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Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems

Editorial

Welcome to the Summer issue of the 38th volume of the Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems (SJIS)!

Following the usual rotation in the journal’s editorial team, Olgerta Tona, from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, takes over as Editor-in-Chief for 2026. She follows Elena Parmiggiani, who concluded her term in December 2025. We warmly thank Elena for her excellent work and leadership in bringing SJIS forward! We also welcome Ilias Pappas from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway as the editor from Norway. Welcome to the team, Ilias!

Before introducing the articles included in this issue, we would like to share an update with you. It is a small but important. SJIS has finally its own logo. This gives the journal a visual identity.

Let us now present the articles in this issue. The issue consists of four regular articles. These articles contribute to two themes in the IS discipline: digital transformation and responsible AI and ethics. The first theme focuses on digital transformation and digital government. The second one focuses on responsible AI in education and ethical issues in IS.

Theme 1: Digital transformation

The articles on this theme focus on the use of digital technology in governments and organizations. The first article is Failure Is Not an Option. Tracing discursive shifts across eras of Digital Government by Leif Sundberg. This paper focuses on digital governments with a particular focus on the Swedish public sector. It analyzes Swedish government policy documents and evaluations from 1961 to 2023 and identifies three periods of digital technology: automatic data processing, information technology, and digitalization. By tracing and investigating these periods and respective discourses, Sundberg argues that each period that is characterized by optimism and excitement, is followed by periods of disappointments.

The second article, The Journey is the Reward. A digital transformation procedure model for German small and medium-sized enterprises by Ann-Kristin Cordes, Andreas Hermann, Torsten Gollhardt, Paul Kruse, Benjamin Barann and Jörg Becker recognizes the importance of procedure models to guide organization in their digital transformation journeys. To this end, it engages with design science research to develop and evaluate such a model with a particular focus on small and medium enterprises. This article further proposes seven design principles for SMEs.

These two papers show that organizations and governments need procedures, evaluations, and learning from past experience.

Theme 2: Responsible AI and ethics

The two other papers in this issue focus on ethics and responsibility. The paper titled Responsible AI in Information Systems Education Impact of experiential learning in practice by Charlotte Husom Grøder, Stefan Schmager, Elena Parmiggiani, Polyxeni Vassilakopoulou, Ilias Pappas, and Sofia Papavlasopoulou, is positioned within the domain of IS education. The article recognizes the need for students to be able to critically reflect on AI systems and their implications. It seeks to investigate the way experiential learning can support students’ understanding of responsible AI. The study proposes a protocol for supporting the learning experiences of students to support their critical reflections on responsible AI.

The other article, “There are also Ethical Issues to Consider.” Ethical issues in the field of Information Systems by Christopher Julian Kern, Maren Baecker, Markus Noeltner, and Julia Kroenung highlights the increasing importanice of ethics in IS. It reviews 233 articles and identifies 20 categories of ethical issues. Some of these categories include accountability and responsibility, manipulation and nudging, intellectual property and digital goods, and misinformation, disinformation, and manipulation at scale, among others. The study also argues on the challenges associated the diffusion of responsibility.

We trust that these articles will provoke thoughts and contribute to the ongoing discourses in the IS discipline. We extend our sincere thanks to the authors, reviewers, and readers who continue to support the journal. SJIS welcomes submissions from scholars around the world, and we look forward to receiving your future contributions.

Olgerta Tona, Louise Harder Fischer, Jonna Järveläinen and Ilias Pappas