Charting diversity and change in IS publications: A tri-continental journal analysis

The past decade has seen enormous changes in the availability, use, and application of information systems. Information systems are no longer the preserve of business and the corporation but have become a routine part of everyday life. The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which the increased diversity in application and use of information systems in the past decade has been reflected in increased diversity of the publications of three key journals of three continents – North America, Europe, and Australasia. The paper contributes to the debate on research diversity in Information Systems in three ways. Firstly, it describes four key underpinning dimensions for understanding Information Systems (IS) research diversity in the information age. Secondly, it details the results of a content analysis which examines the trends in research and methodological diversity within the journals MIS Quarterly (MISQ), European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) and the Australasian Journal of Information Systems (AJIS) during the years 2001-2010. Finally, the paper reflects on diversity within these journals and discusses the findings in relation to both exogenous and endogenous pressures on the discipline more broadly.

[1]  Donald H. Drury,et al.  A Historiographical Examination of Information Systems , 1999, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[2]  Graeme Hutton,et al.  The Globalization of Social Media , 2011, Journal of Advertising Research.

[3]  John W. Lamp,et al.  Information categorisation: an emergent approach , 2011 .

[4]  Shahper Vodanovich,et al.  Research Commentary - Digital Natives and Ubiquitous Information Systems , 2010, Inf. Syst. Res..

[5]  Leslie P. Willcocks,et al.  The ranking of top IS journals: a perspective from the London School of Economics , 2008, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[6]  John Mingers,et al.  The paucity of multimethod research: a review of the information systems literature , 2003, Inf. Syst. J..

[7]  Ali F. Farhoomand,et al.  Scientific progress of management information systems , 1987, DATB.

[8]  Rudy Hirschheim,et al.  A paradigmatic and methodological examination of information systems research from 1991 to 2001 , 2004, Inf. Syst. J..

[9]  R. Weber.  Editor's comments: the rhetoric of positivism versus interpretivism: a personal view , 2004 .

[10]  Felicia G. Lassk,et al.  Set up remote workers to thrive , 2009 .

[11]  Diane Lending,et al.  Update on MIS research: a profile of leading journals and U.S. universities , 1992, DATB.

[12]  Dirk S. Hovorka,et al.  Analyzing unstructured text data: Using latent categorization to identify intellectual communities in information systems , 2008, Decis. Support Syst..

[13]  Hendrik P. van Dalen,et al.  Intended and Unintended Consequences of a Publish-or-Perish Culture: A Worldwide Survey , 2012, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[14]  R. Bert.  Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? The Net's Impact on Our Minds and Future By John Brockman. New York City: Harper Perennial, 2011 , 2011 .

[15]  Edgar H. Sibley,et al.  A profile of information systems research published in Information & Management , 2007, Inf. Manag..

[16]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  The Identity Crisis Within the IS Discipline: Defining and Communicating the Discipline's Core Properties , 2003, MIS Q..

[17]  Suzanne Rivard,et al.  A Keyword Classification Scheme for IS Research Literature: An Update , 1993 .

[18]  Maureen Meadows,et al.  A Discipline Divided: Globalization and Parochialism in Information Systems Research , 2003, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[19]  Mustafa Özbilgin.  From Journal Rankings to Making Sense of the World , 2009 .

[20]  Raquel Benbunan-Fich,et al.  Analyzing IS research productivity: an inclusive approach to global IS scholarship , 2007, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[21]  Yogesh Kumar Dwivedi,et al.  Profile of IS research published in the European Journal of Information Systems , 2008, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[22]  John W. Lamp,et al.  Perceptions of Gender Balance of IS Journal Editorial Positions , 2007, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[23]  Reyes Gonzalez,et al.  An analysis of research in information systems (1981-1997) , 2000, Inf. Manag..

[24]  W. Chua.  Radical Developments in Accounting Thought , 1986 .

[25]  E. P. Michael.  Strategy and the Internet. , 2001 .

[26]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Vive les differences? Developing a profile of European information systems research as a basis for international comparisons , 2007, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[27]  C. Sansone,et al.  The research process: Of big pictures, little details, and the social psychological road in between , 2004 .

[28]  Friedrich Engels,et al.  The German ideology : part one, with selections from parts two and three , 1970 .

[29]  B. Simmons.  International Studies in the Global Information Age , 2011 .

[30]  T. Jacques,et al.  The impact of article titles on citation hits: an analysis of general and specialist medical journals , 2010, JRSM short reports.

[31]  Lee Rainie.  A Biography of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project , 2012 .

[32]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions , 1991, Inf. Syst. Res..

[33]  Yogesh Kumar Dwivedi,et al.  The beginnings of a new era: time to reflect on 17 years of the ISJ , 2008, Inf. Syst. J..

[34]  Philip Powell,et al.  Time to stop researching the important things? , 2008, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[35]  Douglas R. Vogel,et al.  MIS research: a profile of leading journals and universities , 1984, DATB.

[36]  Patricia Carlson,et al.  A Review of MIS Research and Disciplinary Development , 1992, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[37]  N. Adler,et al.  When Knowledge Wins: Transcending the Sense and Nonsense of Academic Rankings , 2009 .

[38]  B. Latour,et al.  Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts , 1979 .

[39]  Deborah Bunker,et al.  Australian Eclecticism and Theorezing in Information Systems Research , 2007, Scand. J. Inf. Syst..

[40]  Youngjin Yoo,et al.  Computing in Everyday Life: A Call for Research on Experiential Computing , 2010, MIS Q..

[41]  Prashant Palvia,et al.  Management Information Systems Research: What's There in a Methodology? , 2003, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[42]  T. Kuhn,et al.  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. , 1964 .

[43]  Anteneh Ayanso,et al.  Diversity or Identity Crisis? An Examination of Leading IS Journals , 2007, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[44]  Aaron Smith,et al.  Home broadband 2013 , 2013 .

[45]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Research Commentary: Rethinking "Diversity" in Information Systems Research , 1996, Inf. Syst. Res..

[46]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[47]  Y. Lincoln.  The Political Economy of Publication , 2012, Qualitative health research.

[48]  Anna Sidorova,et al.  Uncovering the Intellectual Core of the Information Systems Discipline , 2008, MIS Q..