Information Systems is Not a Reference Discipline (And What We Can Do About It)

Abstract

A number of recent papers have proclaimed that the IS field has approached the status of a reference discipline. The paper draws on citation data from 33 IS and non-IS journals over 12 years to test this assertion. Analysis of this data suggests that the IS field has left a modest imprint on other sub-fields of management. Based on this evidence, the paper concludes that IS is not yet a reference discipline, but has the potential to become one. We propose number of measures to enhance the external influence of the field that may, in time, lead to it becoming a true reference discipline.