Practice Impact of IS Research

Abstract

The above examples aimed at illustrating that the impact of research can take on various forms. Research on information systems outsourcing will have a different impact than research on main-memory databases or on business process modeling. The departments of our journal deal with different problems and phenomena, ranging from decision support to economics of IS and IS strategy. All of them have a value of their own and they all matter to IS professionals nowadays, one way or the other. However, it is also clear that research impact cannot be compared by using a single dimension across these fields. The assessment of research requires a holistic view of the depth of a contribution, the specifics and state-of-theart in a field, and the way how the research results have already impacted or could impact practice. This also holds for the review process in our journal, a process which should bring out papers with scientifically solid research results, but also with an impact. While sometimes impact can only be assessed ex post many years after a paper has been published, a paper's potential impact should be a central criterion for its evaluation, and this cannot be "replaced" by rigor.