What sort of community is the European Conference on Information Systems? A social network analysis 1993–2005

This paper presents a social network analysis (SNA) of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) community based on patterns of co-authorship. ECIS contributions are separated into research papers and panels to create social networks that are then analyzed using a range of global network level and individual ego (co-author, panellist) measures. The research community is found to have few properties of the ‘small world’ and to represent an agglomeration of co-authorships. The panels network has the properties of a ‘small world’ and displays a stronger sense of social cohesion. An analysis of individual actors (egos) provides insight into who is central to the ECIS community. Based on the SNA, a range of possible interventions are proposed that could aid the future development of the ECIS community. The paper concludes by considering the usefulness of SNA as a method to support IS research.