Information systems research

Information Systems Research (information-systems-research)

Journal positioning

Information Systems Research (ISR) is INFORMS's flagship IS journal and a member of the AIS Senior Scholars' Basket of eight. It publishes rigorous IS research across behavioral, economic, and design-science traditions, often with a strongly quantitative or economic orientation reflecting its INFORMS lineage. Like MISQ it demands a genuine theoretical contribution to IS, but its center of gravity tilts toward analytical models, econometric identification, and quantitative design-science. The readership is the quantitative IS research community.

This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the INFORMS / ISR site and the editorial submission system.

When to trigger

• The author names ISR (or the AIS Senior Scholars' Basket / INFORMS IS flagship) as the venue.
• A quantitative or economic IS paper — econometric, analytical-modeling, or quantitative design-science — needs an IS flagship.
• A behavioral IS paper with strong measurement needs an INFORMS-audience home.
• The author needs ISR's desk-reject risks and a credible Basket / INFORMS alternative list before submitting.

Scope & topic fit

• Economics of IS: digital platforms, online markets, network effects, IT business value, pricing of digital goods.
• Econometric / quantitative behavioral IS: technology use, digital behavior, social media, and online communities with identification.
• Design science with a quantitative or analytical evaluation; IT artifact design with prescriptive theory.
• Analytical modeling of IS phenomena (information economics, security, privacy, recommendation, platform design).

Method & evidence bar

• A genuine IS theoretical contribution is required; technical sophistication alone does not suffice.
• Econometric work needs credible identification (DiD/IV/RDD/experiments), proper inference, and robustness; field experiments are valued.
• Analytical models need correct, non-trivial results with proofs and an IS insight.
• Behavioral work needs validated constructs, adequate power, and attention to common-method bias; design-science needs rigorous evaluation.

Structure & house style

• The introduction frames the IS problem, the contribution, and the identification or model early, for a quantitative readership.
• Models and proofs (or identification arguments) are central; robustness, derivations, and instruments go to an electronic companion / online appendix.
• Results report economic or behavioral magnitudes and interpret them, not only significance.
• The discussion states the IS theoretical contribution and boundary conditions.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
• Search the live site for "Information Systems Research submission guidelines / author instructions" and follow the current INFORMS version, including area/department scope.
• Re-check formatting, abstract length, anonymization/double-blind policy, and reference style.
• Re-check the current data and code availability / reproducibility policy and electronic-companion rules.
• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

• One sentence stating the IS theoretical contribution for a quantitative audience.
• The contribution is stated as identification / model result / mechanism, not predictive accuracy or significance.
• Identification or proofs are complete; robustness/derivations live in the electronic companion.
• Constructs (if behavioral) are validated; magnitudes are reported and interpreted.
• Abstract, anonymization, references, and data/code policy match the current ISR guide.

Common desk-reject triggers

• An analytics/ML application with no IS theoretical contribution.
• An econometric paper with endogeneity and no credible source of variation.
• An analytical model that is correct but offers no IS insight, or has implausible assumptions.
• A paper that is really economics, CS, or marketing framed as IS.

Re-routing decision

• IS contribution that is more behavioral/qualitative or design-theory-led → mis-quarterly.
• Theory-rich, methodologically broad IS for the AIS flagship → journal-of-the-association-for-information-systems.
• Management-of-IS, IT business value, IS strategy → journal-of-management-information-systems.
• Broad quantitative management → management-science (IS department); computational/ML-for-OR with no IS theory → informs-journal-on-computing.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Information Systems Research
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics + genre: econ/behavioral/DSR>
[Method/evidence] <does the identification or model + IS contribution clear ISR's bar?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <submission system / blinding / electronic companion / data-code>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>