The Rise of Information System Research: A Big Picture based on Social Network Analysis over Four Decades

Authors

Benjamin M. Abdel-Karim, Goethe University FrankfurtFollow
Katharina Keller, Goethe University FrankfurtFollow
Daniel Franzmann, Goethe University FrankfurtFollow

Abstract

The previous analyses of the Information Systems (IS) research discipline mostly consider partial aspects in the form of traditional literature reviews. By using such methods, it is only feasible to consider at maximum a few hundreds papers for analysis. This research paper assesses the IS research community, based on social network theory and modern computer science techniques over a time span of four decades. Our approach includes a total of 15,189 papers published during the 1980-2019 period. Further, we use different methods to analyze title, abstract, and keywords of each research paper. We contribute to theory, especially to the field of literature reviews and research methodology by describing our alternative research approach. Additionally, we are able to draw a big picture of the rise of the IS community, its topics, and method trends over time. Further, our results outline the temporal change in structure of IS research. Last, we discuss several practical implications for the IS research domain, mention possible limitations of our method, and give an outlook for future research.

Recommended Citation

Abdel-Karim, Benjamin M.; Keller, Katharina; and Franzmann, Daniel, "The Rise of Information System Research: A Big Picture based on Social Network Analysis over Four Decades" (2020). In Proceedings of the 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), An Online AIS Conference, June 15-17, 2020.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2020_rp/109