INFORMATION SYSTEMS – ACADEMIC RESEARCH THEMES IN BRAZIL FROM 1994 TO 2013

Abstract

Retrieving the Brazilian academic research in Information Systems (IS) recent history is a welcome challenge, as it permits to evaluate its impact and to define the pathway to the future. This paper focuses on the topics identified in the set of 1,105 papers published between 1994 and 2013 in the proceedings of EnANPAD (Information Management – ADI – division) and EnADI. We analyze the papers as they fit the current areas of interest listed by the ADI division, separating the coverage period in two major subperiods: from 1994 to 2002 and from 2003 to 2013. The first subperiod is considered the IS leverage period while the second corresponds to the IS consolidation period in Brazil. The consolidation period parallels the time interval in which several Brazilian institutions formed and consolidated research groups of interest in IS. Not coincidentally, the paper’s coverage period corresponds to the existence of AMCIS, which has turned into an international gathering of scholars interested in the IS field. In its 2014 call for papers, AMCIS stimulated researchers from around the world to concern about the area's own history. We seek to gain consciousness about the road to take into the future of IS in Brazil, aiming to generate synergy among different actors in the field. The paper offers a list of important IS topics originated within the Brazilian research communities, observed in a longitudinal perspective. With significant contributions from a dozen institutions along the years (specially from UFRGS, USP and FGV), the proceedings of EnANPAD (ADI division) and EnADI form a representative set of scientific contributions from which one can grasp a set of key ideas established in the two studied periods.