[AISWorld] Communications of the ACM

[Gary Templeton]

IS Colleagues,
Before I get started, I would like to state that I have published four articles in CACM, although none since 2006. I have had discussions with those in our field who argue that Communications of the ACM is not a top journal. Criticisms I have heard is that the journal is not peer reviewed, some articles are short, it looks like a magazine, and some articles are not empirical.

Regarding whether articles are peer reviewed, all of my CACM articles were peer reviewed. Cabell's Directories of Publishing Opportunities (http://www.cabells.com/index.aspx) lists CACM as being peer reviewed, and the CACM editorial statements claim it to be peer reviewed. In fact, the sole reason I no longer submit papers to CACM is because the peer review cycle takes so long.

Regarding its appearance - glossy cover with color images; this is not different from Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Sloan Management Review, and The Economist. In these outlets, articles are often not empirical and are short.

The empirical evaluation of CACM is solid:
 - The impact factor is consistently above 2 and currently 2.5.
 - Of unsolicited manuscripts, the acceptance rate is around 10%, according to this: 
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/tse-portal/publication/dans-journals.html#Communications%20of%20the%20ACM
 - The subscription rate is extremely high - at 85,000 when I was publishing there.

It is clear that one way to increase the status of the IS discipline is to encourage interdisciplinary participation in our journals. CACM topics are extremely diverse, as the journal delves into traditional business-related disciplines (marketing, finance, economics) and non-business subjects (geographical IS). The topic coverage seems to be endless. It seems CACM is doing exactly what other journals are doing to promote the value of our field.

So, why are IS people so critical of CACM? I look forward to your responses.

Sincerely,
Gary Templeton




______________________________________
Dr. Gary Templeton 
Associate Professor of MIS 
Management & Information Systems Department 
P.O. Box 9581 
Mississippi State, MS 39762 
Office: (662) 325-1956
Dept: (662) 325-3928
Fax: (662) 325-8651 
gtempleton at cobilan.msstate.edu 

http://misweb.cbi.msstate.edu/gtempleton

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