Operations and Decision Technologies is fourth worldwide in terms of research contributions

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – According to new journal publication rankings from the Association for Information Systems, the Indiana University Kelley School of Business ranks fourth worldwide in terms of research contributions by its faculty in the Department of Operations and Decision Technologies.

The rankings are based on the number of publications by Kelley ODT faculty in the three top information systems journals – Management Information Systems Quarterly, Information Systems Research and Journal of Management Information Systems.

Founded in 1994, the Association for Information Systems is the premier professional organization for people and organizations who lead the research, teaching, practice and study of information systems worldwide. The association has about 5,000 members from 100 countries.

“I realize that many rankings are perceptual, but this one is completely factual,” said Vijay Khatri, professor and chairperson of operations and decision technologies and the Judith Norman Davis and Kim G. Davis Professor of Business Analytics. “This reflects the quality of research of our faculty as well as how nimble we are as a department. For example, our faculty are engaged in research related to Covid, cybersecurity, misinformation and other topics that are pertinent from a practice perspective.”

In addition to the success by Kelley ODT faculty as a group, eight professors recently were recognized for their individual research activities. Alan Dennis, professor of information systems and the John T. Chambers Chair of Internet Systems, was honored for his extensive contributions to the discipline over his career.

Dennis was the recipient of the 2020 Association for Information Systems’ Technology Vision Award. This award honors “individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the technology vision of the association.”

Like other scholarly organizations, AIS moved its annual conferences online this year due to the pandemic. Dennis’ efforts to lead the conversion of the group’s  ECIS 2020, PACIS 2020 and AMCIS 2020 conferences into an online conference and the formation of the AIS Virtual Conference Series was called “remarkable.”

“These contributions not only benefited the authors in these conferences, your efforts resulted in numerous advancements and contributions in the long-term technological vision of the association moving forward,” the award citation to Dennis read.

A founding member of the Association for Information Systems, Dennis has led the organization the last three years, first as president-elect in 2018-19, then as president the following year and now serves as past-president. He also serves as editor-in-chief of one of the organization’s journals, AIS Transactions on Replication Research, and has been its vice president for conferences.

“Alan is taking an active role in helping to build communities, including the communities within Kelley, and IU and also within the discipline,” Khatri said of Dennis. “He’s been a mentor helping many of our younger colleagues.”

Khatri also cited Dennis’ efforts to help organize the Kelley HOPE Digital Project, which has benefited more than 360 small businesses and public organizations in Indiana struggling with the economic impact of stay-at-home advisories and other restrictions to establish or increase their online presence and boost their digital capabilities. It also provided a meaningful experience for more than 230 current and prospective students and alumni at a time when COVID-19 led to shortened or cancelled summer internships.

A paper by Gilvan “Gil” Souza, the Ming Mei Chair in Business and professor of operations management, “Closed‐Loop Supply Chains: A Critical Review, and Future Research,” in Decision Sciences Journal was ranked as the 10th most downloaded paper in the 50-year history of the journal.

Fei Gao, assistant professor of operations and decision technologies, received received two awards for his research in 2020 – the MSOM Best Paper Award and Best OM Paper in Management Science.

Hillol Bala’s research (co-authored with Viswanath Venkatesh), “Technology Acceptance Model 3 and a Research Agenda on Interventions,” in Decision Sciences Journal was ranked as the most cited and downloaded paper in the 50-year history of the journal. Bala, a Conrad Prebys Professor and associate professor of information systems, is co-director of Kelley’s Institute for Digital Enterprise.

Sagar Samtani, assistant professor of operations and decision technologies and a Grant Thornton Scholar, is a co-investigator in a $300,000 National Science Foundation grant, “EAGER: SaTC-EDU: Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Research at Scale.”

The project team, which also includes faculty at the University of Arizona, proposes to integrate traditionally disparate AI tools, data, and resources from industry (such as FireEye and Microsoft), nonprofit organizations, and National Science Foundation programs, such as Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace, CyberCorps and Cybersecurity Innovation for Cyberinfrastructure. AI4Cyber will serve as a resource on AI for the cybersecurity community to facilitate innovative pedagogy and foster interdisciplinary research for five data-rich and ever-evolving cybersecurity applications.

Lu “Lucy” Yan, associate professor of operations and decision technologies and a Grant Thornton Scholar, and Jingjing Zhang, associate professor of operations and decision technologies and a Fettig/Whirlpool Faculty Fellow, shared the INFORMS Information Systems Society’s Sandy Slaughter Early Career Award. A variety of scholarly contributions are considered as part of the award’s criteria, including an emerging body of thematic and high-impact research publications that are likely to make a significant impact and evidence of growing intellectual leadership.

Ph.D. student Akshat Lakhiwal received the Association for Information Systems’ Doctoral Student Service Award.

“I am delighted that our department has so many stars – everybody is contributing in different ways – and I think that probably is something that sets us apart from so many departments in the country. And all of them are moving with really high momentum,” said Khatri, who also serves as co-director of the Kelley Institute for Business Analytics.