Counseling-Related Research in Counseling Psychology: Creating Bricks, Not Edifices

Three counseling psychology colleagues (Lichtenberg, 2011; Mallinckrodt, 2011; Murdock, 2011 [all this issue]) provide differing perspectives about the findings from our target article (Scheel et al., 2011) of the decline of published counseling-related research in our major journals. In this rejoinder we respond to each author's viewpoints concerning the decline.We reiterate our explanations for the decline, which include (a) stringent and narrowly defined criteria for publication, (b) elimination of analogue research from publication, (c) fewer mentors of process and outcome research, (d) declining interest in counseling-related research, and (e) difficulties in gaining access to counseling-related data.We offer a metaphor for the current state of research in counseling psychology of creating a confusing pile of bricks, not building edifices, and suggest it is time to create specialized journal outlets in counseling psychology to focus and connect counseling-related research with other important contexts of our field.