Submission Guidelines

The mission of the Journal of Informatics Education Research is to provide a forum for the publication of research focusing on advances in information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) instruction and curricula. It is an online publication outlet for researchers investigating innovative IS/IT education delivery processes and emerging IT topics that have significant curricular and instructional implications. Issues addressed in JIER articles include topics relevant to the instruction of specific courses identified in IS and MSIS model curricula, IS/IT accreditation,IS/IT professional development and the impact of information systems on other courses or curricula. A vital aim of this journal is to assist IS/IT faculty in the development, delivery and improvement of IS courses, the advancement of IS curricula and to encourage the implementation and evaluation of new or innovative instructional approaches in specific courses. JIER is sponsored by the Association for Information Systems (AIS) education special interest group: SIGED: IAIM. JIER shares SIGED: IAIM’s ideals and mission of promoting excellence in IS pedagogy, instruction, curriculum, and educationally-oriented research. Visit both the SIGED: IAM (www.iaim.org) and JIER (www.sig-ed.org/jier/index.html) Web sites for additional information on SIGED: IAIM and JIER.

Submission Guidelines:   JIER accepts empirical and interpretive submissions that make significant contributions to advances in IS/IT education. Authors of substantially re-worked versions of Best Papers and Best Paper nominees for education tracks at ICIS, AIS regional conferences (AMCIS, ECIS, PACIS) and AIS chapter conferences (e.g. AAIS), and SIGED: IAIM annual conferences are invited to submit their manuscripts for consideration for publication in JIER. New manuscripts are also welcomed. Eligible manuscripts undergo a double-blind review process.

Education track Best Paper Award winning manuscripts and manuscripts nominated for Best Paper in the education tracks of AIS affiliated conferences are typically published in conference proceedings. In order to be published in JIER, manuscripts for Best Paper nominees and winners must be substantially different from the proceedings articles. This means that the content of manuscript submitted to JIER must be at least thirty percent (30%) different from that of the previously published proceedings version. In order to achieve this minimum difference threshold for the two manuscripts, the JIER editor recommends:

• Updating and expanding the literature review. Adding more substance to the introduction and literature review sections helps to ensure that the manuscript remains current with the existing body of knowledge. This might involve the incorporation of relevant articles that have been published since the submission of the conference proceedings article or the inclusion of recent publications in relevant referent disciplines. For example, if the proceedings article cited several articles justifying use of active learning mechanisms in information systems courses, the literature review of active learning in could be expanded to address the findings of additional journal articles that have focused on active learning in IS courses. Alternatively, the literature review for the JIER manuscript could be expanded to include published articles on active learning in computer science or general education courses. Updating and expanding the literature review adds substance to the content of the paper as well as the reference list.
• Further justifying the problem statement, predictions, or hypotheses. This may involve re-writing the sections of the paper that address the problem statement, predictions, or hypotheses to ensure that readers will have a clear understanding of these and the logic on which they are based. In some instances, this may involve establishing clear connections to previously published research findings.
• Providing additional detail in sections of the paper that describe research methods. Be more specific about research protocols, data collection methods, instructional methods, course development processes, etc. Try to provide sufficient information to enable readers to replicate the methods/processes that were used.
• Performing and describing the results of additional statistical tests completed on collected data or expand summaries of qualitative findings. The results sections of conference proceedings articles often report only a select subset of research findings -- the re-worked version for JIER offers the opportunity to present a much more complete and richer view of both quantitative and qualitative findings.
• Expanding the discussion of the implications of the findings for IS educators and/or demonstrating the similarities and differences between your results and those reported in previously published articles. IS education is always evolving and authors of JIER articles are encouraged to describe how the results of their investigation contribute to that evolution.
• Further clarifying the limitations of the research findings and to identify where additional research attention should be devoted to address the limitations.

Submission Formats: Authors should submit manuscripts electronically as attachment to an e-mail message to the editor. All submissions should include a cover letter and a manuscript that conforms to each of the following formatting requirements:

1. a. A cover page with the title of the paper, the authors' names, affiliations, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. If the submission is an enhanced conference paper, it should also identify the title (exact wording) of the conference proceedings version of the paper, the conference and track in which the paper was presented, and whether this was a Best Paper or a Best Paper nominee. Also, include a brief statement (or outline) summarizing the changes made to the manuscript to ensure that it is at least 30% different from the proceeding version
2. b. The manuscript itself. This must conform to AIS Publication Style guidelines which can be accessed via: http://cais.aisnet.org/format.asp. This new formatting approach enables JIER to be compatible with the AIS Reference Library and search feature.

Upon submission, the editors distribute the manuscript for blind review to members of the JIER review group and editorial board. In some cases, contributors will be encouraged to revise their manuscripts for a second round of reviews. Manuscripts currently under review elsewhere should not be submitted to JIER, and will not be considered for review or publication by JIER.

Send submissions to:

Tom Schambach, Editor
Journal of Informatics Education Research
Illinois State University
Department of Accountancy and Business Information Systems
Normal, IL 61790