| Discipline | Clinical psychiatry |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Edited by | Kenneth Zucker |
| Publication details | |
| History | 1971–present |
| Publisher | |
| Frequency | Bimonthly |
| Hybrid | |
| 2.9 (2023) | |
| Standard abbreviations ISO 4 (alt) · Bluebook (alt) NLM (alt) · MathSciNet (alt  ) | |
| ISO 4 | Arch. Sex. Behav. |
| Indexing CODEN (alt · alt2) · JSTOR (alt) · LCCN (alt) MIAR · NLM (alt) · Scopus · W&L | |
| CODEN | ASXBA |
| ISSN | 0004-0002 (print) 1573-2800 (web) |
| LCCN | 71648996 |
| OCLC no. | 1183760 |
| Links | |
TheArchives of Sexual Behavior is a bimonthlypeer-reviewedmedical journal insexology. It is the official publication of theInternational Academy of Sex Research.
The journal was established in 1971 byRichard Green, who served as itseditor-in-chief until 2001.[1] He was succeeded byKenneth J. Zucker.[1] It is published bySpringer Science+Business Media.[2] In 2009, it was described as a "leading journal of sexual research" in aNew York Times article.[3]
The journal is abstracted and indexed inBiological Abstracts,Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences,EMBASE, Family & Society Studies Worldwide, Health and Safety Science Abstracts,Index Medicus/MEDLINE,Psychological Abstracts,PsycINFO,Referativny Zhurnal, Risk Abstracts, Sage Family Studies Abstracts,Scopus, Sexual and Relations Therapy,Social Sciences Citation Index, Social Science Index, Sociological Abstracts, Studies on Women & Gender Abstracts, and Violence and Abuse Abstracts.[2] According to theJournal Citation Reports, the journal's 2023impact factor is 2.9.[4]
In 2003, a paper byRobert Spitzer was published outside "the usualpeer-review process".[5][6] This was based on 200self-selected phone interviews,[7] including some with members of theex-gay movement whoself-reported thatconversion therapy (a.k.a. "reparative therapy") changed theirsexual orientation.[8][5] The paper concluded: "There is evidence that change in sexual orientation following some form of reparative therapy does occur in some gay men and lesbians."[7][9] Before publication, the paper was presented at apsychiatry conference in 2001,[5] after which it "generated enormous public attention and controversy".[7] The journal published the paper alongside critical commentaries, including one saying conversion therapy violatesethics as defined by theNuremberg Code.[5] Spitzer's paper became cited by political activists opposed to homosexuality, and the ex-gay movement.[7][6][5] Spitzer later agreed with critics of his paper's methodology, calling them "largely correct".[5][8] In 2012, he asked the journal's editor (Kenneth Zucker) toretract it.[5][8][10] Zucker declined to retract the paper.[8][10] Aletter to the editor by Spitzer later appeared in the journal on the matter.[11][7][9]
In March, 2023, the Archives of Sexual Behavior published a paper onrapid-onset gender dysphoria, authored byJ. Michael Bailey and Suzanna Diaz, which has been described as "methodologically flawed" by theSouthern Poverty Law Centre.[12]
Researchers and LGBTQ organizations wrote an open letter to Springer Nature, the publisher, charging that the paper lackedinstitutional review board (IRB) approval and replicates "the severe methodological and interpretive flaws of previous research".[13][14] The letter also stated the journal had a history of publishing questionable research under Zucker and signatories pledged to boycott the journal until Zucker was "replaced with an editor who has a demonstrated record of integrity on LGBTQ+ matters, and, especially, trans matters."[14] The press officer of theCenter for Applied Transgender Studies, which signed the letter, stated that "[a]rticles published in the journal during Dr. Zucker's editorship have repeatedly drawn criticism from the sections of the LGBTQ+ community about which the article claims to advance sexological knowledge".[14]
On May 10, a Publisher's Note was added to the article noting that concerns had been raised about its methodology. A spokesperson for Springer Nature said the paper's supplementary information "has been removed and a note added to record that this has been removed due to a lack of documented consent by study participants".[14] The same month, theFoundation Against Intolerance and Racism launched a counter-petition calling for Zucker to be kept and the article not be retracted, with signatories from theSociety for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine,Genspect, theGender Exploratory Therapy Association, and theAmerican College of Pediatricians.[14][12] The paper was retracted by Springer in June 2023 due to the lack of IRB approval.[15][12]
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