Author Resources

The resources provided here are a curation of MISQ editorials for authors. MISQ offers author development workshops and reviewer development workshops which are announced on the MISQ web site, AISWorld, and MISQ’s social media forums. 

Avoiding Type III Errors: Formulating IS Research Problems that Matter
(Arun Rai, MIS Quarterly Vol. 41 No. 2 pp. iii-vii/June 2017)

Type III errors occur when a researcher answers the wrong question using the right methods. This editorial discusses how authors can avoid Type III errors by safeguarding against misconceptions, risks, and common errors in problem formulation, which dramatically influences the research question that is addressed, the value that is created by a research study, and the suitability of the research for MISQ.

Seeing the Forest for the Trees
(Arun Rai, MIS Quarterly Vol. 41 No. 4 pp. iii-vii/December 2017)

Discusses (1) the issues arising from not effectively abstracting the immediate problem of interest to an archetypal problem, and (2) the approaches that can assist in abstracting the immediate problem to an archetypal problem.

Engaged Scholarship: Research with Practice for Impact
(Arun Rai, MIS Quarterly Vol. 43 No. 2 pp. iii-viii/June 2019)

Discusses how engagement with practice can be beneficial in problem formulation, theory development, research design, and problem solution, and how risks associated with engaged scholarship can be mitigated.

Creating Blue Oceans of Thought Via Highly Citable Articles
(Detmar Straub, MIS Quarterly Vol. 33 No. 4 pp. iii-vii/December 2009)

Discusses why contribution is a relative term and implies that the work is adding to a body of literature or methodological development. It provides examples to showcase approaches to achieve novelty in work and break new ground.

The Problem of the Problem
(Ron Weber, MIS Quarterly Vol. 27 No. 1 pp. iii-ix/March 2003)

Discusses why choosing the phenomena we wish to explain or predict is the most important decision we make as a researcher and the mindsets that are damaging to our identifying and articulating high-quality research problems. 

Beyond Outdated Labels: The Blending of IS Research Traditions
(Arun Rai, MIS Quarterly Vol. 42 No. 1 pp. iii-vi/March 2018)

Discusses how the increasing blending of IS research traditions (i.e., combining informing theoretical perspectives and methods across traditions) defies traditional classifications (e.g., behavioral, design science, economics, and organizational, or some variants of this labeling) and approaches to effectively pursue such cross-combinative practices.

Synergies Between Big Data and Theory
(Arun Rai, MIS Quarterly Vol. 40 No. 2 pp. iiiix/June 2016)

Discusses (1) changes in the practices to generate and source data for research, (2) certain cautions that arise from these changes, and (3) synergies that can be achieved between big data and the testing, elaboration, and generation of theory in IS through research designs and methods.

Commonalities Across IS Silos and Intradisciplinary Information Systems Research
(Paulo Goes, MIS Quarterly Vol. 37 No. 2 pp. iii-vii/June 2013)

Discusses often-overlooked commonalities in research principles and execution across IS research traditions (behavioral, design science, economics, and organizational) and why these commonalities position IS scholars to conduct impactful research by achieving a broader integration in the field at the level of research streams and general methodologies and not only research methods.

Information Systems Research and Behavioral Economics
(Paulo Goes, MIS Quarterly Vol. 37 No. 3 pp. iii-viii/September 2013)

Discusses the integration of behavioral and economics perspectives in IS research. 

Opportunities and Challenges for Different Types of Online Experiments
(Elena Karahanna, Izak Benbasat, Ravi Bapna, Arun Rai; MIS Quarterly Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. iii-x/December 2018)

Highlights the reasons that have propelled new types of experiments; discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the online variants of lab, field, and natural experiments; and identifies issues that emerge with the new online variants of experimental research.

Diversity of Design Science Research
(Arun Rai with contributions from Andrew Burton Jones, Hsinchun Chen, Alok Gupta, Wolfgang Ketter, Jeffrey Parsons, H. Raghav Rao, Sumit Sarkar, Youngjin Yoo; MIS Quarterly Vol. 41 No. 1 pp. iii-xviii/March 2017)

Discusses the diversity of perspectives related to design and design science research, provides examples of genres of design science research, and identifies commonalities and differences across genres.

Qualitative Studies in Information Systems: A Critical Review and Some Guiding Principles
(Suprateek Sarker, Xiao Xia, Tanya Beaulieu, MIS Quarterly Vol. 37 No. 4 pp. iiixviii/December 2013)

Describes the anatomical components of qualitative research papers and suggests principles that provide holistic guidance to both researchers and evaluators of qualitative research.  

The First Few Pages
(Arun Rai, MIS Quarterly Vol. 42 No. 2 pp. iii-vi/June 2018)

The first few pages of an article can make it or break it. This editorial discusses what authors need to achieve in an effective introduction and how they can do so; it also briefly discusses the writing of the abstract and development of an effective title.

The First Revision
(Arun Rai, MIS Quarterly Vol. 43 No. 3 pp. iii-viii/September 2019)

Many journals, including MISQ, are striving to arrive at an editorial disposition toward a manuscript after reviewing the first revision. This editorial discusses practices that can be applied by authors to formulate and develop the first revision.

Why Top Journals Accept Your Paper
(Detmar Straub, MIS Quarterly Vol. 33 No. 3 iii–x/June 2009)

Discusses the reasons why top journals accepts articles; differentiates between the required and the enhancing aspects of an article. 

The Ions of Theory Construction
(Suzanne Rivard, MIS Quarterly Vol. 38 No. 2 pp. iiixiii/June 2014)

Differentiates between papers that make a theoretical contribution through a comprehensive review of the literature and pure theory papers; discusses aspects in developing these types of papers and more broadly those that seek to make a theoretical contribution.

Analyzing the Past to Prepare for the Future: Writing a Literature Review
(Jane Webster and Richard Watson; MIS Quarterly Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. xiii-xxiii/June 2002)

Provides guidelines on how to synthesize the literature and write a review article that looks forward.