Engaging scientometrics in information systems

Abstract

Although scientometrics is seeing increasing use in Information Systems (IS) research, in particular for evaluating research efforts and measuring scholarly influence; historically, scientometric IS studies are focused primarily on ranking authors, journals, or institutions. Notwithstanding the usefulness of ranking studies for evaluating the productivity of the IS field's formal communication channels and its scholars, the IS field has yet to exploit the full potential that scientometrics offers, especially towards its progress as a discipline. This study makes a contribution by raising the discourse surrounding the value of scientometric research in IS, and proposes a framework that uncovers the multi-dimensional bases for citation behaviour and its epistemological implications on the creation, transfer, and growth of IS knowledge. Having identified 112 empirical research evaluation studies in IS, we select 44 substantive scientometric IS studies for in-depth content analysis. The findings from this review allow us to map an engaging future in scientometric research, especially towards enhancing the IS field's conceptual and theoretical development.