The Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education

Editorial Philosophy

  The Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education is a  peer-reviewed journal published by the Decision Sciences Institute. Its mission is to publish significant research relevant to teaching and learning issues in the decision sciences. The decision sciences is the union of the quantitative and behavioral approaches to managerial decision making, encompassing all of the functional areas of business, including (but not limited to) accounting, business strategy and entrepreneurship, economics, finance, international business and globalization, marketing, MIS/DSS and computer systems, organizational behavior/organizational design, operations and logistics management, quantitative methods and statistics.

Types of articles suitable for publication in the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education include the following:

Empirical Research Articles
An empirical research article describes high quality empirical research related to innovative education in the decision sciences. It should begin with an in-depth review of the literature and development of hypotheses, drawing upon theory in the functional area to support details of the innovative approach, as well as upon the educational and psychological theory, to support the intended learning effects of the innovation. The hypotheses will typically refer to the effect of the innovation, in terms of measures of student learning, measures of course effectiveness, etc. Empirical research articles should include a description of the innovative approach and its rationale, a description of the methodology used for gathering data to test the effectiveness of the approach, description of the statistical analysis of the data, and a discussion of the findings, including suggestions for readers who would like to implement the innovative approach in their classroom.  For specific guidelines, please see the  Empirical Research Review Form.

Case Study Research Articles
A case study research article describes high quality research related to innovative education in the decision sciences that employs a class as a case. This approach allows in-depth study of a single class or several classes and is based on careful and detailed documentation of the use and impact of an educational innovation in the decision sciences. The multiple case study, which contains detailed information on several classes or several sections of a class, is preferred. In analyzing the data, similarities and differences between the classes should be noted and documented, to the extent possible. The following article provides a good guide to case study research:

Eisenhardt, K.M. "Building Theories from Case Study Research." Academy of Management Review, vol. 14., no 4, 1989, 532-550.

A case study research article should begin with an in-depth review of the literature, drawing upon theory in the functional area to support details of the innovative approach, as well as upon the educational and psychological theory to support the intended learning effects of the innovation. It should include a structured approach for analyzing the data and should lead to a set of propositions providing a foundation for future research. Either quantitative or qualitative analysis of the data may be appropriate. A case study research article should include a description of the innovative approach and a description of the cases (classes), highlighting their similarities and differences. Tables should be used to present summaries of the quantitative or qualitative comparisons. It should also include a thorough discussion of the findings, including suggestions for readers who would like to implement the innovative approach in their classrooms.  For specific guidelines, please see the Case Study Research Review Form.

The Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education does not publish case studies designed for classroom use.

Conceptual/Theoretical Articles
A conceptual article describes an approach to innovative education or a learning issue relevant to the decision sciences. A conceptual article should be strongly grounded in the relevant theoretical literature in functional areas such as education, organization behavior or psychology, as well as in the literature specific to the innovative approach or learning issue being described. It may focus on a single approach or issue, or it may be based on a comparison and contrast of alternative approaches or issues. Because it should lay the groundwork for future research in the area, a conceptual/theoretical article should develop a set of propositions about the effectiveness of the innovative approach or learning issue. It is important that conceptual/theoretical  research articles focus on cutting-edge topics and present significant new insight.  For specific guidelines, please see the Conceptual/Theoretical Research Review Form.

Teaching Briefs
Teaching briefs briefly describe an innovative approach for teaching in the decision sciences. Limited to five double-spaced pages (12-pt. font) of text, they should describe the innovative approach in sufficient detail so that it could be replicated in the reader's classroom. It should also provide a brief summary of evidence of the effectiveness of the innovative approach. Teaching briefs should focus on the innovative approach itself, and do not need to include a literature review or statistical analysis of the data. They should have more of a "how to" flavor than the empirical or case study research articles. Teaching briefs may refer readers to the authors' website for additional detail about how to use the innovative approach.  For specific guidelines, please see the Teaching Brief Review Form.

Submission

Five copies of the manuscript should be submitted to:

Barbara B. Flynn, Editor

Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education

Kelley School of Business

Indiana University

801 W. Michigan St., BS 4010

Indianapolis, Indiana 46202

317-278-8586

Fax:  317-274-3312

bbflynn@iupui.edu

As of December 1, 2006, only electronic submissions will be allowed.  Please go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/dsjie on December 1 or later for more information.

Your submission certifies that none of the content is copyrighted, published or accepted for publication by another journal, under review by another journal or submitted to another journal while under review by Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. All manuscripts should be printed in Times Roman (12 pt), double-spaced on 8 ½ x 11 paper and accompanied by an abstract of not more than 180 words (except for teaching briefs) and an author's vita of no more than 150 words. The author's name and affiliation should appear on a separate page.

Authors will be required to assign copyright in their paper to the Decision Sciences Institute.  Copyright assignment is a condition of publication, and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless copyright has been assigned.  (Papers subject to government or Crown copyright are exempt from this requirement).  To assist authors, an appropriate copyright form will be supplied by the editorial office.

Figures, charts and tables should be consecutively numbered in Arabic. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education does not allow the use of footnotes or endnotes. References should be listed alphabetically by author at the end of the paper and referred to in the body of the text by Name (date).

Should the manuscript be accepted for publication, the author will be asked to submit a copy on a disk containing the final post-review version of the paper. The word processing file (or ASCII text file) will be used in the typesetting process.

Website
The Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education website contains abstracts of all Empirical Research, Case Study Research and Conceptual/Theoretical articles, as well as Teaching Briefs in their entirety. It also contains information for contributors and a site where authors can check on the status of articles in process.  The website also contains announcements about upcoming events related to innovative education in the decision sciences and a section for personal news about DSI members, such as news about winners of teaching awards. Please send your news to the Editor, at the address listed above.

Review Process

Each manuscript submitted to the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education is subjected to the following reviewing process:

1. An initial screening by the Editor to determine the suitability of the article for the Journal. Suitable articles are assigned to two or three referees, according to their functional and methodological content. If the manuscript is deemed inappropriate for the journal because it is not a match for the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education's audience or mission, it will be promptly returned to the author.

2. A careful review by the referees, each of whom makes a recommendation to the Editor and provides comments for the authors.

3. An appraisal of the review by the Editor. If the Editor feels the paper has potential for publication, the author is invited to make revisions, following to the suggestions of the reviewers.

4. Upon receipt of the revisions, the Editor will make a final decision. The Editor will appraise the entire review process, making sure that all revisions suggested by the referees have been addressed.

The Editor reserves the right to deviate from the above procedures when the situation warrants and as it is deemed appropriate.