ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the original argument for information systems to be considered as a reference discipline, reviews the various contributions that have been made to the debate since then and suggests a way forward for future research. The conventional wisdom regarded information systems as having many reference disciplines but not its own research tradition, and that it had few, if any, referring disciplines. The chapter details the 2002 article by suggesting that there was an opportunity for information systems scholars to take a more visible and active leadership role within a larger community of scholars. The main purpose of our 2002 article was to stimulate discussion about the nature and status of the research field. The chapter suggests that the discourse can be grouped into three types of argument: an information system is an intellectual black hole; an information system is a rising star; and information system scholars should move on to consider a different set of questions.
