The Association for Information Systems (AIS) will publish two electronic journals beginning in 1999 - The Journal of AIS and the Communications of AIS. These journals are designed to be complementary and the first part of this statement of editorial policy is common to both. In content, each will fulfill the role usually associated with the terms "journal" and "communications". The Journal will be a classical, peer reviewed outlet for research with every intention of being equal to the best in the field. The Communications is intended to foster the free flow of ideas within the IS community. Its emphasis will be on originality, importance, and cogency of ideas. It will also be a vehicle for tutorials, curriculum guidelines, case studies, survey articles, and other materials of general interest to the IS community.

Articles should be submitted to one of the journals in accordance with its content and the manner in which the authors wish to have the submission processed. In case of doubt as to which journal is most appropriate for a particular article, it may be submitted to either, with the editors then selecting the most suitable outlet.

JAIS is theory focused journal. Therefore, JAIS does not publish or review manuscripts that focus solely on a specific steps or techniques associated with research methodologies. For example, manuscripts, which reveal or discuss barriers in reaching statistical conclusion validity, or which provide guidelines or tutorials for conducting research following a specific research approach are not reviewed. JAIS does not deny the high value of such articles for the IS community, but recommends, instead, that such articles are to be submitted to the Communications of the Association for Information Systems for review. JAIS welcomes, however, manuscripts where the applied method or methodology is inherently related to ongoing theory formulation or validation. These manuscripts need to demonstrate, for example, how a specific methodology choice can confound or promote various aspects of theory building or theory testing, and where the study results and / or theoretical implications would be demonstrably different depending on the methodology choices. In cases where the authors are in doubt of the appropriateness of their manuscript for JAIS we ask the authors to consult the Editor In Chief.

Empirical contributions may use any appropriate methodology as long as the research is soundly designed and executed. The Journal particularly welcomes contributions that provide theoretical insights that advance our understanding of information systems and information technology in organizations and society. New insights may include proposing a new theoretical model, challenging or clarifying existing theory, integrating diverse strands of research in information systems so as to advance new concepts and relationships, or developing a compelling argument for the field to develop a new theory.

Given our inclusive perspective, we refrain from delineating explicit topics in which we are interested.

Journal of AIS articles adhere to the highest scholarly research standards as judged by the leading scholars who serve in the Senior and Editorial Boards. Decisions regarding publication of contributions are made by one of the Senior Editors/Editor based on constructive input and recommendations of members of the Editorial Board. A Senior Editor will occasionally use ad-hoc reviewers to solicit additional input and to develop candidates for subsequent Board appointments. Journal of AIS distinguishes itself by closely working with the authors to develop submitted work. Dialog concerning current and future submissions is encouraged between the Senior Editors/Editor and the author. JAIS employs a double "blind" review process in general. But to manuscripts submitted to the IS Research Perspectives section, we will not use this process unless the authors request a double "blind" reviewing.

We are in the midst of significant societal, organizational and individual change in large part driven by developments in IT. Yet, the academic field of Information Systems (IS) has done too little to help shape, reflect upon, and/or critique these technological changes. Our responsibility as intellectual leaders in the IS field should be to bravely promote and engage in such discussions.

IS Research Perspectives is a special section of JAIS whose overall goal is to introduce and provoke discussion about critical issues in the IS field, from an academic perspective. While this goal certainly does not preclude such issues as relevance versus rigor or other practice-oriented areas, the key point is that any such discussion must have a distinctly scholarly value and be situated within the broader context of research in terms of quality of argument, strength of the evidence, and rigor of analysis.

The motivation in any accepted article to this section should be to create excitement about how the IS field needs to change (or maintain its status quo) in order to thrive as an intellectual enterprise about the use of IT in human enterprise. We are interested in innovative and provocative perspectives from a conceptual, theoretical, methodological, or thematic viewpoint. But above all, each perspective publication must be scholarly as befitting a tier-one academic journal.

Articles can be of any length since JAIS is an electronic journal. All articles, however, must be tightly written using well crafted arguments. Indeed, articles need not be lengthy to have high impact, which is the desired outcome for articles accepted for the section. Although there is no requirement for empirical evidence, this form of reasoning is certainly welcome as long as the essential points can be made succinctly. The major evidentiary criteria for successful articles are that they are logical, well written and satisfactorily address the ‘so what’ question.

To have the impact intended, we expect articles in the section to be a major source for IS doctoral courses, and that the issues being debated or introduced in the section will also be spotlighted at our best conferences.

The list of objectives for publishable articles below is meant to inspire potential submitters. It is by no means exhaustive. Goals include the following:

• to provide research and thought leadership for the IS field
• to shape future research by formulating new research directions or by evaluating the progress of research-to-date
• to argue for or articulate programs of research
• to critique certain methodological practices or approaches
• to assess the impact of an entire stream of research through scientometric or other methods
• to raise controversial issues that affect the conduct of research in the profession (e.g., ethical issues surrounding IS research, intellectual property rights issues)
• to debate issues that are critical in determining where the field should go in future research (e.g. what are the implications of offshoring on the IS discipline?)
• to give new prominence to the issues having to do with IS research policy
• to identify and articulate issues of multidisciplinary discourses or interdisciplinary ties within the IS community
• to generate excitement about espoused new directions in IS research

  JAIS perspectives will not publish surveys or tutorials as they do not meet the above goals. Submissions to the section will be thoroughly refereed, with the review process being no less rigorous than for the rest of JAIS submissions. Submissions will be strongly prescreened by a Senior Editor. Only those judged as having a good chance of success, will go through the complete review process. The process will be more developmental in nature and is designed to have papers go through in no more than two rounds of review after prescreening by the Senior Editor. If in the judgment of the Senior Editor that a paper is unlikely to be publishable with two rounds, it will be rejected.