"This is a feather in the cap for the environment, and a recognition of the work we have put in. We haven’t set out to do well on this list; it has come about as a result of the way we have worked", says Øystein Sæbø, head of the Department of Information Systems at the University of Agder (UiA). The department is one of Norway’s largest academic environments in the field, and is now also recognised as the best.
Information systems are all about the intersection between people, technology and society. The researchers at the department work on areas such as artificial intelligence, digitalisation and crisis management.
Self-reinforcing work
Sæbø says that the fruits they are now reaping are the result of seeds sown back in the 1990s. At that time, the information systems research community made a special effort to recruit researchers with an international background.
"We have been part of the international research community for almost thirty years. Participating in conferences, in review processes, and being part of journal editorial boards has been self-reinforcing", says Sæbø.
He compares it to playing in the Champions League in football.
"We play at the highest level in Europe. When we make new appointments, we are always on the lookout for people who can exceed our expectations and take the research community to new heights."
A role model for other research communities
"We can only congratulate the research community on achieving such a prestigious position in the European rankings. This shows that long-term efforts to build up the research community and enhance research quality are bearing fruit, says the Pro-Rector for Research at UiA", Hans Kjetil Lysgård.
He believes this serves as an example and a model for other communities working tirelessly to produce high-quality research with significant societal relevance and benefit.
"I would like to commend both the individual researchers in the community for their tireless efforts to develop high-quality research, and also the Department of Information Systems and the Faculty of Social Sciences for creating a good framework for development", says Lysgård.
Fifth place in Europe
Research from UiA is summarised by the Information Systems Research Rankings, which looks at the number of publications in the eleven leading scientific journals in the field.
In the overview of the best universities in information systems over the last three years, UiA ranks fifth after Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, the University of Bamberg in Germany, the University of Manchester and the University of Warwick, both in the UK.
“We want to educate good students and conduct good research. Results like this are not the goal, but the consequences of our work,” says Sæbø.