ECIS 2014 – Submission Dates and Guidelines

Paper Submission begins: 1 November, 2013
Call for Papers Submission Deadline Date: 8 December, 2013
Notification of acceptance: 3 March, 2014
Panel submission deadline: 5 March, 2014
Final version of accepted papers due: 30 March, 2014
Early Bird Registration closes: 16 April, 2014

Digital Work, Digital Life Our physical reality is increasingly entangled with digital representations. We are continuously connecting to distant others via email, text and social media on our mobile devices. We rely on big data analytics to help us take action in our increasingly complex world and inanimate objects are beginning to communicate with one another in “the Internet of things.” At ECIS 2014 we want to make the exploration of the opportunities and challenges associated with increasing digitality in both our work and everyday lives a key theme. Not only will ECIS 2014 feature conference tracks that focus on digital innovation but it will also introduce new forms of conferencing and interacting. ECIS 2014 will leverage digital technology for participants to meet and interact in new ways. It will also offer a variety of presentation modalities including paper presentations, interactive posters and demos, and developmental roundtable discussions. ECIS 2014 will also include an industry track where experts in such fields as cyber security, mobile technology and digital innovation will share their insights.

Tracks
All papers need to be submitted to one – and only one — of the 24 tracks that constitute the ECIS 2014 program:
01 Digital Work, Digital Life (conference theme)
02 Advancing Theories and Theorizing in IS Research
03 Alternative Genres
04 Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management
05 Business Model and Entrepreneurship Research in IS
06 Business Process Management
07 Designing Collaboration
08 Decision Support and Big Data
09 Digital Health Initiatives
10 Economics and Value of IS
11 General IS Topics and Breakthrough Ideas
12 Human-Computer Interaction
13 IT Project Management
14 IS Security and Privacy
15 IT Strategy and Governance
16 Mobile Life and Mobile Technologies
17 Openness and IT
18 IS Teaching Cases
19 Research Methods and Philosophy
20 Service Innovation, Engineering, and Management
21 Social Media Research and Analytics within and between Organizations
22 Sustainably Digital
23 The Digital Public Sector
24 Panels

Submission Types
ECIS 2014 invites five types of submissions:
• Completed Research Papers
• Research-in-Progress Papers
• Teaching Cases (submitted to Teaching Cases Track only)
• Prototypes
• Panels (please note: submission deadline for panels is 5 March, 2014)

Maximum limit of submissions:
The ECIS Standing Committee has established a maximum limit of 3 submissions per author (including coauthored papers). Any submissions beyond this limit by a given author, will be eliminated from the review process (i.e. fourth and further papers will be identified based on date and time of submission).
Language:
English is the language of the conference and of all submissions.

Originality:
Submissions to ECIS 2014 must be original; submissions cannot have been published or accepted in a journal or other conference proceedings, nor presented at another conference. Furthermore, papers may not be under consideration for publication or presentation elsewhere at the time of submission to ECIS 2014.

Template/formatting:
All submissions must use the Word submission template. Instructions for using the template and formatting the submission are provided in the ECIS 2014 template document itself. Submissions should consist of only one file containing all text, figures, tables and references. Files that do not conform to the ECIS template will not be considered for review.
The electronic review system will only accept files in Adobe’s PDF format. Authors are expected to convert their papers to this file format prior to submission.

Submission Length:
Each type of submission has specific page length requirements. See the requirements specific to each submission type to learn about the specific page lengths. Please note that neither the cover page (which includes title, keywords and abstract) nor the list of references are included in the page count. However, all text, images, tables and appendices must be within the page limit. Any submission that exceeds page length limits will be eliminated from the review process.
How to Submit:
All papers must be submitted through the ECIS 2014 electronic submission system. Instructions on how to access this system will be available by November 1, 2013. Submissions that are emailed to either the conference or track chairs will not be accepted.
Please note, that pre- or post-ECIS workshops are not to be submitted through the ECIS 2014 electronics submission system.

Anonymizing Submissions:
Authors name(s) should not appear in the body of the paper (including the abstract). Eliminate references to your institutions, your sponsors, your unpublished work and your published work if these references will identify any author. To aid in making your paper anonymous, leave Acknowledgements blank until the final version is prepared for the Proceedings.

Review Process:
All submissions will be pre-screened for conformity with submission guidelines and for overall appropriateness for the conference. Papers that pass the initial screening processes will be double-blind reviewed.

Publication of proceedings:
All submissions accepted for presentation at ECIS 2014 (including completed research, RIP, prototypes, teaching cases, and panels) will be published in the AIS library where also the proceedings of previous years are stored (http://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis/). The proceedings are included in the main indexes and search engines.

Copyright:
Copyright is retained by the authors. By submitting the final paper to the conference organizers, the authors agree to allow the conference organizers to have non–exclusive use of the material for publication in the various modalities of the conference proceedings. Authors are encouraged to develop their papers for journal publication after the conference. Several tracks are sponsored by journals that will offer to authors of selected papers fast-track submission opportunity or post-conference workshop participation..

Completed Paper Presentations:
The conference rooms in which paper presentations are held will be equipped with power and a beamer to which authors can connect their laptop or tablet. However, authors should not count on Internet access in these rooms.

Research-in-Progress and Prototype Presentations:
Prototypes and some research-in-progress will be presented as posters. Authors can count on the presentation space having power tables and power outlets, as well as boards to pin posters on, but they should not expect Internet access.

In addition to the general submission requirements outlined above, there are specific requirements for each submission type. These are identified below:
Requirements: Completed Research Papers
Completed research papers should have completed analyses and documentation of results.
Review Criteria for Completed Research Papers:
• Topic is relevant to a track’s theme
• Objectives are clear and well-described
• Paper is written clearly
• Paper will draw an audience
• Paper is well organized and flows logically
• Literature review is appropriate
• Methodology is appropriate (if relevant)
• Analyses are appropriate (if relevant)
• Evidence supports authors’ arguments (if relevant)
• Paper makes a useful contribution

Completed research papers must not exceed twelve (12) single-spaced pages and must conform to the ECIS 2014 submission template. The 12 pages must include all text, figures, tables, and appendices. The cover page, abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from this page count.

Requirements: Research-in-Progress Papers
Research-in-progress (RIP) papers typically describe work that is as yet incomplete, but promising. Accepted RIP papers will be presented in an interactive format, either as posters or round-table discussions during ECIS 2014. The papers will appear in the ECIS 2014 Proceedings.

Depending on the presentation format the track chairs recommend for a given RIP paper, the paper’s authors will either be required to bring a poster-size presentations (in LARGE TYPE format of A0/A1 format) for display at the poster session, or about 10 copies of a hand-out (e.g., a one-page extended abstract, two pages of power-point slides or a printout of a theoretical model in diagrammatic form) to support the discussion of the RIP in a round-table format. Additional information on both presentation formats is forthcoming.

Review Criteria for Research-in-Progress Papers:
• Topic is relevant to a track’s theme
• Objectives are clear and well-described
• Paper is written clearly
• Paper will draw an audience
• Paper is well organized and flows logically
• Literature review is appropriate
• Methodology is appropriate (only if relevant)
• Analyses are appropriate (only if relevant—many RIP papers may not yet have data to analyze)
• Evidence supports authors’ arguments (if relevant)
• Paper makes a useful contribution or has the potential to make a contribution

Research-in-progress papers must not exceed seven (7) single-spaced pages and must conform to the ECIS 2014 submission template as per the instructions document. The 7 pages must include all text, figures, tables, and appendices. The cover page, abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from this page count.

Requirements: Teaching Cases
We invite the submission of teaching cases that are useful to the field as pedagogical materials. Such cases should be current and topical, deal with interesting technologies and organizational situations, and contain a “teachable moment.” Teaching cases must include a teaching note when originally submitted, as both case and the teaching note will be reviewed. Teaching notes will not be included in the ECIS Proceedings, but rather should be made available by the authors upon request from instructors interested in adopting the case.
Teaching cases may only be submitted to the Teaching Cases track.

Review Criteria for Teaching Cases:
• Case clarity: The case is clearly written and readable for a student audience
• Issue identification and development: The key issues in the case (e.g., the questions a protagonist grapples with or the problem that he/she needs to solve) are clearly articulated and understandable by a student reader
• Completeness: The case includes the information necessary for conducting an appropriate analysis of the issue(s) raised
• Relevance: The case addresses a current topic of importance to current IS practice. By working through the case, the students will gain some practice-relevant insights about contemporary IT-related decisions in organizations
• Interest: The case is presented in a way that maintains the students’ interest. It articulates a clear narrative arch and story-line, as well as compelling characters with which student can empathize and into whose shoes they can step
• Effectiveness of exhibits and appendices: The case exhibits and appendices are helpful to the student and useful for teaching the case

Review Criteria for the Teaching Note:
• Learning objectives: The teaching note will articulate the learning objectives and provide an overview of the types of classes in which the case could be fruitfully taught
• Discussion questions: The teaching note will outline relevant discussion questions that will guide students in their preparation for class discussion. The questions are in a logical, sequential order (e.g., following the sequence of events, going from high-level to detailed concepts)
• Answers to discussion questions: The teaching note answers each of the discussion questions, providing the instructor with insight into what kinds of responses he/she can expect to each question. Additionally, the optimal answer to each question is spelled out
• What happened next? To the extent possible, the teaching note outlines what decisions the case company did make and/or what happened next in the case organization
• Literature integration: The authors present concepts, models, frameworks, news reports, etc. from the existing literature to help instructors provide student with lasting conceptual tools by demonstrating their application to the case analysis
• Teaching plan: The teaching note outlines a teaching plan that articulates the sequence in which the case discussion should proceed and how much time should be spent on each part of the discussion
• Overall utility: The information provided is developed well enough to help an instructor to both prepare for and teach the case

The teaching case must not exceed fourteen (14) single-spaced pages (incl. all text, figures and appendices) and the teaching note must not exceed five (5) single-spaced pages. The cover page, abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from these page limits. Both the teaching case and teaching note must conform to the ECIS 2014 submission template.

Requirements: Prototypes
ECIS 2014 invites a new type of paper submission: the prototype. Prototypes are technical solutions (e.g., a piece of software and/or a hardware device) that were developed in response to a specific practical problem.
Prototype papers need to provide reviewers with insight into (1) the problem that the system solution addresses, including prototype’s design objectives, (2) why this is a problem that requires the development of a new prototype, i.e., why prior theory and practice is not sufficient, (3) what the prototype solution looks like (e.g., images, screenshots), (4) what contribution to extant theory and/or practice this prototype makes (i.e., beyond the prototype itself), and (5) how the authors plan to present the prototype (e.g., what technological infrastructure would be needed).

At ECIS, prototype presentations will take the form of system demonstrations. These demonstrations can take the form of (a) a live demonstration of the technology, (b) videos showing the prototype in use, (c) posters illustrating and explaining the prototype, or (d) any combination of these three modalities. The presenters are asked to bring all needed equipment to the conference (laptops for the videos; posters; potential hardware / device prototypes). Only AC sockets are provided in the showroom. In an effort to foster an interactive atmosphere, authors are asked to present their prototypes in not more than 5 minutes.

Review Criteria for Prototype Papers:
• Challenges tackled in and solutions provided by prototype are relevant to the conference in general and to the track specifically. Design objectives are clear and well-described
• Prototype is clearly described/illustrated
• The prototype solves a compelling organizational or technical problem in a unique and superior manner
• The solution manifest in the prototype is state-of the art and elegant. It represents a contribution to the extant theory and/or practice
• Presentation of prototype at conference is technically feasible
• Prototype presentation will draw an audience
Prototype papers must not exceed seven (7) single-spaced pages and must conform to the ECIS 2014 submission template as per the instructions document. The 7 pages must include all text, figures, tables, and appendices. However, if page-size screen shots are necessary, authors are permitted three (3) extra pages of appendices for screen shots only. The cover page, abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from this page count.

Requirements: Panels
The best panels are amongst the most memorable events in a conference. Unlike papers, which can always be read after the conference, panels provide a unique interactive forum and dialogue to deliberations by bringing together leading academics to discuss and debate timely and critical issues of interest to the field.
To achieve this goal panels need to be carefully designed. They are not just four short linear presentations of small papers. In contrast, they need to bring together a range of different—possibly controversial—perspectives on the topic in an arrangement that opens up the topic under consideration in a structured manner and allows for a wide–ranging debate including active contributions from the audience.

What makes a successful panel proposal?
Panel proposals should be able to answer these questions.
1) Focus of panel: What is the theme of the panel? What is the target audience? What will they get from attending the panel? It is often helpful to present the theme of the panel in the form of a question or a set of questions (with a non–trivial answer).

2) Panelists: Who are the panelists? Why have they been selected for the panel? Who is going to chair the panel and ensure that it runs successfully?

Given that the best panels will include diverse viewpoints, we would expect panelists to be drawn from a number of different institutions / countries and with views that are different and possible controversial. Typically successful and widely attended panels include some ‘stars’ in the field. However, filling the panel just with some heavy weight names is not the best recipe—a balance must be sought to offer new voices and novel perspectives on the topic. Make also sure that panelists can present their ideas in a clear, communicable way.

3) Structure of panel: How will the panel be structured? Will the panel be presented as a debate between ‘opposing’ positions or will it consist of ‘alternative’ positions on the panel theme? How long will each presentation take? How much time will be left for audience participation? Typically it is a good idea to allow half of the time for a dialogue with the audience.

One possible structure includes basing the panel on a series of questions that each panelist will answer from their own perspective or structuring the panel around the different perspectives on the topic. Another is to build the panel around narratives or working on concrete examples or cases, which are accounted for from multiple perspectives.

Submission instructions:
The panels will be assessed in terms of the three questions listed above. As such, panel proposers are expected to submit a document in two parts. The first part (max 3 pages) will be used for the evaluation of the proposal and should explain the rationale of the panel design as well as providing a detailed timeline for the various parts of the panel (assume a 90 minute duration for the panel). As the choice of panelists is integral to the design of the panel, panel proposals should not anonymized. Instead, brief biographies of all proposed panelists should be included including motivation for their inclusion in the panel.
The second part of the document (max 2 pages) is the version that would appear in the proceedings. This should include a description of the panel theme including details of why the panel will be of interest to conference attendees, details of the panelists (including biographies) and a high level version of the timeline.
By submitting the panel proposal, the organizers are confirming that, if selected, all panelists will register for and attend the conference.
The panel proposal must not exceed five (5) single-spaced pages and must conform to the ECIS 2014 submission template. The 5 page count must include all text, figures, tables, and appendices. Abstract, keywords, and references are excluded from this page count.