AIS - "Basket of Eight"

Introduction: The AIS Basket of Eight and its role in Information Systems

The so-called “AIS Basket of Eight” is a group of eight leading journals in the field of Information Systems compiled by the Association for Information Systems (AIS). These journals are considered particularly influential in the international scientific community, both in terms of the theoretical foundation and the methodological rigor of the published articles. For students and doctoral candidates, the basket offers a systematic introduction to the core literature in the field and also serves as a point of reference for assessing the reputation of specific publication venues.

The “Basket of Eight” was historically created against the backdrop of efforts to make research performance in the field of information systems more comparable internationally and to establish uniform quality standards for journals. The selection is intended to ensure that central trends in the discipline—such as behavior-oriented, organization-related, economic, or technical-design-oriented perspectives—are adequately represented. For theses, this means that a systematic examination of literature from these journals is typically regarded as an indication of the high scientific standards of the work.

At the same time, the “Basket of Eight” should not be understood as a definitive or exclusive canonization of Information Systems. Rather, it represents a deliberately focused selection that is used in particular in tenure and appointment procedures, but also in the evaluation of research achievements in doctoral procedures. Students and doctoral candidates are therefore advised to use the basket as a starting point, but to supplement it with relevant journals from related or more specialized subdisciplines.

Howto: AIS - "Basket of Eight"

In Information Systems, the leading organization is the Association for Information Systems (AIS). This organization has combined the leading journals in a so-called AIS “Basket of Eight”. This collection of TOP journals is also called the “Senior Scholars' Basket of Journals”.

Table 1 contains these journals [1]:

Further information under: https://aisnet.org/?SeniorScholarBasket.

Profile of the eight Journals

The following is a brief overview of the eight journals in the AIS Basket of Eight.

• European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS)
  The European Journal of Information Systems focuses on theoretically sound and empirically rigorous contributions that address the role of information systems in organizations and society. A particular emphasis is placed on European contexts and the connection between theory development and practical relevance.
• Information Systems Journal (ISJ)
  The Information Systems Journal focuses primarily on socio-technical aspects of the design and use of information systems. Typical articles examine implementation processes, user acceptance, or the organizational impact of digital technologies, for example. This is done on the basis of qualitative or interpretive research approaches.

• Information Systems Research (ISR)
  Information Systems Research is strongly theory-oriented and primarily publishes quantitative empirical studies with high methodological standards. The journal is particularly relevant for researchers working at the intersection of information systems, economics, and organizational theory.

• Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS)
  The Journal of the Association for Information Systems sees itself as the flagship journal of the AIS and covers the entire spectrum of information systems research. In addition to empirical studies, it also publishes conceptual work and theories that make a significant contribution to the further development of the field.

• Journal of Information Technology (JIT)
  The Journal of Information Technology focuses on the strategic role of IT in organizations and the social significance of digital technologies. Contributions generally focus on issues of digital transformation, IT management, and IT strategy from an organizational perspective.

• Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS)
  The Journal of Management Information Systems focuses on the management of information systems and their use in supporting organizational decision-making and control processes. It publishes studies that are both theoretically sound and practical, and often have a strong management focus.

• Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS)
  The Journal of Strategic Information Systems focuses on the strategic use of information systems and digital innovations. Typical articles examine how companies use IT solutions to generate competitive advantages, transform business models, or create new forms of value.

• MIS Quarterly (MISQ)
  MIS Quarterly is one of the most renowned journals in Information Sysrtems and is known for its particularly selective review process. The journal publishes theoretically original and methodologically excellent work that often serves as reference studies within the discipline and shapes future lines of research.

How to search the Basket of Eight?

Efficient literature research in basket journals requires the systematic use of search strategies. These must support the thematic focus of your own work on the one hand and ensure the quality of the results on the other. Students and doctoral candidates should therefore structure their search queries in a targeted manner by identifying key terms related to the research topic and combining them with appropriate Boolean operators (e.g., AND, OR, NOT). The use of phrase searches, for example with quotation marks, and truncation to include different word variants can lead to increased precision and completeness of the hits.

In addition, it is advisable to deliberately limit the search period, for example to the last five or ten years, in order to highlight current discourses and developments. Afterwards, it is possible to access older works in a targeted manner via citation chains (backward and forward search). This approach ensures, on the one hand, that you are up to date with the current state of research and, on the other hand, enables you to identify concise basic texts that often appeared before the selected time frame.

Example: Search with Scopus:

1. Specifying the search term—here “Digital Transformation”
2. Specify what exactly should be searched—here title, abstract, and keywords this works with Scopus with “TITLE-ABS-KEY”
3. Perform search with the following so called query string:
   TITLE-ABS-KEY ("Digitale Transformation”) AND (ISSN(0960-085X) OR ISSN(1350-1917) OR ISSN(1047-7047) OR ISSN(1536-9323) OR ISSN(0268-3962) OR ISSN (0742-1222) OR ISSN(0963-8687) OR ISSN(0276-7783)) 
4. Save results
5. View results
6. If necessary, refine the search, e.g. by adding more search words, and restart at 1. until relevant literature is found.

Figure 1 illustrates the search on www.scopus.com.

Example: Search with EBSCOhost:

EBSCOhost works only conditionally with ISSN, therefore modify the query string.

((((((((JN “MIS Quarterly”)) OR (JN “European Journal of Information Systems”)) OR (JN “Information Systems Journal”)) OR (JN “Information Systems Research”)) OR (JN “Journal of the Association for Information Systems”)) OR (JN “Journal of Information Technology (Palgrave Macmillan)”) OR (JN “Journal of Information Technology (Routledge, Ltd.)”) OR (JN “Journal of Information Technology & Economic Development”)) OR (JN “Journal of Management Information Systems”)) OR (JN “MIS Quarterly”)

EBSCOhost also uses other parameters for narrowing down the search

((TI “digital transformation”) OR (AB “Digital transformation”) OR (KW “digital transformation”))

Figure 2 illustrates the procedure for the database EBSCOhost.

Evaluation and documentation of search results

The quality of a literature search is reflected not only in the formulation of search queries, but above all in the systematic evaluation of the results. For qualification papers, it is advisable to first export the hits to a literature management program (e.g., Citavi, EndNote, Zotero, or Mendeley). This allows you to remove duplicates, assign keywords, and form initial thematic clusters. Structured categorization—for example, according to theoretical approaches, methods, contexts, or key findings—makes it easier to develop a consistent and clearly structured overview of the current state of research.

At the same time, exclusion criteria should be transparently documented, for example, if certain studies are not considered further due to insufficient methodological quality, inappropriate contexts, or a purely technical focus. Such documentation supports the traceability of the literature selection and increases the scientific transparency of the work. Especially in doctoral projects, the traceably justified selection of articles from basket journals can be an important part of methodological reflection.

Basket of Eight in the Context of Other Journal Lists

Although the AIS Basket of Eight is an important guide, there are other journal lists that are used in particular for a differentiated evaluation of research performance. One example is the list of outstanding journals in information systems research maintained by the “Senior Scholars” of the AIS, which goes beyond the original basket and includes additional, sometimes more specialized journals (AIS - Senior Scholars' List of Premier Journals). For a comprehensive literature search, it may be useful to consult these expanded lists to identify thematically relevant journals that are not included in the basket.

For students and doctoral candidates, this means that the “Basket of Eight” represents a useful core collection of relevant top journals, but should not be used as the sole source of reference. Particularly for interdisciplinary questions—such as those at the interfaces with business administration, computer science, sociology, or public management—it is advisable to include additional journals and conferences in the research. This helps to avoid the risk of your own work overlooking important theoretical perspectives or current empirical findings from related fields of research by focusing too narrowly on a few publications.

The role of Basket of Eight and other journalists in the context of ranking and impact is explained on the page Ranking and Impact in Information Systems.

Advice for students and doctoral candidates

The AIS Basket of Eight offers students in bachelor's and master's programs a high-quality introduction to international literature. When writing seminar papers and theses, it can be useful to first identify key articles from these journals in order to familiarize yourself with basic concepts, established theories, and typical research designs in the subject area. Subsequently, other, often more focused journals can be consulted to examine specific issues in greater detail and to keep abreast of current specialized discourse.

Doctoral students should also consider the “Basket of Eight” as a strategic tool for their own publication planning. The quality standards required by these journals in terms of theoretical foundation, methodological rigor, and contribution to scientific discussion are high and are usually accompanied by long and intensive review processes. Realistic time planning that takes into account the duration of review procedures, possible rounds of revision, and the option of second submissions is therefore essential. At the same time, consistent orientation toward work from the “Basket” journals can help to align one's own research more stringently and ensure connectivity to central discourses in the field.

The overview of Research Methods may be helpful for planning empirical studies whose results you would like to submit to the Basket of Eight journals.

References

[1] AIS 2016: Senior Scholars' Basket of Journals, Assoziation for Information Systems (AIS), https://aisnet.org/?SeniorScholarBasket, accessed at 07/10/2016.