Arun Rai, a world-renowned information systems scholar at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business, has been reappointed editor-in-chief of MIS Quarterly, regarded as the premier journal in the information systems discipline.

He was appointed to the role in 2016 and will continue to serve through Dec. 31, 2020.

MISQ is devoted to enhancing and communicating knowledge about the development of information technology-based services and resources, as well as the managerial, organizational and societal implications of their use.

A Regents Professor, holder of the Harkins Chair in Information Systems and the J. Mack Robinson Chair of IT-Enabled Supply Chains and Process Innovation, Rai is among the discipline’s most prolific authors in its elite journals. He has been recognized for his intellectual contributions as a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems and as a recipient of the INFORMS Information Systems Society Distinguished Fellow Award.

When Rai assumed the MISQ editorship in January 2016, he implemented what he described as a “trifecta vision” for the publication, encompassing impact of work published, range of work published and speed in editorial processes. He described the rationale for his approach in his inaugural editorial published in MISQ that year.

“We are at very exciting time in the history of the IS discipline,” Rai wrote, “where we can have a deeper and broader impact on the IS function, organizations and society. Advances in IS are creating new possibilities for the betterment of the world and are positioning IS to have a pivotal role in addressing the big issues of our time.”

To achieve the vision, Rai has implemented a portfolio of strategies. These include commissioning special issues on emerging topics, such as IS and analytics to prevent and manage chronic diseases, and next-generation IS theories to understand the new digital world. MISQ has developed partnerships with preeminent practitioner journals to republish its articles tailored for relevance to executive audiences. The journal also has developed research curations that bundle and summarize all MISQ articles on key topics such as cybersecurity and privacy and are updated as new content is added. It also is developing future authors through mentoring workshops and effective reviewers through reviewer development workshops.

“Arun’s reappointment as editor-in-chief is a testament to his impact on the journal and the field of information systems,” said Richard Phillips, dean of the Robinson College of Business. He is pursuing an innovative vision through a portfolio of forward-looking initiatives on editorial processes, broadening impact and engaging the scholarly community. Editors of leading journals and boards of associations in different disciplines have contacted Arun to learn how to adopt these initiatives. We are proud of Arun’s reappointment and prouder still he is a part of the Robinson College of Business.”

Rai holds a Ph.D. from Kent State University, an MBA degree from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Science and Technology degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science.