JAIS Manuscript Categories – Information for Authors
21 April, 2011
Contributing to JAIS
The Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), the flagship journal of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), publishes scholarly contributions that represent the highest quality in the field of information systems.
JAIS particularly welcomes contributions that provide theoretical insights that advance our understanding of information systems and information technology in organizations and society. New insights may include proposing a new theoretical model, challenging or clarifying existing theory, integrating diverse strands of research in information systems so as to advance new concepts and relationships, or developing a compelling argument for the field to develop a new theory.
JAIS is inclusive in its coverage of topics, level and unit of analysis, theory, method and philosophical and research approaches - reflecting all aspects of information systems research globally.
Manuscript Category
Authors should designate the manuscript category during submission. JAIS has the following manuscript categories:
- 1. Research Articles
This category is the most general category for manuscripts. It covers a range of genres, including reports of individual studies, meta-analysis and theory and review articles. Research Articles make a theoretical contribution to a substantive area of research. This category has the shortest description and yet it is the most general and common type of article. It includes what in other journals might be designated as “Research Articles”, “Theory and Review”, or “Research Notes”.
If authors are in doubt as to the category that is appropriate for their manuscript, they should submit the manuscript in this category and further explain the nature of the submission in their cover letter.
- 2. Research Practice
This category is for work that critically examines how research methods are employed, or could be employed, in information systems research. Manuscripts should demonstrate how the implications of what is discussed are important for information systems research specifically, rather than for research practice in general.
The implications of these articles will be of special interest to researchers when they plan their research methods sections. The articles can concern methods of any type. Note that articles that are primarily tutorial in nature and explain techniques well known in other fields are likely to be better placed in journals such as Communications of the AIS.
Research Practice articles make a contribution by critically appraising the use of a research method and providing new insights into how greater understanding of the method could improve information systems research practice and theorizing.
- 3. Research Perspectives
The Research Perspectives category aims to provoke exciting discussion about critical issues that shape the business of doing information systems research. Manuscripts are sought that debate and analyze issues that are important to researchers in the information systems field, but which are not research articles per se. These papers may question or critique our institutions, our assumptions, our blinders, our disputes, our paradigms, how we define the boundaries of our subject, how we define research domains, what we privilege in our research and what we do not publish, among other things. Research Perspective papers should conclude by offering constructive guidance that will help the field to progress and develop. We are interested in forays into issues that have a bearing on the community, its organization, and its mission. These issues are those that information systems scholars talk about in the hallways or debate during conference luncheons.
Research Perspective articles make a contribution to the information systems discipline at a more general level than Research Articles or Research Practice articles.
- 4. Editorial Notes
-
JAIS editorial notes are essays, commentaries, or reviews written primarily by the JAIS editorial board members. They are typically invited, although we may consider some unsolicited submissions. These editorial notes should be short, pointed commentaries. They may point researchers into areas of research that editors feel have been neglected and that are important for the future of the field. They may provide guidelines for the journal’s potential authors or provide a forum for debate about JAIS publishing and reviewing practices. More specifically, such commentaries should offer thoughts about the journal’s review policies and practices, how issues of theory development and testing should be addressed in JAIS submissions, reports on JAIS editorial practices and performance, and general notes on the disciplinary policies and norms in the information systems field. At least two JAIS editorial board members review each published editorial note.
- 5. Invited Papers
- On occasion, JAIS publishes invited papers on topics of interest. It traditionally invites reflective papers from AIS Leo Award winners.
6. Dialogue- Dialogue articles are short essays that respond to an article published in JAIS. These articles can be unsolicited or solicited. A set of dialogue articles may be invited on occasion: for example, in response to a JAIS special issue.
While others may arise in the future, the current aims of dialogue articles are:
• Elaborating or extending the original article to show how it can be developed further;
• Challenging or critiquing the views in the original article; and
• Presenting alternative perspectives to those advanced in the original article.
Dialogue articles should be short. The preferred length is 3-5 pages; however, we accept articles up to 10 pages long. Authors of these articles may quote from the original article to indicate which points they are addressing. Moreover, dialogue articles should be submitted in a timely manner following the appearance of the original article.
Dialogue articles do not go through the usual JAIS peer review process. First, one or more of JAIS’s senior editors will assess their general interest, contribution, and suitability. Further consideration depends entirely on the discretion of these assessors. If the article is believed to be sufficiently interesting, reviewer(s) who are knowledgeable in the field will further asses it. Authors should feel free to discuss an idea for a dialogue article with any member of the Senior Editors Board.
In cases where the dialogue article challenges or critiques an article, the author(s) of the original article is offered the opportunity to respond.
Examples of JAIS categories
These examples are provided as the descriptions of manuscript categories were revised in early 2011 and prior labelling of published articles does not necessarily give a good indication of how articles are now classified.
Research Articles
See JAIS, 2011, Volume 12, Issue 1. All articles are research articles.
Research Practice
Sivo, S. A., Saunders, C., Chang, Q., & Jiang, J. J. (2006). How Low Should You Go? Low Response Rates and the Validity of Inference in IS Questionnaire Research. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 7(6), 351-414.
Hardin, A. M., Chang, J.C.-J., & Fuller, M.A. (2008). Clarifying the Use of Formative Measurement in the IS Discipline: The Case of Computer Self-Efficacy. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9(9), 544-546.
Research Perspectives
Special Research Perspective Issue on the Information Systems Core/Identity Debate. (2006). Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 7(10). In particular: Weber, R. (2006). Reach and Grasp in the Debate over the Information Systems Core: An Empty Hand? Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 7(10), 703-713.
Special Issue on Quo Vadis TAM? Issues and Reflections on Technology Acceptance Research. (2007). Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 8(4). In particular: Benbasat, I., & Barki, H. (2007). Quo Vadis TAM? Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 8(4), 211-218; and Straub, D., & Burton Jones, A. (2007). Veni,Vidi, Vici: Breaking the TAM Logjam. ournal of the Association for Information Systems, 8(4), 223-229.
Gregor, S., & Jones, D. (2007). The Anatomy of a Design Theory. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 8(5), 312-335.
Ramiller, N., Swanson, E. B., & Wang, P. (2008). Research Directions in Information Systems: Toward an Institutional Ecology. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9(1), 1-22.
Ramiller, N., & Pentland, B. T. (2009). Management Implications in Information Systems Research: The Untold Story. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 10(6), 474-494.
Truex, D., Cuellar, M., & Takeda, H. (2009). Assessing Scholarly Influence: Using the Hirsch Indices to Reframe the Discourse. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 10(7), 560-594.
Dialogue
Goodhue, D. L. (2007). Comment on Benbasat and Barki’s "Quo Vadis TAM" article. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 8(4), 219-222.
Manuscript Length
JAIS does not have restrictions on length because as an electronic journal it does not have page limits. However, all manuscripts should be written concisely to avoid unnecessary length. Manuscripts that are more than 15,000 words may receive extra scrutiny from the editors, although additional latitude can be expected for some types of papers, such as those that use qualitative methods or are review articles. For Research Perspectives an approximate guide is 10,000 words.
Prospective authors for JAIS publications should follow the JAIS Submission Style document and the APA 6th edition reference style .
Author Information
Articles are to be submitted to JAIS online review system http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jais.
The official language of the Journal of AIS is English. Therefore all submissions need to be checked and edited for correct English before submission. Submission to JAIS implies the authors' certification that the manuscript is not copyrighted and is not currently under review in any other journal or conference.
The bodies of articles may include text, tables, and figures only in order to ensure the widest accessibility even in less technologically endowed environments. The body of the article should represent a stand-alone document. If complex authors can opt to submit text, tables, figures, and appendices in separate files. Links and multimedia supplements should be included in one or more appendices.
To ensure validity of empirical studies and meta-analyses JAIS asks manuscripts which use SEM techniques to provide a full correlation matrix or covariation matrix as a part of articles (appendix). Editors and reviewers can ask authors to provide a complete dataset during the review for testing and validation of executed statistical analyses. In such cases, authors are expected to provide the dataset as a condition for publishing the article. See JAIS Data Policies.
To avoid any misunderstanding regarding originality of submission, the authors are expected to provide full information about authorship, pre-submission history, earlier related publications and necessary acknowledgements. During submission authors can nominate a Senior Editor and submit the names of two unbiased reviewers either from the editorial board or outside it whom they think are appropriate and capable for reviewing their manusctip. The senior editor managing the manuscript is not however, bound by such recommendations and can not guarantee that either of the proposed reviewers will be selected. The above information should be supplied in a cover letter and authors should include it when submitting a manuscript..
Submitting a Cover Letter
This cover letter should include:
1. A suggestion as to which Senior Editor(s) is appropriate to handle the manuscript;
2. A suggestion as to which members of the Editorial Review Board would be appropriate as reviewers;
3. Indicate the category of submission;
4. A declaration of any closely related research that has been published or submitted for publication elsewhere;
5. A declaration of any closely related research that uses the same data or a subset of the data that has been used in this submission;
6. Notification of any prior submissions of this paper to this or another journal;
7. Information about exposure of prior versions of the paper to feedback at workshops or conferences; and
8. Any other relevant information.
If disclosures need to be made against points 4, 5 or 6 above, then the authors should provide an explanation as to why the current paper offers a contribution over and above what has appeared before or been submitted for publication elsewhere. For papers that have been rejected on a prior occasion, the authors should explain how they have addressed reviewers’ comments from the previous submission, or why they have not addressed these comments.
For papers that have appeared in a conference proceedings, the authors should explain how they have improved and extended the paper over and above the conference publication.
Note that it is strongly recommended that authors obtain feedback on working versions of a paper before submission. Workshops and conference presentations are an excellent means of obtaining feedback and information about these events is viewed positively.
Reviews in JAIS are double blind. Authors do not know who reviews their paper, and reviewers do not know the names of the authors. The editor knows the names of all involved. Therefore, the authors should write their submission and use referrences in ways which does not reveal their identity.
Authors should familiarize themselves with JAIS policies for Code of Research Conduct and Copyright.
Dean's Letter
Gordon Davis, President of AIS and Henry C. Lucas, Jr., Editor-in-Chief, of the AIS Electronic Journals have prepared a letter to Deans regarding the editorial policies of CAIS and JAIS. This letter can be printed and distributed to Deans and Promotion and Tenure Committee members by authors.
Letter to Deans [MS Word format] [HTML format]