Topics of interest in IS: evolution of themes and differences between research and practice

The information systems discipline has been criticized in the past for lack of secure foundations, frequent shifts in focus and lack of impact on prac tice. The study deals with two main issues-evolution of themes in IS resear ch and practice over time and differences between research and practice in the IS area as evidenced by the publication process. More than 3000 article s published across five years in four IS journals and five magazines were e xamined and categorized by thematic areas. We find journals and magazines f ocusing on different themes with the former focusing on conceptual and abst ract models while the latter devote attention to specific applications. Sig nificantly, academic themes show more variance over time. Apparently, there is no significant increase in the richness of themes being addressed over time but there is evidence of conflicting contemporaneous trends in researc h and practice. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.