Methodological and Topic Trends in Information Systems Research: A Meta-Analysis of IS Journals

In this paper, we present trends in IS research during a 10-year period (2004 to 2013). Much like its predecessor, Palvia et al. (2004), we provide a long-overdue update. We reviewed all papers from seven major IS journals and coded them based on topics studied, methodologies used, models rendered, and paradigmatic approaches taken. We captured trends in IS research and compared them to previous trends that extend across many periods from past studies. We present major shifts and trends in IS research and discuss voids in the literature. Results reveal that electronic commerce was the most studied topic and that the survey method maintained its dominance in conducting research. Also, the majority of IS researchers used the multi-tier influence diagrams to portray their research models, and the positivist approach was still the most used research approach.