Introduction

The purpose of this page is to provide information about evaluations concerning the quality of MIS journals. These evaluations may prove helpful to you in preparing promotion and/or tenure packets.

In addition to the standard question of "how many", there, hopefully is some concern at your university about "how good" your publications are. Since tenure and promotion are evaluated by professionals in disciplines other than yours, the rankings of journals in your discipline often serve as surrogate measures of quality. If you have published in top-ranked journals, be sure to highlight the ranking of those journals in your promotion and tenure packets.

NEW! For Information Systems and Computer Science journal ISI impact factors in 2005, please also visit our ISI impacts page (prepared by France Belanger at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University).

NEW! For journal ranking lists and criteria at some universities, please also visit our new School Rankings page (prepared with the help of Rudy Hirschheim at Louisiana State University).

MIS Journal Rankings

Click journal code for full name of joural or click here for complete list of journal codes.

MIS Journal Rankings
Journal Code
(Click Journal
Code for
Full Name)
Rainer
&
Miller 2005
(50 Ranked)
Lowry
et al
2004
(World Ranking, 25 Ranked)
Katerat-tanakul
et al
2003
(27 Ranked)
Peffers
&
Tang
2003
(IS, 50 Ranked)
Peffers
&
Tang
2003
(Overall, 25 Ranked)
Mylono-poulos
&
Theo-harakis
2001
(50 Ranked)
Whitman et al
1999
(Top 50)
Hardgrave & Walstrom 1997
(53
Ranked)
Walstrom et al
1995
(27 Ranked)
Average Rank Points*
MISQ 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1.11
ISR 3 2 2 2 3 3 4 2 3 2.67
CACM 2 5 3   1 2 3 4 2 2.75
MS 4 4     7 5 2 3 4 4.14
JMIS 5 3   3   4 7 5 7 4.86
AI     6             6.00
DSI 7 6     5 8 5 6 8 6.43
HBR 6 15     4 7 6 9 9 8.00
IEEETrans   8       6 9 12   8.75
AIMag     9             9.00
EJIS 13 11 14 4 8 11       10.17
DSS 8 7 20 7 11 9 13 10 11 10.67
IEEESw 11                 11.00
I&M 12 9 15 5 9 10 15 20 12 11.89
ACMTDS 15   10   18     11 6 12.00
IEEETSE 10 22 5   24     7 5 12.17
ACMTrans   10       13 12 17   13.00
JCSS     13             13.00
SMR 16       17 12 8 13 13 13.17
CAIS 23     5 10 18       14.00
IEEETSMC 14                 14.00
ACS 20   12   16 24 14 14 10 15.71
JComp   16               16.00
AMJ 25       12 17   15 14 16.60
IJEC       12   23       17.50
JAIS   12   9 20 30       17.75
IEEETC 18                 18.00
ISF       18           18.00
JMS 21       6   27     18.00
OS 31 14     22 15   8   18.00
IEEEComp 19 25 16   19 19 11     18.17
ISJ 36 13 17 10 23 16 16     18.71
ASQ 24       15 21   16   19.00
JGIM       19           19.00
DATABASE 35     8 14 14 17 29 20 19.57
JDM       14     19 26   19.67
IS   21 18 21           20.00
MISQD       20           20.00
AMR 32       13 22   19 16 20.40
JACM 26   4 17   45 10     20.40
COR 17           24     20.50
HCI     7     32   23   20.67
CMR         21         21.00
IT&P       15   27       21.00
JSIS 27 18 22 16   20 30 25   22.57
JGITM       23           23.00
ACMTIS 9     39           24.00
InfoSci       24           24.00
JIM 27           21     24.00
OR   17       43   18 18 24.00
JCIS   23 26 13   41 22 27 22 24.86
BH                 25 25.00
IEEETKDE         25         25.00
JDA 22           28     25.00
IBMSJ 42   8     28       26.00
InfoSys                 26 26.00
JITTA       26           26.00
KBS     21         31   26.00
CompDcsn                 27 27.00
IT&M       27           27.00
WIRT   24   32           28.00
I&O 40 20   28   25       28.25
ACMSIG 27         26 33     28.67
ESA     24         34   29.00
ISM     19 38   33 26     29.00
INTFCS 39         39 20 28 19 29.00
Omega 48         29 32 24 15 29.60
IJHCS     11 42   44   22   29.75
DB 30                 17.33
JS&S     27         33   30.00
DataMgmt             37   24 30.50
IJMMS 34         34 25     31.00
JIS(Acct) 44 19       35 18 39   31.00
JISM 43     35       30 17 31.25
JIT     23 40           31.50
JOR               32   32.00
JOCEC       34   31       32.50
IRMJ 50     11   38 31 35   33.00
JITCA       33           33.00
JISE 33     31     36     33.33
JSM 46           29 40 21 34.00
JASIS             34     34.00
OBHDP           47   21   34.00
EMkt       29   40       34.50
AJIS       25   46       35.50
JOEUC       22   37 40 44   35.75
CSCW       36           36.00
JISci 49           23     36.00
Dtmn               51 23 37.00
INFOR               37   37.00
IJIM       37           37.00
JITM 36           38     37.00
BIT       30   48   36   38.00
ESR               38   38.00
JEMIS 38           39     38.50
CompJ     25     50 43     39.33
IPM       46     35     40.50
ECRA       41           41.00
IJTM 41           41     41.00
JIS(Edu)               41   41.00
CHB               42   42.00
EJOR           42       42.00
TIS       49   36       42.50
CommRsch               43   43.00
IR       43           43.00
JIIM 45           42     43.50
ESJ       45           45.00
IST             45     45.00
Sim               45   45.00
DPD 47           44     45.50
AIExp               46   46.00
JMSM             46     46.00
SJIS       44   49       46.50
ACMECX       47           47.00
JETM             47     47.00
JSwM               47   47.00
INTFC(Edu)             48 48   48.00
JITE       48           48.00
CompAuto               49   49.00
IJITMS             49     49.00
IBSCUG               50   50.00
Info             50     50.00
JM       50           50.00
QP               52   52.00
PCW               53   53.00

journal codes

* Average ranking points is calculated as (Total of ranks in each article) / (Number of articles in which a journal is ranked).
** Click on the "Codes" link for a list of journal codes and corresponding full journal names.
*** For best viewing experience, please set monitor resolution to 1024 x 768.

Kelly Rainer and Mark Miller ("Examining differences across journal rankings," Communications of the ACM, 2005, 48:2, 91-94) synthesized nine journal ranking studies published between 1991 and 2003 and generated a composite ranking of the top 50 journals across these studies.

Paul Lowry, Denton Romans, and Aaron Curtis ("Global journal prestige and supporting disciplines: A scientometric study of information systems journals," Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 2004, 5:2, 29-75, also see Paul Lowry & Denton Romans "New perspective on global information systems journal rankings and reference disciplines," Proceedings of the Ninth Americas Conference on Information Systems, 2003, 2801-2812) conducted the most extensive survey to date of IS journal rankings. They collected responses from 2559 respondents (32% of the 8741 targeted faculty members in 414 IS departments worldwide). Instead of using a predetermined journal list, they asked the respondents to freely nominate their top-four research journals.

Pairin Katerattanakul, Bernard Han, and Soongoo Hong (" Objective quality ranking of computing journals," Communications of the ACM, 2003, 46:10, 111-114) used the citation analysis method to rank 27 IS/CS journals and related practitioner publications. They collected citation data between 1997 and 2000 from the SSCI and SCI and found a total of 15,632 citations made to the 5,868 articles published in these 27 journals between 1995 and 1998.

Ken Peffers, and Ya Tang ("Identifying and evaluating the universe of outlets for information systems research: Ranking the journals," The Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application (JITTA), 2003, 5:1, 63-84) conducted an online survey and collected ratings from 1,129 validated and non-duplicate respondents. The 326 rated journals are presented in three ranked-ordered lists for IS journals, allied discipline journals, and professional and managerial publications, respectively.

Nikos Mylonopoulos and V.  Theoharakis, ("'On-Site: Global Perceptions of IS Journals," Communications of the ACM, Sept. 2001, vol. 44, no. 9, 29-33) summarize the responses of approximately 1000 IS researchers around the world. 

Michael Whitman, Anthony Hendrickson and Anthony Townsend ("Research Commentary. Academic Rewards for Teaching, Research and service: Data and Discourse," Information Systems Research, June 1999, vol. 10, no. 2, 99-109) report the rankings of 80 publications for their value in  reviews of research and performance based of the survey of 112 AACSB accredited institutions. 

Bill Hardgrave and Kent Walstrom ("Forums for MIS Scholars," Communications of the ACM, November 1997, vol. 40, no.11, 119-124) update and reassess the results of their 1995 report evaluating the quality of MIS journals. This update rated 53 publications as well as eleven conferences. 

Kent Walstrom, Bill Hardgrave and Rick Wilson ("Forums for Management Information Systems Scholars," Communications of the ACM, 1995, vol. 38, no.3, 93-102) list the rankings obtained from a sample of 46 MIS faculty on the quality of MIS journals. Information Systems Research, a new journal included in this survey, had not yet been published at the time of the Gillenson and Stutz survey.

Clyde Holsapple, Linda Johnson, Herman Manakyan, and John Tanner ("Business Computing Research Journals: A Normalized Citation Analysis," Journal of Management Information Systems, 1994, vol. 11, no. 1, 131-140) provides a ranking of business computing research journals based on the number of citations. The rankings reflect the number of years each journal has been published.

Mark Gillenson and Joel Stutz ("Academic Issues in MIS: Journals and Books," MIS Quarterly, 1991, vol.15, no.4, 147-452) report the attitudes of professors in the MIS field toward the academic quality of MIS journal. Respondents from 135 AACSB accredited business schools responded to the survey.


Bibliography of MIS Journals Citations

This list of references of articles about MIS Journals was provided by Gail Ridley at University of Tasmania, AARNet: Gail.Ridley@cs.utas.edu.au
Alavi, M. & Carlson, P. 1992, 'A review of MIS research and disciplinary development', Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 45-62.
Boyer, G. and Carlson, G. 1989, 'Characteristics of Periodical Literature for the Potential Reader or Author in Information Management', MIS Quarterly, vol.13, no.2, pp. 221-229.
Cheng, Holsapple, C. & Lee. 1996, 'Citation-Based Journal Rankings for AI Research', AI Magazine, Summer 1996, pp. 87-97.
Cheon, M. J., Grover, V. & Sabherwal, R. 1993, 'The evolution of empirical research in IS: A study in IS maturity', Information & Management, vol. 24, pp. 107-119.
Cooper, Blair and Pao. 1993, 'Communicating MIS Research: A Citation Study of Journal Influence', Information Processing & Management, vol.29, no.1, pp. 113-127.
Culnan, M. 1986, 'The intellectual structure of management information systems, 1972-1982: A co-citation analysis', Management Science, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 156-172.
Culnan, M. J. & Swanson, E. B. 1986, 'Research in management information systems, 1980-1984: Points of work and reference', MIS Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 289-301.
Doke, E. R. & Luke, R. H. 1987, 'Perceived quality of CIS/MIS journals among faculty: publishing hierarchies', Journal of Computer Information Systems, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 30-33.
Farhoomand, Ali F. 1992, 'Scientific progress of management information systems', in Information Systems Research: Issues, Methods and Practical Guidelines, ed Robert Galliers, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.
Gillenson, M. L. & Stutz, J. D.1991, 'Academic issues in MIS: Journals and books', MIS Quarterly, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 447-452.
Grover, V., Segars, A. H.& Simon, S. J. 1992, 'An assessment of institutional research productivity in MIS', Data Base, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 5-8.
Hamilton, S. & Ives, B. 1982, 'MIS research strategies', Information and Management, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 339-347.
Hamilton, S. & Ives, B. 1983, 'The journal communication system for MIS research', Data Base, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 3-14.
Hardgrave, B. C. & Walstrom, K. A. 1997, 'Forums for MIS scholars', Communications of the ACM, vol.40, no. 11, pp.119-124.
Hardgrave, B. C. & Walstrom, K. A. 2001, Information & Management, vol. 39, pp.117-124.
Holsapple, C., Johnson, L., Manakyan, H. & Tanner, J. 1994, 'Business computing research journals: A normalized citation analysis,' Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 131-140.
Holsapple, C., Johnson, L., Manakyan, H. & Tanner, J. 1993, 'A citation analysis of business computing research journals,' Information and Management, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 231-244.
Im, K.S., Kim, K.Y., & Kim, J.J. "An Assessment of Individual and Institutional Research Productivity in MIS," Decision Line, December/January, 1998, 8-12.
Jackson, W. M. & Nath, R. 1989, 'Publication patterns of MIS researchers', Interface, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 15-220.
Katerattanakul, P., Han, B., & Hong, S. (2003). Objective quality ranking of computing journals, Communications of the ACM, 46:10, 111-114.
Lowry, P. B., Romans, D., & Curtis, A. (2004). Global journal prestige and supporting disciplines: A scientometric study of information systems journals, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 5:2, 29-75.
Lowry, P. B. & Romans, D. (2003). New perspective on global information systems journal rankings and reference disciplines, Proceedings of the Ninth Americas Conference on Information Systems, 2801-2812.
Keen, P. G.W. 1991, 'Relevance and rigor in Information Systems research: Improving quality, confidence, cohesion and impact' in Information Systems Research: Contemporary Approaches and Emergent Traditions, eds HE. Nissen, K. L. Heinz & R. Hirschheim, North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Koh, C. E. 2003, 'IS journal review process: a survey on IS research practices and journal review issues', Information & Management, vol. 40, no. 8; pp.743-756.
Koong, K. S. & Weistroffer, H. R. 1989, 'Faculty usage of management Information Systems journals: A survey', Journal of Computer Information Systems, no l. 30, no. 1, pp. 1-4.
Lending, D. & Wetherbe, J. C. 1992, 'Update on MIS research; A profile of leading journals and US universities', Data Base, vol. 23, no. 23, pp. 5-11.
Morrison, J. & George, J. F. 1995, 'Exploring the software engineering component in MIS research, Communications of the ACM, vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 80-91.
Mylonopoulos, N.A. & Theoharakis, V. 2001 'On-Site: Global Perceptions of IS Journals,' Communications of the ACM, vol. 44, no. 9, 29-33. 
Nord, J. H. & Nord, G. D. 1994, 'MIS research: Journal status assessment and analysis', Information and Management, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 29-42.
Omar, M. H. & Goodwin, J. S. 1991, 'An investigation of decision support systems literature', Interface, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 18-23.
Orlikowski, W. J. & Baroudi, J. J. 1991, 'Studying information technology in organizations: Research approaches and assumptions', Information Systems Research, vol.2, no. 1 pp. 1-28.
Peffers, K., & Tang, Y. (2003). Identifying and evaluating the universe of outlets for information systems research: Ranking the journals, The Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application (JITTA), 5:1, 63-84.
Polonksy, Michael J. 2004, 'Journal Rankings: Does One Size Fit All?', Australasian Marketing Journal, vol.12, no.2, pp. 64-66.
Rainer, R. K., & Miller, M. (2005). Examining differences across journal rankings, Communications of the ACM, 48:2, 91-94.
Shim, J.P. & English. 1987, 'Productivity Rankings of Institutions Based on Publications in Five 'Top' Rated MIS Journals: 1980-1986', Proceedings of the 1987 Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, pp. 202-204.
Shim, J.P., English & Yoon. 1991, 'An Examination of Articles in the Eight Leading MIS Journals: 1980-1988', Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, vol.25, no.3, pp. 211-219.
Szajna, B. 1994, 'How much is information systems research addressing key practitioner concerns?', Data Base, vol.25, no.2, pp. 49-59.
Shugan, S. M. 2003, 'Editiorial: Journal Rankings: Save the Outlets for Your Research', Marketing Science, vol. 22, no.4, pp. 437-441.
Tellis, G. J., Rajesh K. C., & Ackerman, D. S. 1999, 'In Search of Diversity: The Record of Major Marketing Journals,' Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 120-131.
Trieschmann, J. S., Dennis, A. R., Northcraft, G. B., & Niemi, A. W. 2000, 'Serving Multiple Constituencies in the Business School: MBA Program versus Research Performance, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 1130-1141.
Trower, J. 1995, 'Publications by Researchers and Institutions in Two Top IS Journals: 1990-1994', Proceedings of the First Americas Conference on Information Systems, pp. 23-25.
Tsai, R., Richards, T. & Yellen, R. 1991, 'Practitioners' issues: Perceptions of Information Systems journals and issues', Interface, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 65-69.
Uncles, Mark D. 2004, 'Journal Rankings: How Much Credence Should We Give Them?', Australasian Marketing Journal, vol. 12, no.2, pp. 67-72.
Vessey, I., Ramesh, V. & Glass, R. 2002, 'Research in Information Systems: An Empirical Study of Diversity in the Discipline and Its Journals', Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 129-174.
Vogel D. R. & Wetherbe, J. C. 1984, 'MIS research: A profile of leading journals and universities', Data Base, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 3-14.
Walsham, G. 1995, 'The Emergence of Relativism in IS Research', Information Systems Research, vol.6, no.4, pp. 376-394.
Walstrom, K. A., Hardgrave, B. C. & Wilson, R. L. 1995, 'Forums for Management Information Systems scholars', Communications of the ACM, vol.38, no. 3, pp.93-107.
Whitman, M.E., Hendrickson, A.R., Townsend, A.M. 1999, 'Research Commentary. Academic Rewards for Teaching, Research and service: Data and Discourse', Information Systems Research, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.99-109.
Zinkhan, George M. 2004, 'Accessing Academic Research Through an E-Database: Issues of Journal Quality and Knowledge Use', Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 32, no.4, pp. 369-370.

URLs for MIS Journal Lists

Useful URLs that offer information about MIS journals. These URLs were supplied by Murray Wills at murray@maxsys.co.nz.
http://www.informs.org/Pubs/Pubshome.htmlINFORMS Online - Journal information, including forthcoming papers and announcements of special issues.
http://orcs.bus.okstate.edu/isworld/journal2.htmISWorld Net journals page - information about Information Systems and Management and Management Science/Operations Research journals. The information provided includes aims, instructions for authors, contents,editorial board.
http://www.alba.edu.gr/surveySurvey by Nikos Mylonopoulos  and  Vasilis Theoharakis with responses from over 1000 academics 
http://www.brint.com/ISJournal.htm Extensive lists of Business, Management, General and Information Technology Magazines, Business and Information Technology Journals, Practitioner Journals, and other Sources. Includes information on subscriptions and forthcoming issues.
http://www.acm.org/pubs/ Description of ACM journals which includes background, table of contents, information to authors and titles in current and future issues of ACM journals. Upon request ACM journal and proceedings articles may be faxed.
http://gise.org/links/pages/ Global Information Systems education site with information about journals with Information Systems education focus. This site also has syllabi for Information Systems courses
http://www.cbi.msstate.edu/faculty/shim/ar.htm Mississippi State University's list of "A" journals
http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~wstarbuc/ Information about citation rankings, as well as rising and falling stars.
http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/management/external/research.php "The Bradford List": Bradford University Management Centre's extensive list of business journal rankings.
http://lamp.infosys.deakin.edu.au/journ_cat/ Responses to John Lamp's 2002  ISWorld inquiry about IS journal categorizations.
http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/management/external/research.php an exercise carried out by Bradford University Management Centre which developed and built on earlier journal ranking exercises.