An analysis of the AIS basket
of top journals
Franklin Liu and Michael D. Myers
University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the types of research published in the Association
for Information Systems (AIS) basket of top journals.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses bibliographic analysis to analyze all the articles
that were published in the AIS basket of top journals over a ten-year period, from 1998 to 2007.
Articles were classified based on their paradigmatic and methodological approach.
Findings – Although there is a common perception within the information systems (IS) research
community that European IS research is mostly qualitative and interpretive, the bibliographic
analysis reveals that the two European IS journals are not significantly different from their US
counterparts. All six journals in the AIS basket are remarkably similar in terms of the types of
research published.
Originality/value – This article is one of the first to provide a comprehensive overview of the types
of research published within the AIS basket of top journals. It provides a picture of how the two
European IS journals differ from their US counterparts.
Keywords Information systems, Publications, Research methods
Paper type General review
1. Introduction
As the academic field of information systems (IS) has developed, IS researchers have
become increasingly interested in nature of the discipline, its publication outlets, and its
accomplishments. Some have suggested that such self-reflection is beneficial;
by understanding our past accomplishments, the community can better direct its
future efforts in the most productive manner (Alavi and Carlson, 1992).
With respect to the investigating the nature of our publication outlets, one stream of
research has focused on the how IS journals can be ranked. Another stream of research
has looked at paradigmatic and methodological trends within the IS field. This paper
builds on this second stream of work by providing a paradigmatic and methodological
analysis of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) “basket” of top journals in IS.
AIS, the premier association for all IS academics, adopted a “basket” of six journals in
2007 as representing the best research publications in IS. This decision by the AIS
President and Council was based on a recommendation from the IS Senior Scholars
Forum. The Senior Scholars Forum is composed of senior IS academics including former
editors-in-chief of MIS Quarterly (MISQ) and Information Systems Research (ISR), the
current and former presidents of AIS, and former conference and program chairs of
the International Conference of Information Systems. The AIS basket thus represents
the top six IS journals as viewed by the AIS and the most senior scholars in the IS field.
The six journals in the AIS list are as follows: European Journal of Information
Systems (EJIS), Information Systems Journal (ISJ), ISR, Journal of the Association for
Information Systems ( JAIS), Journal of Management Information Systems ( JMIS),
and MISQ. One interesting feature of this list is that it includes two European IS journals
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1328-7265.htm
AIS basket
of top journals
5
Journal of Systems and Information
Technology
Vol. 13 No. 1, 2011
pp. 5-24
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/13287261111118322