Note this document contains many general statements and should be read with a "normally" in mind.
This is a living document, please send any proposed changes to me:
Last changes: 25 February 1999
1 Conference
1.1 General issues
1.1.1 To be the leading forum for information systems in Europe, providing an opportunity for the exchange of ideas in the context of top quality research
1.1.2 To welcome the cultural and research diversity of Europe
• No paper to be excluded on basis of English proficiency alone
• Papers to be evaluated, if necessary, in terms of their language specific literature
• No restrictions on research approaches
1.2 Conference dates
1.2.1 Typically organised between early May and early July (see attached list of previous conferences)
1.2.2 Should last between 2 and 3 days
1.3 Journal special issues
1.3.1 Various European Journals have been invited to publish special issues containing best papers from ECIS conferences. These are selected by the track organisers based on the referees
comments. The track organisers are normally invited to act as co-editors for these special issues.
• This was done for ECIS 1 and has now become institutionalised.
• Papers from ECIS 6 will be published in JIT
• Papers from ECIS 7 will be published in ISJ
2 Conference officers
2.1 General issues
• Officers should come from at least four different countries
• No more than two conference officers from the same country
• Conference officers will benefit from having served on the programme committee previously
• Conference officers should meet at least once to finalise the programme
2.2 Organising chair
This is typically the person responsible for the initial bid to host the conference
For ECIS 1, this role was shared jointly between the conference and programme chairs
For ECIS 2, this role was held by the programme chair
For ECIS 3-6, this role was separate although the organising chair played a leading role in many conference activities
2.3 Conference chair
For ECIS 1, Conference chair was the co-organiser of the conference and arranged keynote speakers and sponsorship
For ECIS 2, Conference chair was a sponsor and held a largely symbolic role
For ECIS 3-6, Conference chair was an internationally known name, capable of bringing in top quality academics
2.4 Programme chair
For ECIS 1-2, Programme chair was in charge of managing the reviewing process.
From ECIS 3, as ECIS has grown, the programme chair has tended to manage the overall reviewing process with specific streams delegated to organisers. The programme
chair is therefore assisted by the following officers, although programme chairs are encouraged to experiment with new structures (such as the focus workshop in Aix and
the revised structure for ECIS 2000):
2.5 Research papers organiser
2.6 Panels organiser
2.7 Research in progress organiser
2.8 Case study organiser
2.9 PhD consortium organiser
This was instituted in 1997 in conjunction with AIS and one of the AIS regional representatives is ex-officio a member of the Standing Committee to ensure smooth links
between ECIS and the ECIS-AIS consortium.
2.10 Publications organiser / editor
For ECIS 1-2 this task was arranged by the programme chair
For ECIS 3-5 this task was given to a commercial administrator
For ECIS 6 this was handled by a member of the organising committee
The 'editors' of the proceedings should normally be the publications editor, conference chair, organising chair, programme chair and organisers of the various paper and
panel streams
2.11 Finance organiser
• Should come from a different institution to the main conference organisers
2.12 Programme committee
2.12.1 High international visibility
2.12.2 High local visibility
2.12.3 (As of ECIS 99) Organised around associate editors who recruit their own team of referees and work for a particular stream
2.12.4 Some members of programme committee are simply available to act as referees as required
2.12.5 Programme committee is in charge of attracting high quality submissions
2.12.6 Programme committee should consist of 40-60 members, ideally from 20 European countries and ideally with no more than 5 from the same country
2.12.7 An individual should not serve on the programme committee more than three times in a row
3 Proceedings
3.1 General issues
3.1.1 Proceedings should be published in book form prior to the conference
3.1.2 Conference organisers may, if they deem it suitable, publish the proceedings in CD-ROM format. This may be in addition to or instead of paper proceedings
3.1.3 Copyright is held with the conference proceedings publishers with the understanding that papers can be reprinted in appropriate journals etc. after the conference
4 Proposals for hosting conferences
4.1 General issues
4.1.1 Conference organisers have sole responsibility for financial management of conference
4.1.2 Conference should aim to break even
• Sponsorship should therefore be sought to ensure fees are appropriate for academic participants
4.1.3 Particulars to include in budget
Expected revenues
Should offer a welcome reception on the evening before the official opening
A conference dinner should be part of the conference fee (may charge extra for students)
Lunches
Coffee breaks
Cost of proceedings
Rent of rooms
Other equipment (e.g. audio visual)
Administrative support of conference (if applicable)
4.1.4 Optional social events can be organised and billed separately
4.1.5 Plenary session should expect 350 participants
4.1.6 Software/book exhibition can be organise
4.1.7 A range of accommodation options should be available
5 Advertising the conference
5.1 General issues
5.1.1 Call for papers distributed at the previous ECIS
5.1.2 Electronic advertising to be done using the updated list of e-mail addresses (available from AIS). The conference web site is a useful facility for making details of the conference available
over the year.
5.1.3 Call for papers posted five months before the submission deadline
5.1.4 Second call for papers posted three months before the submission deadline
5.1.5 Invitation programme sent three months before the conference
5.1.6 It is traditional for each conference to have its own logo, typically drawing on an image associated with the host country and linking this with Europe.
6 Standing committee
6.1 General issues
6.1.1 Considers bids and budgets for hosting future ECIS conferences
6.1.2 Responsible for approving the membership of the organising committee and programme committee for future ECIS conferences
6.1.3 Responsible for policy regarding the frequency and format of ECIS
6.1.4 Should review each conference and produce a brief report of lessons learned
6.2 Membership
6.2.1 The chair of the meeting
After an initial meeting in Nijenrode at ECIS 2, the first formal meeting of the standing committee was held at ECIS 3 with participants invited by Frank Land.
There it was decided that the chair of the standing committee should be the conference chair of the ECIS that had just finished
This person would have an interest in maintaining the quality of ECIS but would not be as exhausted as the organising chair
At ECIS 6, Georgios Doukidis (organising chair of ECIS 3) took over for the year, due to potential conflict of interest for this year.
For future years, the normal procedure would continue.
6.2.2 Membership consists of main conference officers from the previous, present and forthcoming committees
6.2.3 Contains a representative from AIS to co-ordinate the PhD consortium
6.3 Meetings
6.3.1 Meetings are open for all to attend however only members of the standing committee may vote on key issues
6.3.2 Meetings are held during ECIS and, if necessary, during ICIS
6.4 Organising future conferences
6.4.1 Conferences should be arranged for the next 3 years at least
6.4.2 Bids should be invited for hosting the conference which would be presented and considered at the appropriate meeting of the standing committee
6.4.3 If necessary, the standing committee would actively seek proposals from certain countries / regions.
Links
Association for Information Systems: Sponsors of the PhD consortium
SIGMIS: Sponsors of the PhD consortium
ECIS conferences
1) ECIS 1993: Henley-on-Thames, United Kingdom March 29-30
2) ECIS 1994: Nijenrode, The Netherlands May 30-31
3) ECIS 1995: Athens, Greece June 1-3
4) ECIS 1996: Lisbon, Portugal July 2-4
5) ECIS 1997: Cork, Ireland June 19-21
6) ECIS 1998: Aix-en-provence, France June 4-6
7) ECIS 1999: Copenhagen, Denmark June 23-25
8) ECIS 2000: Vienna, Austria July 3-5
9) ECIS 2001: Bled, Slovenia June?
10) ECIS 2002: Gdansk, Poland June?