Assessing Researcher Publication Productivity in the Leading Information Systems Journals: A 2005–2009 Update

This study is an update of a previous scientometric study that examined the leading Information Systems (IS) researchers, their university affiliations, and the universities that supply them. We provide geographical comparisons of researcher affiliations for the AIS regions and for North American versus global institutions, along with a comparison of prior and current results. Our analysis shows that coauthorship is increasing in the top three IS journals and that most of the leading researchers continue to affiliate with institutions in North America. However, the proportion of publications from North American researchers in the top three journals has decreased slightly over time This research contributes to the scientometric literature by identifying a more broad and inclusive set of leading IS publications and by providing benchmarks for the productivity of IS scholars. These results can be valuable for deans and department chairs making tenure and promotion decisions. Prospective students and faculty can use these results to identify universities which match their personal research goals. This study also helps to define and expand the boundaries of the IS discipline due to its use of a broader set of leading journals

The Effects of the Quantification of Faculty Productivity: Perspectives from the Design Science Research Community

In recent years, efforts to assess faculty research productivity have focused more on the measurable quantification of academic outcomes. For benchmarking academic performance, researchers have developed different ranking and rating lists that define so-called high-quality research. While many scholars in IS consider lists such as the Senior Scholar’s basket (SSB) to provide good guidance, others who belong to less-mainstream groups in the IS discipline could perceive these lists as constraining. Thus, we analyzed the perceived impact of the SSB on information systems (IS) academics working in design science research (DSR) and, in particular, how it has affected their research behavior. We found the DSR community felt a strong normative influence from the SSB. We conducted a content analysis of the SSB and found evidence that some of its journals have come to accept DSR more. We note the emergence of papers in the SSB that outline the role of theory in DSR and describe DSR methodologies, which indicates that the DSR community has rallied to describe what to expect from a DSR manuscript to the broader IS community and to guide the DSR community on how to organize papers for publication in the SSB

Managing Intellectual Property to Foster Agricultural Development

Over the past decades, consideration of IPRs has become increasingly important in many areas of agricultural development, including foreign direct investment, technology transfer, trade, investment in innovation, access to genetic resources, and the protection of traditional knowledge. The widening role of IPRs in governing the ownership of—and access to—innovation, information, and knowledge makes them particularly critical in ensuring that developing countries benefit from the introduction of new technologies that could radically alter the welfare of the poor. Failing to improve IPR policies and practices to support the needs of developing countries will eliminate significant development opportunities. The discussion in this note moves away from policy prescriptions to focus on investments to improve how IPRs are used in practice in agricultural development. These investments must be seen as complementary to other investments in agricultural development. IPRs are woven into the context of innovation and R&D. They can enable entrepreneurship and allow the leveraging of private resources for resolving the problems of poverty. Conversely, IPRs issues can delay important scientific advancements, deter investment in products for the poor, and impose crippling transaction costs on organizations if the wrong tools are used or tools are badly applied. The central benefit of pursuing the investments outlined in this note is to build into the system a more robust capacity for strategic and flexible use of IPRs tailored to development goals

Business Process Management Education in Academia: Status, challenges, and Recommendations

In response to the growing proliferation of Business Process Management (BPM) in industry and the demand this creates for BPM expertise, universities across the globe are at various stages of incorporating knowledge and skills in their teaching offerings. However, there are still only a handful of institutions that offer specialized education in BPM in a systematic and in-depth manner. This article is based on a global educators’ panel discussion held at the 2009 European Conference on Information Systems in Verona, Italy. The article presents the BPM programs of five universities from Australia, Europe, Africa, and North America, describing the BPM content covered, program and course structures, and challenges and lessons learned. The article also provides a comparative content analysis of BPM education programs illustrating a heterogeneous view of BPM. The examples presented demonstrate how different courses and programs can be developed to meet the educational goals of a university department, program, or school. This article contributes insights on how best to continuously sustain and reshape BPM education to ensure it remains dynamic, responsive, and sustainable in light of the evolving and ever-changing marketplace demands for BPM expertise

Information Systems Skills Differences between High-Wage and Low-Wage Regions: Implications for Global Sourcing

Developing Information Systems (IS) skills for a company’s workforce has always been challenging, but global sourcing growth has caused the determination of needed IS skills to be more complex. The increased use of outsourcing to an IS service provider and from high-wage regions to low-wage regions has affected what IS skills are required globally and how to distribute the workforce to meet these needs. To understand what skills are needed in locations that seek and those that provide outsourcing, we surveyed IS service provider managers in global locations. Results from 126 reporting units provide empirical evidence that provider units in low-wage regions value technical skills more than those in high-wage regions. Despite the emphasis on commodity skills in low-wage areas, high- and low-wage providers value project management skills. Low-wage regions note global and virtual teamwork more than high-wage regions do. The mix of skills and the variation by region have implications for domestic and offshore sourcing. Service providers can vary their staffing models in global regions which has consequences for recruiting, corporate training, and curriculum

Assessing Junior Faculty Research Productivity in the IS Field: Recommendations for Promotion and Tenure Standards for Asian Schools

We gathered information about junior faculty research productivity in the information systems (IS) field in North America and in a set of top Asian schools. Our work complements prior studies on IS faculty research productivity in several ways. First, we focused on junior faculty research productivity, which refers to publication records of current tenure-track assistant professors. To provide statistics with a greater coverage of IS researchers, we also collected information about the pre-tenure publication records of associate professors. Second, we covered IS researchers who obtained their doctoral degrees in or after the year 2000 and counted their publications until 2013 to provide the most up-to-date information about junior faculty research productivity. Third, we collected information about IS researchers’ publications in leading IS journals (based on the AIS Senior Scholar basket of journals) and in elite broader business journals (based on the Financial Times list and UT Dallas list). Finally, examining junior faculty research productivity in the IS field in Asian schools and in North America enabled us to provide recommendations for promotion and tenure standards for Asian schools in light of the research productivity and tenure standards in North America

A Publication Profile Of Accounting Faculty

The authors surveyed the faculty teaching in AACSB-accredited accounting programs and examined how their publication rates varied by years-after-completing-dissertation, professorial rank, major research area, type of degree-granting institution, and gender.  Using standard statistical methods, the authors found that only “years-after-completing-dissertation” and “gender” were statistically significant, but care must be exercised in interpreting these results