this IS research

Does Jan really know what he is talking about? Like we did with Nick last time, we play another round of trivia questions about information systems research – but now Nick is the host and Jan is the player. How well does he know the field? Tune in to find out. And like last time, you can play our game for yourself. The questions are posted below. Play the game for yourself: Round 1 Question: MIS Quarterly is physically headquartered and historically associated with which American university? A. MIT B. Georgia State University C. Indiana University D. University of Minnesota Round 2 Question: In 2003, which scholar wrote the highly influential MISQ Issues & Opinions paper entitled "The Identity Crisis within the Is Discipline: Defining and Communicating the Discipline's Core Properties"? A. Wanda Orlikowski B. Izak Benbasat C. Varun Grover D. Ben Shneiderman Round 3 Question: Wanda Orlikowski, a frequent contributor to both MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research, is famous for a 1992 Organization Science paper that introduced which theory to the IS field? A. Structuration Theory B. Actor-network Theory C. Transaction Cost Theory D. Punctuated Equilibrium Theory Round 4 Question: Enid Mumford is most closely associated with which IS development practice? A. Requirements engineering B. Rapid application development C. Object orientationD. User participation Round 5 Question: In which years were the first issues of MISQ and ISR published? A. 1977 and 1980 B. 1980 and 1990 C. 1980 and 1985 D. 1977 and 1990 Round 6 Question: Markus (1983), in one of the most famous IS papers ever written, used a case study to argue that "resistance" to a new system is caused by: A. Lack of technology fit B. Change fatigue C. Power imbalances D. User cognition Round 7 Question: In his work on system failure, Lyytinen argued that the traditional "technical" view of systems development was too narrow. He instead developed a framework of IS failure focusing on which of the following? A. Expectation Failure B. Socio-technical Failure C. Temporal Failure D. Representation Failure Round 8 Question: Which of these concepts associated with the work of Mark Keil is frequently cited as a common dysfunction in system development and implementation projects? A. Resistance B. Escalation of commitment C. Power dynamics D. Inadequate documentation Round 9 Question: The classic paper by Grover, Jeong, Kettinger, and Teng (1995) regarding business process reengineering success was published in which journal, known for its strong ties to economic IS research? A. Journal of Management Information Systems B. Information Systems Research C. Information & Management D. Management Science Round 10 Question: Which 2004 MISQ paper by Hevner, March, Park and Ram introduced the "Design Science" paradigm in IS research, providing a set of seven guidelines for the craft? A. "Information Systems Strategy" B. "The IT Artifact" C. "Design Science in Information Systems Research" D. "Rigorous Research in the Digital Age" Round 11 Question: Willcocks and Lacity are world-renowned scholars who have published a massive body of "classic" works across JIT and MISQ regarding what specific organizational phenomenon? A. Strategic value of IT B. Outsourcing C. Post adoption system use D. Participatory methods for IS development Round 12 Question: In 1991, Banker and Kemerer published a highly influential paper in Information Systems Research regarding Economies of scale in software development. What was their primary tool for measuring software size and complexity? A. Lines of Code B. Function Points C. Entropy D. Cyclometric Complexity

Does Nick really know what he is talking about? Time to find out. We play a trivia quiz with fifteen questions about information systems research. Nick has an audience joker, a telephone joker, and a 50:50 joker -and he needs all of them to make it through the levels. How well do you know the field? Tune in to find out, or play our game for yourself. The questions are posted below. Play the game for yourself: Round 1 Question: Which three journals were added when the AIS Senior Scholars expanded the old Basket of Eight into the 11-journal premier list in 2023? A. DSS, I&M, and I&O B. DSS, ISJ, and JSIS C. CAIS, I&M, and IT&P D. DSS, JIT, and I&O Round 2 Question: In Fred Davis's 1989 TAM paper, which two beliefs are the famous core constructs? A. Trust and enjoyment B. Performance expectancy and effort expectancy C. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use D. Social influence and facilitating conditions Round 3 Question: Which paper introduced UTAUT? A. Venkatesh & Davis, 2000, Management Science B. Davis, 1989, MIS Quarterly C. Venkatesh et al., 2003, MIS Quarterly D. Venkatesh, Thong, & Xu, 2012, MIS Quarterly Round 4 Question: The original DeLone and McLean paper, "Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable," appeared in which year? A. 1988 B. 1990 C. 1992 D. 2003 Round 5 Question: Which paper is generally credited with introducing Action Design Research (ADR) into the IS mainstream? A. Hevner et al. (2004), MISQ B. Sein et al. (2011), MISQ C. Gregor & Hevner (2013), MISQ D. Peffers et al. (2007), JMIS Round 6 Question: Which paper is the 2017 MISQ piece on platform ecosystems with the subtitle-like claim "How Developers Invert the Firm"? A. Parker, Van Alstyne, & Jiang B. Constantinides, Henfridsson, & Parker C. Eisenmann, Parker, & Van Alstyne D. Ghazawneh & Henfridsson Round 7 Question: Which paper is the most impactful technostress article in Information Systems research? A. Tarafdar et al. (2007), JMIS, The impact of technostress on role stress and productivity B. Ragu-Nathan et al. (2008), ISR, The consequences of technostress for end users in organizations C. Tarafdar et al. (2010), JMIS, Impact of technostress on end-user satisfaction and performance D. Tarafdar, Pullins, & Ragu-Nathan (2015), ISJ, Technostress: negative effect on performance and possible mitigations Round 8 Question: As of March 2026, which of the following papers has the highest Google Scholar citation count? A. Venkatesh et al. (2003) UTAUT B. Yoo, Henfridsson, & Lyytinen (2010) The New Organizing Logic C. Hevner et al. (2004) Design Science in Information Systems Research D. Davenport (1993) Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology Round 9 Question: In digital-platform research, the phrase "boundary resources model" is most closely associated with which paper? A. Ghazawneh & Henfridsson (2013), ISJ B. Constantinides, Henfridsson, & Parker (2018), ISR C. Parker, Van Alstyne, & Jiang (2017), MISQ D. Yoo, Henfridsson, & Lyytinen (2010), ISR Round 10 Question: In IS economics / IT business value research, which paper is the classic article on information worker productivity? A. Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 1996, MISQ B. Aral, Brynjolfsson, & Van Alstyne, 2012, ISR C. Aral & Weill, 2007, Org. Science D. Brynjolfsson, Rock, & Syverson, 2017, NBER Level 11 Question: In Feldman and Pentland's routines work, which pairing is correct? A. Ostensive = abstract pattern or idea of the routine; Performative = specific enactments by specific people at specific times and places B. Ostensive = formal SOP; Performative = deviations from the SOP C. Ostensive = managerial intention; Performative = worker resistance D. Ostensive = organizational memory; Performative = organizational forgetting Level 12 Question: Which statement best captures Paul Leonardi's (2013) position on sociomateriality? A. Materiality and human interpretation are always inseparable, so affordances and constraints cannot be analytically distinguished from materiality. B. Materiality exists independently of people, but affordances and constraints do not; they arise in relation to human goals. C. Sociomateriality should only be grounded in agential realism, not critical realism. D. The social and the material are separable in theory, but not in empirical research. Level 13 Question: The 2010 ISR research commentary "Digital Infrastructures: The Missing IS Research Agenda" is associated with which set of authors? A. Yoo, Henfridsson, and Lyytinen B. Tilson, Lyytinen, and Sørensen C. Hanseth, Monteiro, and Hatling D. Eaton, Elaluf-Calderwood, Sorensen, and Yoo. Level 14 Question: Which paper examined whether participation in the gig economy is associated with entrepreneurial activity, and who are its authors? A. Burtch, Carnahan, and Greenwood (2018), Management Science B. Greenwood, Agarwal, Agarwal, and Gopal (2019), Organization ScienceC. Burtch, Ghose, and Wattal (2013), Information Systems Research D. Greenwood and Wattal (2017), MIS Quarterly Level 15 Question: In Kellogg, Valentine, and Christin's "Algorithms at Work: The New Contested Terrain of Control" framework, which set correctly names the six mechanisms of algorithmic control? A. Restricting, recommending, recording, rating, replacing, rewarding B. Ranking, routing, recording, rewarding, reviewing, removing C. Restricting, routing, reviewing, ranking, replacing, rewarding D. Recommending, recording, rating, regulating, replacing, remunerating

Journals play an important role for academics. They disseminate new knowledge and separate good from bad research. They also signal competencies, reputation, and standing. Publishing in certain journals often means your work is more rigorous. It may also mean your work is more visible and gets cited more often. Plus, having your work appear in certain journals can be an important prerequisite for career advancement and it can literally affect your salary. Yet of course, these different functions can be evaluated in different ways. Not all journals score equally high or low on all these different aspects. Determining which journal is "good" or "top" becomes a complicated multidimensional riddle. We decided to ask Jason Thatcher. He is one of the most prolific authors of journal papers our field has ever seen and he has served as reviewer or editors on most if not all of them. We try to develop a simple 2x2 decision tool that helps authors identify journals that are both rigorous and prestigious, that are good for the research we do and good for our careers as well. References AIS College of Senior Scholars. (2023). Senior Scholars' List of Premier Journals. Association for Information Systems, https://aisnet.org/page/SeniorScholarListofPremierJournals. Lowry, P. B., Moody, G. D., Gaskin, J., Galletta, D. F., Humpherys, S. L., Barlow, J. B., & Wilson, D. W. (2014). Evaluating Journal Quality and the Association for Information Systems Senior Scholars' Journal Basket Via Bibliometric Measures: Do Expert Journal Assessments Add Value? MIS Quarterly, 37(4), 993–1012. Dennis, A. R., Valacich, J. S., Fuller, M. A., & Schneider, C. (2006). Research Standards for Promotion and Tenure in Information Systems. MIS Quarterly, 30(1), 1–12. Abbasi, A., Parsons, J., Pant, G., Liu Sheng, O. R., & Sarker, S. (2024). Pathways for Design Research on Artificial Intelligence. Information Systems Research, 35(2), 441–459. Rai, A. (2017). Editor's Comments: Seeing the Forest for the Trees. MIS Quarterly, 41(4), iii–vii. Recker, J. (2020). Reflections of a Retiring Editor-in-Chief. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 46(32), 751–761. Agarwal, R., & Lucas Jr., H. C. (2005). The Information Systems Identity Crisis: Focusing on High-Visibility and High-Impact Research. MIS Quarterly, 29(3), 381–398. Applegate, L., & King, J. L. (1999). Rigor and Relevance: Careers on the Line. MIS Quarterly, 23(1), 17–18. Rai, A. (2017). Editor's Comments: Avoiding Type III Errors: Formulating IS Research Problems that Matter. MIS Quarterly, 41(2), iii–vii.

Let's say we are unethical people, trying to get ahead in academia and gain accolades for the sake of promotion and income and so forth. In an age where artificial intelligence and LLMs are entering the academic enterprise, has "cheating" changed? Are there new ways of fabricating, fudging, cooking, trimming, and lying about your data, your insights, and your writing? Do we cheat the way we've always cheated, just more effectively and efficiently? Or do we not actually cheat but merely change the rules and norms of scholarship? Tune in and find out. References Noblit, G. W., & Hare, R. D. (1988). Meta-Ethnography: Synthesising Qualitative Studies. Sage. Locke, K. D., & Golden-Biddle, K. (1997). Constructing Opportunities for Contribution: Structuring Intertextual Coherence and "Problematizing" in Organizational Studies. Academy of Management Journal, 40(5), 1023–1062. Recker, J. (2026). The Only Constant is Change: CAIS and the Ever-Evolving World of IS Research and Practice. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 57(79), 1537-1546. Shu, L. L., Mazar, N., Gino, F., Ariely, D., & Bazerman, M. H. (2012). RETRACTED: Signing at the Beginning Makes Ethics Salient and Decreases Dishonest Self-Reports in Comparison to Signing at the End. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(38), 15197–15200. Wikipedia. (2025). Ulrich Lichtenthaler. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_Lichtenthaler. Kerr, N. L. (1998). HARKing: Hypothesizing After the Results are Known. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2(3), 196–217. Andrade, C. (2021). HARKing, Cherry-Picking, P-Hacking, Fishing Expeditions, and Data Dredging and Mining as Questionable Research Practices. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 82(1), 20f13804. Matthews, R. A. J. (2026). The ASA p-Value Statement 10 Years on: An Event of Statistical Significance? Significance, 23(2), 4–5. von Briel, F., Davidsson, P., & Recker, J. (2026). Why and How Societal Crises Give Rise to Extreme Growth Outliers: A Theory of External Enablement. Academy of Management Review, https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2023.0072. Brodeur, A., Carrell, S., Figlio, D., & Lusher, L. (2023). Unpacking P-hacking and Publication Bias. American Economic Review, 113(11), 2974–3002. Dubner, S. J. (2026). If You're Not Cheating, You're Not Trying. Freakonomics Radio, Episode 662, https://freakonomics.com/podcast/if-youre-not-cheating-youre-not-trying/.

In 2026, everything is different. AI is scaling both research and publishing productivity. Impact factors no longer matter. Big name journal publishers launch offspring journals with little credentials other than the brand. How should we make sense of all this to figure out which journals are really important to our field? It is time for a new, rigorous ranking of IS journals. Problem is, we cannot really agree on our ranks and our reasons. You need to help us: give us your top ten ranking of IS journals with your reasoning. Together, we can find out what is best for our field going forward. References Seidel, S., Berente, N., Guo, H., Oh, W. (2026): Ethics, Regulation, and Policy: The Challenge to Institutions in the Digital Age. MIS Quarterly Special Issue, https://misq.umn.edu/pages/call_for_papers_ethics_and_regulations. Saunders, C., Brown, S. A., Bygstad, B., Dennis, A. R., Ferran, C., Galletta, D. F., Liang, T.-P., Lowry, P. B., Recker, J., & Sarker, S. (2017). Goals, Values, and Expectations of the AIS Family of Journals. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 18(9), 633–647. Riemer, K., Peter, S., Schwabe, G., Chatterjee, S., Adam, M., & Davison, R. M. (2026). Generative AI is Neither Just Another IT Artifact Nor a Colleague: Methodological Guidance for IS Scholarship. Information Systems Journal, 36(2), https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.70027. Rai, A. (2016). Editor's Comments: The MIS Quarterly Trifecta: Impact, Range, Speed. MIS Quarterly, 40(1), iii–x. Berente, N., Seidel, S., & Safadi, H. (2019). Data-Driven Computationally-Intensive Theory Development. Information Systems Research, 30(1), 50–64. Recker, J. (2026). The Only Constant is Change: CAIS and the Ever-Evolving World of IS Research and Practice. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 57, forthcoming. Watson, H. J. (2009). Tutorial: Business Intelligence - Past, Present, and Future. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 25(39), 487–510. Loeser, F., Recker, J., vom Brocke, J., Molla, A., & Zarnekow, R. (2017). How IT Executives Create Organizational Benefits by Translating Environmental Strategies into Green IS Initiatives. Information Systems Journal, 27(4), 503–553. Chau, M., Saunders, C., Chin, W., Recker, J., & Schwarz, A. (2025). 2025 Senior Scholars Journal Review Quality Survey. Association for Information Systems, https://aisnet.org/page/2025SeniorScholarSurvey.