A Scientometric Investigation into the Validity of IS Journal Quality Measures

In this study we investigated the measurement validity of the findings in the IS journal quality stream over the past ten years. Our evaluation applied a series of validation tests to the metrics presented in these studies using data from multiple sources. The results of our tests for content, convergent, and discriminant validity, as well as those for parallel-form, test-retest, and item-to-total reliability, were highly supportive. From these findings, we conclude that recent studies in the IS journal quality stream are credible. As such, these IS journal quality measures provide appropriate indicators of relative journal quality. This conclusion is important for both academic administrators and scientometric researchers, the latter of whom depend on journal quality measures in the evaluation of published IS research

A citation analysis of the ACSC 2006 - 2008 proceedings, with reference to the CORE conference and journal rankings

This paper compares the CORE rankings of computing conferences and journals to the frequency of citation of those journals and conferences in the Australasian Computer Science Conference (ACSC) 2006, 2007 and 2008 proceedings. The assumption underlying this study is that there should be a positive relationship between citation rates and the CORE rankings. Our analysis shows that the CORE rankings broadly reflect the ACSC citations, but with some anomalies. While these anomalies might be minor in the larger scheme of things, anomalies need to be addressed, as the careers of individual academics may depend upon it. Rankings are probably here to stay, and this paper ends with some suggestions on how the rankings process should now evolve, so that it becomes more transparent. Copyright © 2009, Australian Computer Society, Inc

The Sphere of Influence of Information Systems Journals: A Longitudinal Study

The paper examines the issue of the information systems (IS) discipline’s influence as represented by its key journals. We examine the well-studied topics of cumulative tradition and reference disciplines from two unique perspectives: cohesion and stability. We demarcate journals into “IS journals” and “non-IS journals that are receptive to IS work” and examine the sphere of influence of these journals based on citations over time. Specifically, we compute a log-multiplicative model to identify subareas in the IS discipline and assess journal influence using the index of structural influence based on citations from a basket of 42 IS and IS-related journals over four periods: 1999-2000, 2004-2005, 2009-2010, and 2013-2014. Results indicate that the IS discipline has established a stable and cohesive knowledge underpinning, which converges with emerging (newer) journals and diverges with non-IS journals during the late period. These results suggest that the discipline has developed boundary conditions and a strong cumulative tradition. Furthermore, based on our analysis, pure IS journals gradually gained dominance in their own network and even started to exert influence in the broader network of journals. These findings provide a unique complement to other recent studies that signify the IS discipline’s influence

A Review of the Literature on the Empathy Construct Using Cluster Analysis

Empathy plays a central role in human behavior and is a key aspect of social functioning. The extensive research on the empathy construct in fields such as psychology, social work, and education has revealed many positive aspects of empathy. Through the use of cluster analysis, this research takes a new approach to reviewing the literature on empathy and objectively identifies groups of empathy research. Next, this study relates the information systems (IS) discipline’s focus on empathy research through the projection of IS empathy paragraphs into those clusters, and identifies areas of empathy research that are currently being largely overlooked by the IS field. The use of cluster analysis and projection for conducting a literature review provides researchers with a more objective approach for reviewing relevant literature

Assessing Leading Institutions, Faculty, and Articles in Premier Information Systems Research Journals

This study provides a current assessment of the impact of various Information Systems (IS) articles, and the productivity of IS researchers and institutions. Using a data set of Information Systems articles that spans 15 years, we conducted a scientometric study of the field. The articles are drawn from three premier IS journals. We use citation analysis to demonstrate the impact of articles on institutions and individuals in the IS field. In addition, we identify IS topics with the highest impact. The results indicate that leading productive institutions have changed over time, and problematically, institutions outside of North America are poorly represented. We compare our results with earlier productivity findings created using alternative metrics

Using Social Network Analysis to Analyze Relationships Among IS Journals

Social network analysis (SNA) offers a richer and more objective way of examining individual journal influence and relationships among journals than studies based on individual perceptions, since it avoids personal biases. This article demonstrates how SNA can be used to study the nature of the IS discipline, by presenting results from an exploratory SNA of 125 previously ranked journals from IS and allied disciplines. While many of the most prominent journals in the network are still associated with IS’s foundational disciplines, we identify several IS journals that play important roles in disseminating information throughout different subcomponents of the network. We also identify related groups of journals based not only on patterns of information flow, but also on similarity in citation patterns. This enables us to identify the core set of journals that is important for “pure IS” research, as well as other subsets of journals that are important for specialty areas of interest. Overall, results indicate that the IS discipline is still somewhat fragmented and is still a net receiver, as opposed to a net provider, of information from allied disciplines. Like other forms of analysis, SNA is not entirely free from biases. However, these biases can be systematically researched in order to develop an improved, consistent tool with which to examine the IS field via citations among member journals. Thus, while many challenges remain in applying SNA techniques to the study of IS journals, the opportunity to track trends in the discipline over time, with a larger basket of journals, suggests a number of valuable future applications of SNA for understanding the IS publication system

Journal Self-Citation III: Exploring the Self-Citation Patterns in MIS Journals

Self-citation is a common practice in the research community. It includes citing one’s own papers and one’s target journal. A recent action by a publisher requesting each author of its journal to cite at least five papers published by the journal calls for a study of the self-citation patterns in MIS journals. This study intends to examine the cited table and the citing table in the database of Journal Citation Reports and identify the self-cited and self-citing patterns of MIS journals included in this database. Through a descriptive analysis, influential as well as problematic journals are identified and the implications for journal stakeholders are discussed

A Review of Green IS Research and Directions for Future Studies

As practitioners become more interested in green information systems, the IS academic community requires direction in how to examine this important phenomenon. We conduct a systematic and comprehensive review of the academic literature surrounding green IS and compares the results with those from the practical literature. Through this review, we identify the main categories in the literature and assess the current state of research into green IS. We discuss some limitations of the current literature, posit research directions for future scholars, and address the gaps in the current research on green IS

A citation analysis of the ICER 2005-07 proceedings

This paper identifies the most commonly cited conferences, journals and books of the 43 papers within the first three ICER proceedings. A large array of conferences, journals, and books were cited. However, only a small set of journals and conferences were cited frequently, and the majority were only cited within a single paper, which is consistent with a power law distribution, as predicted by Zipf's Law. The most commonly cited books are concerned with education in general (29%) or psychology (20%), while 17% of books are concerned with computer science education and 12% with computing content. The citation results for ICER are contrasted with earlier published citation analyses of SIGCSE 2007 and ACE2005-07. © 2009, Australian Computer Society, Inc