Using ‘Panel Reports’ to Advance Scholarly Discourse: A Change in Editorial Policy and Guidelines for Authors of ‘Panel Reports’

‘Panel reports’ reflect a particular category of submissions that can be made to the Communications of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS). As stated online, panel reports differ from traditional research papers in that “CAIS is open to publishing reports of panels, debates, symposia, workshops and similar events. Such reports have to clearly position the matter of discussion at the event, highlight the relevance of event and topic and outline the different views on the topic that emanated at the events.” (https://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/panel_reports.pdf). While this definition has persisted for some time and still holds true, it leaves room for interpretation what constitutes a contribution and how one knows that a particular paper has made enough of one. The purpose of this editorial is to provide interpretation and elaboration of these principles based on our collective experience with such reports.