http://www.bus.ucf.edu/jcourtney/

http://www.bus.ucf.edu/jhaynes/

http://www.emmanuelmonod.com

http://www.cob.fsu.edu/ims/dparadic/dbpindex.html

http://www.bauer.uh.edu/~rudy/hirrud.htm

http://www.cs.jyu.fi/~kalle/

http://www.bauer.uh.edu/parks/parmich.html

http://www.bauer.uh.edu/~jaana/index.htm

Many minds, many world views, and much debate is necessary to bring the objectives of this e- journal to fruition. Thus, the policies of the journal are designed to provide an open forum for the presentation and refinement of ideas. By engaging diverse perspectives and encouraging open discussions, it is hoped that a consensus concerning a philosophy of information technology will ultimately emerge. Therefore the policies are designed to encourage the submission of papers and open discussion of those papers.

Organization and Procedures

The journal will have an editor or co-editors who are responsible for the journal's policies, procedures and other administrative functions. The editor or co-editors will name an Editorial Advisory Board who will assist in establishing policies and procedures as well as manage the review process. Also, the editors and members of the editorial advisory board will establish an Editorial Board who will serve as experts and reviewers.

Submission Procedures

Papers may be submitted in one of two ways:

1. in electronic form to one of the co-editors

   or

2. as a link to the paper at another Web site. In either case, the paper's format should follow the format outlined in that in the Author's Submission Kit described below.

Three categories of papers will be maintained:

1. Papers Under Review

   Papers submitted for a review will be placed on the FIS Web-page under a category called Papers Under Review (either as an abstract followed by a complete paper or as an abstract followed by a link to the author's Web page). Papers appearing in this category are considered as working papers. They have not been formally reviewed for FIS. Thus, all submitted papers will appear in this section of FIS while waiting for and during the formal review process unless the authors specify their desire not to appear in this category of FIS at all. If the authors choose to abstain from Papers Under Review -category, their paper will be reviewed in confidentiality.

2. Published Papers

   The Editors together with the Editorial Advisory Board appoint a manager for the formal review process from the group consisting of the Editors, the Editorial Advisory Board and the Editorial Board. The manager is responsible for the review process which will be conducted by three manager appointed reviewers. Accepted papers will appear under the FIS category of Published Papers. If the paper used to appear in the Papers Under Review -category during the review process, this reference is now removed.

3. Outstanding Papers

   Each of the three reviewers have the option of rewarding the paper under review with the Thinker Award. If all three reviewers award a Thinker Award to the paper it will appear in the FIS category of Outstanding Papers. Outstanding Papers category is reserved for the academic leadership in pursuing the objectives of FIS. This means that the work, in all three reviewers' opinion, represents the very highest academic standards in the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom which will be passed of to the next generation of academics with similar aspirations.

   To be awarded with a Thinker Award, the paper has to demonstrate academic leadership in ethical standing and quality of research. The Thinker Award refers to demonstrating originality and discipline in understanding and managing the effects of information technology on the human kind toward humanely responsible goals and ideals. The recipient of a Thinker Award demonstrates an outstanding effort to command the highest ideals of academia of all times.

About Volumes and Numbers of FIS

There will be no attempt to collect papers into conventional journal volumes. The date of acceptance, title, and authors' names, affiliations, email addresses and links to their home pages (if applicable) will appear on the page of the abstract of the paper, the paper itself or a link to the paper on the authors' home page.

The Comments Page

Every paper in any FIS category will have a Discussion Forum attached to it. The Discussion Forum is meant for comments from the audience. Anyone who wishes to post a comment should email it to the editors who will take care of posting it on FIS pages.

Disclosure

FIS is an electronic journal which operates independently of ISWorld Net. Currently, FIS has a symbiotic relationship with a particular the ISWorld Net Research section, called the "Philosophical and Conceptual Foundations of Information Systems" (section editors Jaana Porra, Rudy Hirschheim, and Kalle Lyytinen). While FIS is a journal striving for high quality contributions, the "Philosophical and Conceptual Foundations of Information Systems" section of ISWorld Net is a virtual, collaborative work area for free format discussion, idea testing and sharing of work-under- development for all scholars interested in understanding and advancing the philosophical and conceptual foundations of information systems.