Before submitting a paper to the MIS Quarterly, authors should read the following important information. Authors should keep in mind that the MIS Quarterly is a high-quality, peer-reviewed research journal with a low acceptance rate.
[Journal Mission and Obtaining Feedback before Submission] [Review Basics] [Manuscript Categories and Category Lengths] [Types of Papers MISQ Does Not Publish] [Manuscript Guidelines] [Review Process] [Editor and Reviewer Nominations by Authors] [Conflict of Interest] [Provenance Declaration & Commitment to Service] [AIS Code of Research Conduct] [Revision Process] [Copyright Information] [Author Checklist]
Journal Mission and Obtaining Feedback before Submission
All papers submitted to MIS Quarterly must relate to the journal's
mission,
which is the enhancement and communication
of knowledge concerning the development of IT-based services, the management of
IT resources, and the use, impact, and economics of IT with managerial, organizational,
and societal implications. Professional issues affecting the IS field as a
whole are also in the purview of the journal.
The journal has a wide-ranging readership. Thus, papers submitted to MIS
Quarterly should seek to communicate their content to as many readers as
possible. Specialized terms should be defined clearly and briefly. Wherever
possible, technical material should be placed in appendices. Authors should
also assist readers in obtaining an intuitive grasp of the meaning of technical
material.
MISQ does not formally provide pre-submission feedback to authors. Authors may approach a member of the editorial board personally for feedback, but only in the way that they may approach any scholar for feedback. The member of the editorial board may decline, and any such feedback from the editorial board member would not formally enter any part of the review process. A member of the editorial board who is approached for such feedback on a paper may also subsequently choose to exclude him/herself from serving in the formal review process for the paper. Any papers submitted to MISQ are deemed to have entered the formal review process.
It is absolutely essential that authors read the last several issues of MISQ to help them determine under which category their paper falls. This will also help authors in seeing and understanding the level of quality that is expected. It serves neither authors nor the review team if a manuscript is submitted prematurely. Getting feedback from experienced colleagues is a good way to ensure that a paper has reached a point where scarce journal resources can be effectively employed to refine it.
Type of Review: Double blind with respect to authors and reviewers; however, it is possible that a reviewer may have seen an earlier version of the research in the form of a conference paper, a paper presented at a research seminar, or a working paper. The associate editor and senior editor are aware of author identity. The authors are not aware of the identity of the associate editor.
Manuscript Categories and Category Lengths
Authors who submit manuscripts to MIS Quarterly must designate the
category under which they wish their paper to be evaluated. MIS Quarterly
has six categories: [1. Research Article],
[2. Research Note], [3.
Research Essay], [4. Research Commentary],
[5. Theory and
Review Article], and [6.
Issues and Opinions Article].
1. Research Article
This category provides an opportunity for authors to
Authors who are developing new theory but do not test that theory in the current submission should categorize their article as “5. Theory and Review Article.” See below for a description of this category.
Most submissions to and most papers published in the MIS Quarterly are
Research Articles.
2. Research Note
This category provides a forum for many types of concise research contribution.
This category is typically half the length of a Research Article. Two examples
of a wide variety of possibilities are:
Important contributions of an empirical nature that relate to topics that appear frequently in the MIS Quarterly and other top journals.
Discussions that relate to an important methodological issue (or issues) associated with a published article. The connections between a Note's content and earlier published article(s) must be clear. Notes can arouse controversy and encourage dialogue on an important methodological issue.
A Research Note can also be thought of as a briefer form of the Research Article in the sense that the contribution may be at an acceptable level only because the research is presented in this more succinct format.
3. Research Essay
This category is one where authors address methodological issues. Logical
presentation of ideas in essays is critical in convincing the readership about
new perspectives on how researchers should conduct research. Research Essays
may provide empirical evidence, such as simulations, or not, depending on the
nature of the topic and the level of evidence required for that type of
analysis.
4. Research Commentary
For this category, senior scholars are invited by the EIC to discuss a research
stream or methodological approach and offer important insights into where the
field should go. A highlighting of seminal or key works that show how the topic
has evolved is appropriate. Commentaries conclude with a set of research
questions that are worth exploring in order to answer unanswered questions.
Research commentaries are refereed by selected MISQ editors.
5. Theory and Review Article
Submissions to this category promote research by surveying and synthesizing
prior theoretical and empirical research or by making new theoretical
contributions in particular topic areas. Review articles act as repositories
for the accumulated knowledge on important topics within the information systems
field, set directions for future research, and advance theory. New theoretical
contributions that are well connected to prior theory and research are also
welcomed. For further details see:
http://www.misq.org/misreview/home.html
http://www.misq.org/misreview/MISQTRObjectives.html
http://www.misq.org/misreview/announce.html
6. Issues and Opinions Article
This category provides a forum for the communication of well-developed and
well-articulated position statements concerning emerging, paradoxical, or
controversial research issues. An Issues and Opinions article may be described
as rigorously argued and/or relying on scholarly evidence. Issues and Opinions
submissions should open new areas of discourse, close stale areas, and/or offer
fresh views on research topics of importance to the discipline. They should:
All Issues and Opinions papers will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief, who will send the paper out to designated referees as s/he deems appropriate
Length of Papers
Papers must be written concisely. The following are guidelines on maximum
length (excluding tables, figures, appendices, and references):
Submissions that have an excessive number of pages may have to be returned to authors for shortening before they are sent out for review.
Types of Papers the MISQ Does Not Publish
MIS Quarterly no longer has a priori restrictions on the types of
papers it publishes. If a Senior Editor deems a paper to be worthy of
publication, this decision is the only remaining constraint for publication.
For example, if an SE determines that a paper that develops or validates a
research instrument makes a sufficient contribution, then the paper will appear
in MIS Quarterly.
Scientometric papers will be considered, but the SEs at MISQ have historically required a large theoretical contribution in our Research Articles and so a simple journal ranking study, by itself, would be very unlikely to meet the standards of our Senior Editors. If a scientometric study addresses valuable professional concerns, it could find a home in the Issues and Opinions section, however.
Design science and economics of IS papers are especially welcome. Since January 1, 2008 the journal has prominent SEs in both domains who are ready to handle such papers.
[Address and Format] [Grammar and Style] [Content and Structure] [Permissions] [Refinement of Papers] [References Format]
URL address for submissions: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/misq.
Communications about your manuscript should be sent through this MISQ Manuscript Central website. All authors of a paper must be copied on any electronic communications with the senior editor or staff in the office of MISQ.
Authors should not indicate on their paper that it is under review at MISQ.
Manuscripts and associated materials should be submitted electronically to the MISQ Manuscript Central URL listed above. For a sample cover letter/e-mail, please see http://www.misq.org/roadmap/coverlet.html.
The preferred electronic format is Word or Word Perfect for a PC environment. Before using other formats, please contact the review coordinator through Manuscript Central.
All text in manuscripts should be in 12-point Times Roman font. Papers should
be double-spaced, left-justified only.
Figures and exhibits should be in PowerPoint (preferred), Word, or GIF format. Please
include all figures, exhibits, and tables in the same electronic file that
contains the Word or Word Perfect document. Tables, figures, and exhibits
should be in Arial font.
Grammar and Style
Use of high-quality grammar and style is essential. Authors should employ the services of a professional editor if they need assistance with grammar and style.
The following guidelines should be noted:
The following information should also be provided:
Page 1:
Page 2:
Headings should be clearly delineated. Authors should show each heading's level of importance as follows:
MAJOR HEAD
Separate line centered over text; bold, all caps.
First Subhead
Separate line centered over text; bold, upper/lower case.
Second Subhead
Separate line, flush left; bold, upper/lower case.
Third Subhead
On same line as beginning of text, flush left, bold, upper/lower case, followed
by a colon.
Permissions
Permissions to use reprinted material, adapted material, and material owned by
other parties are the sole responsibility of the authors. Permission for the
MIS Quarterly to use the material must be obtained in writing prior to
publication and provided to the Managing Editor. Authors are responsible for
payment of permission fees.
Refinement of Papers
Authors are strongly encouraged not to submit "hot-off-the-press" papers.
Instead, they should present their papers at workshops and conferences first to
obtain feedback from their colleagues. They should refine their paper based on
this feedback before submitting their paper to the MIS Quarterly. The
contributions of colleagues who provide feedback can be acknowledged on the
second page of the paper.
MISQ References Format
Citation ordering and format should follow published MISQ articles.
References must be complete, i.e., include, as appropriate, volume, number,
month, publisher, city and state, editors, last
name and initials of all authors, page numbers, etc. Below are some
general directions:
A few examples are:
Ackoff, R. L. 1961. "Management Misinformation Systems," Management
Science (14:4), December, pp. 147-156.
Bonini, C. P. 1963. Simulation of Information and Decision Systems in
the Firm, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Chenhall, R. H., and Romano, C. A. 1989. "Formal Planning and Control Presence and Impact on the Growth of Small Manufacturing Firms," in Job Generation by the Small Business Sector in Australia, W. C. Dunlop and A. J. Williams (eds.), Newcastle: Institute of Industrial Economics, pp. 71-89.
Review Process
MIS Quarterly
uses the following review process:
At certain times of the year, authors should be aware that review processes tend to be slower. For instance, during December and January, many colleagues have end-of-semester responsibilities, and many attend the International Conference on Information Systems. In the southern hemisphere, many colleagues also take vacations. During July and August, many colleagues in the northern hemisphere attend conferences and take vacations. Many also finalize research papers during this period and thus the MIS Quarterly receives a large number of submissions.
Editor and Reviewer Nominations by Authors
Authors should offer nominations for both the senior editor and, where
appropriate, an associate editor to handle their manuscript. Note that the
editor-in-chief may play the role of a senior editor in this process.
Authors should nominate at least two choices of senior editor and associate
editor. Nominees for senior editor and associate editor must be current members
of the Editorial Board. A listing of the members of the Editorial Board can be
found at
http://www.misq.org/archivist/editor.html.
Authors should also offer reviewer nominations. Authors are encouraged to
nominate four or more candidates for reviewers. A nominee for reviewer should
be knowledgeable about the topics or methods found in the paper. An attempt
will be made to select at least one of the reviewer nominations. In addition to
the nominee's name, please provide the nominee's e-mail address and current
affiliation.
On rare occasions, the editor-in-chief may consider an author's nomination of a
senior editor emeritus to serve as senior editor for the author's
manuscript. A key condition in assigning a senior editor emeritus to
handle a manuscript is that he or she must possess the highly specialized
knowledge, and this knowledge must be deemed necessary to evaluate the
manuscript and the view of the associate editor and reviewers. The
editor-in-chief will not approve such a nomination
if a current senior editor is deemed to be able to handle the manuscript
effectively. Approval of such a nomination also depends on the availability and
approval of the senior editor emeritus. Authors who would like to
nominate a senior editor emeritus must submit their manuscript and a
justification for the nomination of a senior editor emeritus to the
editor-in-chief. They should not personally approach the senior editor
emeritus.
The editor-in-chief may exercise his or her discretion to choose any person
(including a current associate editor) to act as a senior editor for a
manuscript. Upon receiving a manuscript, a senior editor may forward it to the
editor-in-chief with the recommendation that an acting or special senior editor
be considered. Similarly, a senior editor might recommend to the
editor-in-chief that an acting associate editor be considered. Because a
colleague must be familiar with the MIS Quarterly ethos and reviewing
culture if they are to serve satisfactorily as a special senior editor or
associate editor, such appointments will be rare. The editor-in-chief must
approve all such appointments. They will occur only if no member of the
editorial board has the knowledge, skills, experience, or capacity to take
responsibility for the paper.
The senior editors of the MIS Quarterly will consider carefully the nominees for reviewers and editors. Nonetheless, a senior editor may decline a manuscript and the review coordinator may ask another senior editor to handle the paper. Moreover, the selection of an associate editor is always at the discretion of the senior editor. Similarly, the selection of reviewers is always at the discretion of the senior and associate editors.
There should be no conflicts of interest between the authors, on the one hand, and any member of the review team, on the other hand. The principle of conflict of interest is more easily stated, agreed upon, and understood than specific rules of conduct. It is, in brief, that the evaluator should not tied to the author(s) in any way that would weigh against her/his rendering a fair and unbiased recommendation on the manuscript.
Some institutions have hard and fast directives regarding conflict of interest. Since these appear to vary widely, it may be helpful for all parties to at least be cognizant of these even though we would judge their applicability on a case-by-case basis at MISQ.
Among selected institutions, a conflict of interest is said to include, but is not limited to situations where authors and evaluators are
1. associated through dissertation advising, including chair–student relationships and committee member–student relationships (sometimes limited to the previous five year period; others set no time period)
2. published coauthors during the previous five year period
3. currently working together on a research project
4. colocated at the same institution at the time of manuscript submission
5. tied through reviewing of a previous version of the author’s paper at another publication venue
6. tied through reviewing in that the author is a final decision maker on a paper authored by the MISQ SE and being reviewed at another journal
The list is suggestive without being proscriptive. Indeed, the principle of this ethical guideline for conflict of interest is more important than any specific letter of the law. If prospective evaluators are invited to be part of the review team, and they feel they cannot be impartial in reviewing the manuscript, then they should recuse themselves from handling the paper. By the same token, authors should not nominate editors or reviewers with whom they feel they have a potential conflict of interest.
When in doubt, ask. Authors should ask their SE. For evaluators, if you have a question about a possible conflict of interest, escalate the question in the review hierarchy. Questions from reviewers should go to the AE. Further questions from the AE should go to the SE. Further questions from the SE should go to the EIC.
Provenance Declaration by Authors and Commitment to Service as Reviewer
Authors must disclose the following information when they submit a paper to the
MIS Quarterly.
In the event any of the above information needs to be disclosed, authors should
explain why their submission to MIS Quarterly makes a sufficient
contribution to knowledge over and above the other paper(s) to merit
consideration by MIS Quarterly. In this regard, authors are encouraged
to seek the advice of colleagues who will provide forthright, independent advice
on the extent of the unique contribution of their MIS Quarterly
submission relative to their other paper(s). Further, authors are strongly
encouraged to address concerns raised by a review team that may have rejected an
earlier version of the paper at another journal.
If authors submit a paper on a closely related topic to another journal
subsequent to their submission to MIS Quarterly, they must immediately
notify the senior editor responsible for their MIS Quarterly submission.
Articles published in or under consideration for other journals or as book
chapters must not be submitted.
Papers submitted to or awaiting presentation at a conference must not be submitted in exactly the same form as the conference submission; there must be substantive differences between the conference paper and the MISQ submission. Similarly, papers already presented at conferences must be heavily revised (ideally, taking advantage of feedback received at the conference) in order to receive consideration.
In recognition that their submission requires the use of a scarce resource, the services of editors and reviewers, authors, by the act of submission, are implicitly promising to serve as a reviewer on three MIS Quarterly papers during the year, if asked.
Compliance with AIS Code of Research Conduct and Sample Cover Letter
In the cover letter accompanying the manuscript, authors should confirm
that the research described in the paper complies with the “Code of Research
Conduct” prepared by the Association for Information Systems. Please see:
http://home.aisnet.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=15
In their cover letter, authors should state that the paper being submitted (or closely related research) has not been published or accepted for publication and is not under review at another journal. If the paper was at one time under review at another journal and the authors withdrew it from consideration, authors must be sure that they have in their possession documentation that the paper was in fact pulled. This would include an acknowledgement from the journal involved.
All nominations should be given at the time a manuscript is submitted. The author's cover letter should include
The cover letter should also contain the statement: "The nominees for senior
editor, associate editor, and reviewers have no conflict of interest with any
authors of the paper being submitted."
A sample cover letter/e-mail is available at
http://www.misq.org/roadmap/coverlet.html.
Revision Process
Revision procedures can take two forms. If the revisions required are minor,
only the senior editor and associate editor might evaluate whether the changes
made by the authors are satisfactory. If the revisions requested are
substantive, the paper may be sent out for review again (usually to some or all
of the original reviewers). The process will be repeated as necessary.
In addition to the copyright release form, authors of papers accepted for publication will be asked to provide short author biographies of 60 to 100 words. These may include present position, titles, degrees, experience, major publications or presentations, research interests, and areas of professional expertise.
This page is maintained by
Jan DeGross at the MIS
Quarterly.
She can be reached at degro003@umn.edu.
It was last updated on August 20, 2008