About Us

Read about the history and background of Research Press.

Research Press is an independent, family-owned business founded in 1968 by Robert W. Parkinson (1920-2001) and incorporated in 1970. Over the course of the last five decades, the company has worked diligently to build a reputation for publishing practical and effective educational and mental health resources for counselors and educators.

Research Press was built upon a foundation of offerings from many preeminent names in the field of psychology, including B.F. Skinner, Albert Ellis, Gerald Patterson, Wesley Becker, John Gottman, Richard Foxx, Arnold Lazarus, and Joseph Cautela. Many publications from these authors and scholars continue to be applicable today and are still available in the Research Press library of trusted titles.

Joining the esteemed ranks of these Research Press contributors in the 1980s, Dr. Arnold P. Goldstein developed the groundbreaking first edition of Skillstreaming the Adolescent®. This marked the beginning of a new era for Research Press, publishing school-based intervention programs for working with youth targeting the development of social-emotional skills (SEL). Since the introduction of Skillstreaming the Adolescent®, Research Press has continued to carefully curate and add titles from other respected authors with the goal of publishing user-friendly and effective prevention and intervention programs.

Over the years, Research Press gradually evolved into publishing materials focused on educational settings. Dr. Arnold P. Goldstein, Dr. Ellen McGinnis, Dr. Barry Glick, Dr. John C. Gibbs, Dr. Myrna B. Shure, Dr. Ann Vernon and many others created materials for school psychologists, counselors and social workers to implement into the Pre-K-12 population. Countless professionals continue to experience tremendous success with intervention programs like Skillstreaming®, Aggression Replacement Training®, The Prepare Curriculum®, Equip, I Can Problem Solve®, Thinking, Feeling, Behaving, and What Works When.

More recently, Research Press has introduced educators and counselors worldwide to a new set of authors, adding to our growing list of practical intervention resources focusing on children and adolescents. Some of these new offerings include Julia Taylor and Dr. Shannon Trice Black (Girls in Real Life Situations), Stan Davis and Dr. Charisse Nixon (Youth Voice Project: Student Insights into Bullying and Peer Mistreatment), and Dr. Mary Alvord (Resilience Builder Program).

In addition to offering an abundance of highly-respected and evidence-based titles, Research Press prides itself on being family owned and customer focused. You can call toll-free and speak directly to one of our knowledgeable support staff to place your order or receive additional information about any of our products.


Research Press Celebrates 50 Years

For the past five decades, Research Press has been publishing innovative and effective behavior intervention resources for counselors, psychologists, social workers and educators. From the outset, company founder and publisher Robert W. Parkinson began publishing content to “help the helpers.” That mission has not changed since we published our first book in 1970, Living with Children, which remains in print today.

Parkinson had the foresight to forge a team of talented editorial and production staff to grow the company in line with our customer’s needs. Through esteemed employees Ann Wendel, Russ Pence and Karen Steiner, the published works by Research Press were not only relevant at the time, but as we’ve learned, they became foundational in their influence. We also recognize the critical support provided by Research Press associates including Debbie Wilcoxon and Jeff Helgesen, among others, who were then, and are today, striving to deliver the quality educational tools to “help the helpers.”

During the past 50 years, Research Press has continued to develop evidenced-based and time-tested resources. Whether they are created by authors we have worked with for years, or new collaborators, we continue to offer a catalog of diverse resources to meet an ever-growing demand. Research Press books, audio and video products are available worldwide through our partnership with Eurospan.

We are deeply honored to continue partnering with our many authors who, past and present, have become acknowledged leaders and influencers within their professional spheres. Most of all, we thank the legions of people, who made a lifelong commitment to helping others, but especially helping children, overcome challenges so they might one day realize their full potential. As Bob Parkinson said in the 1971 catalog, “We join you in the work of maximizing human lives. We consider that to be the proper work of the world.”

Thank you for the work you do and for partnering with us on our journey as we enter another half-century of service.

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