Editor's Comments
Management Information Systems Quarterly
Volume 22, Number 1
March 1998
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[Overview]
[Call for Proposals]
[New Editorial Board Members]
Two items are addressed in this issue's commentary: a call for proposals
regarding future "themed issues" for the MIS Quarterly and announcements of
new Editorial Board members. Additionally, I have invited a commentary by
Wynne Chin, an MIS Quarterly associate editor. Over the last two years, I
have noticed a large increase in the number of manuscripts applying
structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. All too often, the execution
and reporting of these analyses have proven problematic. As a service to
the information systems research community, I asked Wynne to provide a
discussion of the errors typically made in using SEM techniques as well as a
brief guide regarding what to do and what not to do when applying SEM
techniques and when reporting results. We hope readers will find this
material to be of value.
Call for Proposals for "Themed Issues" of the MIS Quarterly
The Quarterly’s senior editors encourage interested individuals to propose
future themed issues of the MIS Quarterly. What is a themed issue? The
concept is similar to, but more flexible than, what is normally referred to
as a special issue of a scholarly journal. Rather than committing a single,
future issue of the journal to a collection of articles on a specific topic,
acceptance of a themed issue proposal will instead commit the Quarterly to
publishing an indeterminate number of articles on the topic over one or
more issues of the journal. Increased flexibility is provided in two ways:
(1) the number of articles actually published could be greater or fewer than
the number (five or six) normally published in a single issue of the journal;
and, only two or three articles (of those accepted for publication) need to
be completed in order for a set of articles to appear in print. Editorial
decisions should thus be based solely on the quality of the submitted
manuscripts rather than be driven by publication constraints associated
with space (number of pages in an issue to fill) and time (publish the issue
by a certain date). Individuals thinking of editing a themed issue
should:
- Contact one of the current MIS Quarterly senior editors and convince
this individual to join in the effort to propose the themed issue. All
themed issues must have a current MIS Quarterly senior editor as a co-editor
(editorial decisions are made solely by the "special senior editors" for the
themed issue).
- Prepare a prospectus for the themed issue and electronically submit
this prospectus to the current MIS Quarterly editor-in-chief. This
prospectus should describe the topic area, argue the importance of the topic
area, explain how the themed issue would add value to information systems
scholarship, and suggest a likely Editorial Board (which might or might not
contain current MIS Quarterly Editorial Board members) for the themed issue.
The MIS Quarterly senior editors will collectively assess the prospectus. As
one might expect, the outcome of such deliberations will be a decision to
accept the prospectus, to reject it, or to ask for revisions.
No preconceived notions exist regarding what may or may not be an appropriate
topic for a themed issue, as long as the topic does fit the MIS Quarterly’s
editorial mission. In general, however, the Quarterly’s senior editors are
likely be most responsive to proposals regarding innovative and fresh topics
(organizational phenomena, methods, technologies). I, along with the
Quarterly’s senior editors, look forward to hearing from you!
New Editorial Board Members
I am pleased to announce that five individuals have accepted invitations to
join the Editorial Board as associate editors: Ritu Agarwal (Florida State
University), Dennis Galletta (University of Pittsburgh), Len Jessup (Indiana
University), Jeanne Ross (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Maung
Sein (Georgia State University). Their names are now listed on the journal's
masthead, along with other members of the Editorial Board. Additionally,
Joseph Valacich (Washington State University) has been offered, and has
accepted, a two-year reappointment as an associate editor. I wish to thank
Joe for the exceptional job he has performed as an associate editor; and, I
look forward to working with him -- as well as our five new associate editors
-- in the future.
I would also like to take advantage of this announcement to remind readers
of two things. First, these individuals were selected to the Editorial
Board on the basis of their outstanding performance (over the past two
years) as reviewers for the MIS Quarterly. Individuals desiring to be
appointed to the Quarterly’s Editorial Board are encouraged to identify
themselves to current associate editors as being available to serve as a
manuscript referee and then, when asked to serve as a referee, to produce
timely, high-quality referee reports. Second, authors are strongly
encouraged to submit their manuscript to a specific senior editor, to
nominate one or more associate editors to manage their manuscript, and to
suggest three or four individuals who might serve as an appropriate referee
for the manuscript.
Bob Zmud, Editor-in-Chief
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