscripts might consider utilizing the services of SPi, a non-affiliated company that specializes in editing and correcting English-language manuscripts written by authors with a primary language other than English. Visit http://www.prof-editing.com for more information. (Please be aware that SAGE has no affiliation with SPi and makes no endorsement of the company. An author’s use of SPi’s services in no way guarantees that his or her submission will ultimately be accepted. Any arrangement an author enters into will be exclusively between the author and SPi, and any costs incurred are the sole responsibility of the author.)
Journal Contact Information
Editors
Robert L. Koegel, PhD
University of California, Santa Barbara
Graduate School of Education
Counseling/Clinical/School Psychology Program
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
V. Mark Durand, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Co-Editor, Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions
University of South Florida St. Petersburg, TER 404
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701-5016
Email: mdurand@stpt.usf.edu
Autism Blog: http://unitedstatesofautism.blogspot.com/
Contact:
Ty Vernon
University of California
Graduate School of Education
Counseling/Clinical/School Psychology Program
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
jpbi@education.ucsb.edu
