An Emerging Scholar’s Guide to the Leading International Information Systems and Business Analytics Research Resources and Publication Outlets

Abstract

Many emerging scholars in information systems (IS) or analytics often feel overwhelmed as to the actual research resources they should be using for researching their topics. Perhaps even more overwhelming is trying to understand which journals and outlets are of the highest quality, versus those that are of lesser quality. This is a particularly important consideration for career advancement, because the quality of outlets one publishes in is a key consideration in tenure and promotion decisions. In fact, it is the primary consideration at top business schools, which routinely require ‘elite’ journal publications for tenure and promotion. Thus, publishing in too low quality of outlets can have very deleterious effects on one’s compensation and career advancement. Unfortunately, many new scholars start off with a publication focus that they later come to regret because the realize too late they weren’t focused on high enough quality research and outlets. Thus, the purpose of this pragmatic working paper is to share research and publication tips for budding IS and analytics scholars, so that they can start off on a solid foundation and avoid some of these common mistakes. I start by overviewing key library and online research resources that every IS and analytics scholar should be familiar with. I also overview leading resources that provide scholars with electronic access to working papers and forthcoming papers, and resources that provide other social networking and knowledge exchange opportunities. Meanwhile, during my career I have conducted substantial research and scientometrics and journals rankings, so I next overview some of these studies, and then I lay out my understanding of what is generally considered the top IS and analytics journals. I also list the key top journals in affiliated fields that IS and analytics researchers also tend to use — especially those who work at business schools.