Invited Viewpoint: How well does the Information Systems discipline fare in the Financial Times’ top 50 Journal list?

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance of the Information Systems (IS) discipline as reflected in the scholarly impact of the three IS journals that are included in the Financial Times’ top 50 journals (FT50), the four IS journals in the top tiers of the Chartered Association of Business Schools’ Academic Journal Guide (CABS AJG), and the eight journals that comprise the Association for Information Systems (AIS) Senior Scholars' Basket of Journals (AIS Basket). Journal lists, when framed as a form of ‘strategic signaling’, are used to by institutions to communicate values and priorities to scholars. Through strategic signaling, journal lists are performative and have the potential to shape and constrain research activity. Given the strategic and performative role of journal lists, it is important that the journals that constitute those lists have substantial impact. To measure the scholarly impact of journals we propose a new measure, the HMJ index, which comprises an equally-weighted combination of journal H-index, median citations per article, and Journal Impact Factor (JIF). Using the HMJ index, the results show that all eight AIS Basket journals are performing at a level that is commensurate with the other journals that make up the FT50. The results further show substantial differences between the FT50 journals, such as the number of articles published per annum. Implications for IS scholars, IS groups, and the IS discipline are identified, together with recommendations for action.