Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1.
Reputation
. To ensure the journal's reputation, an international, elite editorial
board was established, consisting of 40 leading academics in information sys-
tems from around the world. The associate editors are asked to obtain an article
a year for consideration by the journal. An advisory board of eight “household
names” in the field and a senior editorial board of people holding publications
positions were also created. Articles are solicited from well-established and
highly reputable authors. To date, most senior, prominent scholars in the Infor-
mation Systems discipline authored or co-authored at least one article in the
journal. This strategy is designed to signal to potential authors (particularly
junior and middle level faculty) that CAIS is a place where people with top
reputation publish.
2.
Acceptance by gatekeepers
. CAIS adopted measures to increase acceptance by
tenure committees (who are often scholars outside the IS discipline). At its in-
ception, the President of AIS undertook to inform tenure committees and deans
in business schools, information systems, and computer science departments
and Schools of Information, of the journal and its quality control measures. In
its third year, the journal adopted a look and feel that increases its appeal to
T&P committees. CAIS also uses a traditional citation format.
3.
Innovation and unorthodox work
. Information Systems is a volatile field. It is
well served by publications that provide quality. Yet unorthodox works that
include innovative content and are in line with the rapid changes of the field
are difficult to publish quickly or even at all. The CAIS vision is to create
a place for non-traditional papers. To overcome the cautiousness of referees
about non-traditional work, authors are offered a choice of what is called “Ed-
itorial Board Review” and “Peer Review” In Editorial Board Review, only an
Associate Editor and the Editor review the paper; in Peer review two outside
referees are added. If a paper undergoes Peer Review, that is noted in the ar-
ticle. This process increases the workload of the editors because more rides
on their judgment. The editors were chosen because they are each expert in a
broad range of topics.
However, even the editors of CAIS, who are experienced and established a me-
thodical process to increase the prestige of the journal, faced obstacles. It took almost
five years to get the journal indexed anywhere. This long time was partially due to the
time constraints of the editorial board. For example, Information Systems Frontiers
(ISF), a hybrid journal that was established at the same time that CAIS, was indexed
within three years. Since that journal is published by a commercial publisher, a staff
member is dedicated to indexing and abstracting. In contrast, a member of the senior
editorial board who is also a professor and a scholar was a volunteer responsible for
obtaining indexing for CAIS. In addition, Communication of AIS is not registered
with Journal Citation Reports while ISF is registered.
