At its December, 2001 Council meeting, AIS Council approved a potential alliance with the University of Minnesota regarding the Management Information Systems Quarterly. A contract has now been signed that finalizes that relationship. I am pleased to report that sometime in the next few weeks the most recent issues of the MIS Quarterly will be available, free-of-charge and online, to AIS individual members. In subsequent months we will make the entire archive of MIS Quarterly available to our members through the AIS eLibrary.
This alliance gives the Association some influence in the high-level management of the MIS Quarterly. A new five-member Policy Committee will select the Editor-in-Chief and oversee the non-editorial aspects of the journal. One member of that Committee will be the MIS Quarterly Editor-in-Chief, currently Ron Weber. The other four members will be equally divided between AIS and the MISRC at the University of Minnesota. One of the AIS members will be the Vice President of Publications, currently Cynthia Beath. The second AIS representative has yet to be selected.
Although AIS will have some influence in the overarching management of the MIS Quarterly, the University of Minnesota will continue to own the copyright for the journal and, should the agreement be terminated, will retain full rights to the journal. In such an eventuality members would no longer have online access and the governing policy committee would be disbanded.
We believe that AIS members, as well as potential members, will find this agreement significantly increases the value of their AIS membership. AIS members will still be able to acquire hardcopy subscriptions to the MIS Quarterly at the usual AIS discounted price.
Discussions regarding this alliance have been going on informally for several years, with many people helping to make it possible. Gordon Davis, MIS Quarterly, publisher and a past President of the Association, played a central role at Minnesota, with assistance from Jan DeGross and the support of the Minnesota faculty. The MIS Quarterly Senior Editorial board, also played a key role, with particularly valued inputs from former Editors-in-Chief Allen Lee and Bob Zmud as well as the current editor and a former AIS President, Ron Weber. Others who provided valued counsel included Lynda Applegate, Cynthia Beath, Rudy Hirschheim, Hank Lucas, Eph McLean, Reagan Ramsower, Sam Spears, Michael Vitale, and Rick Watson. Reagan Ramsower, with help from Jan Degross, will continue to play an essential role in merging the MIS Quarterly into the AIS eLibrary.
Blake Ives
AIS President