Guide to a Successful Submission

Message from the Program Chairs

The Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) is an annual research conference in the information systems discipline. Since preparing a paper for AMCIS requires a considerable amount of effort, we want to ensure that this effort is goal-directed, and the outcomes bring novel insights and contributions to the IS community. Thus, we hope to provide some guidance to authors preparing submissions to AMCIS 2023.

Which paper type is the right one for my submission?

Some reasons for rejecting submissions to AMCIS are a lack of fit to the submission types offered. Papers are categorized as Full Papers, Emergent Research Forum (ERF) Papers, or Technology Research, Education, and Opinion (TREO). Additionally, there are Professional Development Symposia (PDS), Panels, and Workshops. Please make sure you submit your work to the appropriate area.

Full Papers present fully developed papers on a specific scholarly topic, although they are shorter than journal submissions. In comparison, ERFs present novel and promising work that is still in progress and not completed yet. Thus, ERFs provide initial evidence that supports the arguments made, but final methodological steps related to the paper may not have been carried out at the point of paper submission. Accordingly, in addition to other typical criteria that research papers are assessed on (e.g., importance of research objectives, relevance and completeness of theory, appropriateness of methodology etc.), ERFs will also be assessed on the potential of their contributions, the feasibility of the proposed methodology, and likelihood of completing the proposed work plan by AMCIS 2023, in August 2023. ERFs are thus required to report the expected progress between the date of submission and presentation at AMCIS, and authors will be expected to describe the progress made during their AMCIS presentations.

Which track should I submit to?

Another reason for rejecting is poor fit to the track or mini-track selected. As an author, you decide which conference track best matches your paper and the most central contribution it makes. Hence, please choose your track wisely so that the paper reaches the right audience, and gets the right set of track chairs, associate editors and reviewers with the right expertise. You may also review past AMCIS proceedings in the AIS electronic library to get an overview of the papers in various tracks. While AMCIS 2023 has several new tracks, several tracks have traditionally appeared in past AMCIS conferences. Nevertheless, a perfect fit to the track is not necessary. If your paper has a multi- or cross-topic focus, then please decide which track represents the best fit based on the main contribution of the work. At submission, you will be expected to briefly state your rationale for choosing the specific track.

Understanding the review process

Like other high-caliber scientific conferences, AMCIS relies on a peer review process where submissions are typically reviewed by 2 reviewers, as experts in the relevant field. A successful conference is highly dependent on having a quality review process. As authors submitting to AMCIS 2023, you will be expected to also participate in the review process as you might also be asked to support the IS community as a reviewer for AMCIS. Hence, please familiarize yourself with the AMCIS 2023 review process.

You might also wish to familiarize yourself with the review criteria for different submission types. Keeping these criteria in mind when preparing your paper submission will help you prepare a stronger paper for submission. It will also help you in reviewing other papers for AMCIS 2023.

Making a contribution to IS research

To get your submission accepted at AMCIS, your submission should make a contribution (or has the potential to make such a contribution in the case of ERFs). The contribution, therefore, should be original and extend existing IS research while maintaining high standards of rigor. Given the breadth of IS research, the nature of contributions differs across methods (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, analytical, conceptual) and traditions (e.g., behavioral, design, data science etc.).

Instead of giving authors of AMCIS 2023 an extensive list of criteria that need to be fulfilled to make a contribution, we refer to recent editor comments that are also applicable to papers submitted to AMCIS 2023. This list is not exhaustive, but offers less experienced authors very good insights into how they can craft a contribution:

  • Gupta, A. (2018) Editorial—Traits of Successful Research Contributions for Publication in ISR: Some Thoughts for Authors and Reviewers. Information Systems Research, 29 (4), 779–786. doi: 10.1287/isre.2018.0825.
  • Leidner, Dorothy E. (2020) “What’s in a Contribution?,” Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 21(1), DOI: 10.17705/1jais.00598, Available at: ttps://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol21/iss1/2
  • Rai, A. (2017) Editor’s Comments: Avoiding Type III Errors: Formulating IS Research Problems that Matter. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 41 (2), iii–vii.
  • Rai, A. (2017) Editor’s Comments: Seeing the Forest for the Trees. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 41 (4), iii–ix.