[AISWorld] AIS - College of Seior Scholars - Expanding the Basket of Eight Journals

[Robert M Davison]

Dear Colleagues,
Preamble:
At the post-ICIS 2020 meeting of the College of Senior Scholars (CSS), a task force was set up and charged with evaluating the journals (EJIS, ISJ, ISR, JAIS, JIT, JMIS, JSIS, MISQ) in the Association for Information Systems (AIS) Senior Scholars Basket (SSB), as well as the value and viability of the SSB itself. The task force comprised Carol Saunders (Chair) Michael Chau, Annette Mills, Jan Pries-Heje, and Cathy Urquhart (members).
Background:
The SSB of journals was proposed in 2007 in response to an effort, described in the Saunders and Benbasat 2007 MISQ editorial, to increase the number of high-quality (A+) articles published in the IS discipline. The list of journals in the SSB was adopted from a formal statement by the College of Senior Scholars as of April 23, 2007, and revised on December 6, 2011. The journals in the SSB, as well as journals in the AIS family of journals, were evaluated in 2018, 2019 and 2020 for timeliness and quality via an AISWorld survey of AIS members. The results of the 2020 survey are available on the AIS website: https://aisnet.org/page/SeniorScholarSurvey. It was intended that the SSB would be reviewed approximately every five years. The first review (2011) was led by Detmar Straub, Frantz Rowe, and Fred Niederman. The second review was led by Alan Dennis, Wendy Currie, Rob Nickerson, Doug Vogel, and Fred Niederman. We have now completed the third review.
AISWorld Survey Results
In terms of the ideal size of the SSB, the 2021 responses were mixed, as was the case in the 2016 survey: 10% said it should be smaller, 24% said keep it the same size, 43% said to increase the size slightly and 23% said to increase it considerably. This compared with 16% that said smaller, 23% that said keep the same, 36% that said slightly larger and 20% that said much larger in 2016.  Thus, over the five years since the last evaluation, a smaller percent said the SSB should be smaller and a larger percent said that the SSB should increase in size. Four respondents said that the CSS should get rid of the SSB.
In terms of evaluation criteria, metrics (e.g., h-index, impact factors, citations, download data) were considered the most important.  Also important were acceptance rates, diversity of topics/methods of articles published in the journal, adequacy of the review process (i.e., timeliness and quality), various ranking systems (e.g., CABS, ABDC, Financial Times 50), standing in IS surveys, quality of the editorial review board and diversity of the editorial board in terms of methods, topical expertise and demographics).  Of much lesser import to the evaluation was the use of the journal in teaching and/or practice.
The top five journals that were suggested as SSB additions (with the total number of mentions) are:

  *   Decision Support Systems (39)
  *   Information & Management (39)
  *   Business and Information Systems Engineering (25)
  *   Information and Organization (24)
  *   International Journal of Information Management (8)
It should be noted that in the 2016 report, Decision Support Systems had over 100 mentions as a journal to be added to the SSB, while Information & Organization and Information & Management each had over 50. The International Journal of Information Management was not mentioned at all in 2016.
In order to evaluate the five new proposed journals, as well as the original eight, the following criteria were used:

  *   metrics (including number of AIS Best Paper Awards),
  *   acceptance rates,
  *   diversity of topics/methods of articles published in the journal,
  *   adequacy of the review process (i.e., timeliness and quality),
  *   various rating systems (e.g., CABS, ABDC, Financial Times 50, UT-Dallas),
  *   diversity of the editorial board in terms of methods, topical expertise and demographics.

The task force evaluations used data gathered from metric websites, responses to questions from the journal EICs, journal websites, related journal articles, and AISWorld surveys about the SSB and the quality and timeliness of the review process of the eight SSB journals.  The task force found that the original eight journals are all performing well on a number of metrics, and the deletion of any of the SSB journals does not seem warranted. The task force also noted the challenge of balancing the benefits of adding journals to the SSB that meet high standards on the evaluation criteria while simultaneously ensuring that the SSB's size is not so large that the SSB can no longer be viewed as being selective enough within our discipline and by other disciplines.
Following their review, the task force recommended to the College of Senior Scholars that the following three journals should be added to the basket:

  *   Decision Support Systems (DSS)
  *   Information & Management (I&M)
  *   Information and Organization (I&O)
It is worth observing that DSS, I&M and I&O were nominated in the recent AISWorld survey and also in an earlier AISWorld survey about the SSB. These journals display suitably high metrics (e.g., JCR, SJR, h-index, citations per paper) and low acceptance rates. As another indicator of quality, eight I&O articles have been recognized with AIS CSS Best Paper Awards. DSS, I&M and I&O all have ratings of A* and 3 on the ABDC and CABS, respectively. Further, these journals "round out" the SSB in terms of methodological, topical and regional diversity.
At the 2022 meeting of the CSS held post-ICIS in Copenhagen, a lively debate about this expansion of the basket took place, with further debate on the CSS discussion boards. A vote within the CSS was then held in February 2023. The results of the vote confirm the recommendation of the SSB review task force with a majority of votes being cast in favour of adding each of the three recommended journals.
In addition, a vote was held on the nomenclature of what we have until now called the Senior Scholar Basket. The CSS resolved to rename the SSB as the Senior Scholars List of Premier Journals.
Thus, the new composition of the AIS CSS List of Premier Journals, with immediate effect, is:

  *   Decision Support Systems
  *   European Journal of Information Systems
  *   Information & Management
  *   Information and Organization
  *   Information Systems Journal
  *   Information Systems Research
  *   Journal of the AIS
  *   Journal of Information Technology
  *   Journal of Management Information Systems
  *   Journal of Strategic Information Systems
  *   MIS Quarterly
Robert Davison (Secretary to the College of Senior Scholars)
Yolande Chan (Convenor of the College of Senior Scholars)
Carl Saunders (Chair of the CSS Task Force to Review the Senior Scholars Basket of Journals)





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