Introduction to the Special Issue of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics: Interfaces/IJAA 50th Anniversary Special Issue
I could not be more excited to be writing this introduction to the Interfaces/INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (INT/IJAA) 50th anniversary special issue! There are a few reasons. First, it is an honor to be editor-in-chief (EiC) of this journal every day but more so as the EiC on this special occasion. Second, it was a daunting task to complete, under tight deadlines, so I am very grateful to my collaborators on this issue. Finally, I am extremely proud of the quantity and quality of interesting work in this issue. (And, glad it is done!)
As INT/IJAA turns 50, this special issue seeks to celebrate its journey in a number of ways. First, Nickolas Freeman, Burcu Keskin, and Carson McCullough from the University of Alabama have developed the first all-in database of every INT/IJAA digital object identifier (DOI) in the proud history of our journal. This database and variations of it have allowed us to explore the journal in its entirety since its roots. This issue contains detailed analysis of INT/IJAA from every perspective:
• Editors-in-Chief Perspective. The six living (of nine total) editors-in-chief have collaborated on a walk-through of each EiC’s tenure: themes, major events, accolades, and memories.
• Article Perspective. We provide interesting and insightful content analysis of all INT/IJAA articles over 50 years.
• Edelman Perspective. We provide detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the Edelman Award finalist papers.
• Institutional Perspective. We provide the first-ever comprehensive Rothkopf Rankings of both academic and nonacademic institutions’ contributions to the journal.
• Author Perspective. We assess individual authors’ contributions to the journal in a number of dimensions and measures, and the INT/IJAA Hall of Fame is identified.
Editors-in-Chief Perspective
In their article, “A Retrospective from the Editors-in-Chief on the History of Interfaces/INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics,” the six living current and former EiCs—Gary L. Lilien, Frederic H. Murphy, Terry P. Harrison, Jeffrey D. Camm, Srinivas Bollapragada, and Michael F. Gorman—recount their major objectives, accomplishments, failures, and memories under each of their tenures. The tenures of the three deceased EiCs—Leonard Simon, Gene Woolsey, and Michael Rothkopf—are recounted by the authors as well.
Some common themes emerge. First, the EiCs enjoyed their work, noting it was the greatest honor of their career in many cases. Second, each EiC presided over any number of major developments in the journal’s history, be it a change in reviewing policies, change in submission technology, or even a change in the journal name. Third, every EiC thanked his predecessors, and tried his best to leave the journal in good shape for his successors. Finally, it seems no EiC can go without thanking one or more of the devoted, talented, and enjoyable INFORMS staff for their hard work and dedication to quality.
Did you know that INT/IJAA was originally dubbed “The Bulletin”? Read the article to learn about the founding of INT/IJAA, strategies for engaging practitioners, its ongoing progression to a more and more rigorous publication, and its move to an electronic reviewing process.
Article Perspective
Nickolas Freeman, Burcu Keskin, and Carson McCullough contributed the article “IJAA: Past, Present, and Future.” They have conducted an interesting and detailed keyword analysis of the methodological and subject area coverage of 2,408 IJAA articles over 50 years. They identify leading cited authors.
They discuss leading institutional participation and conduct trend analysis on it. For example, it may be no surprise that manufacturing is a leading area of application for IJAA articles, but did you know there are now more articles in the service sector and that there are more articles covering sports than freight transportation? Read the article to see where Freeman, Keskin, and McCullough see INT/IJAA topics going in the future!
Edelman Perspective
Michael Gorman, Lakshminarayana Nittala, and Jeffrey Alden collaborated on a paper entitled “Anatomy of the Edelman: Measuring the World’s Best Analytics Projects.” (Thanks to a meticulous and extensive database maintained by Jeff Alden over the years!) Their work produces a deep dive into the 296 Edelman finalist entries, including analyses of industry of application, methods used, both academic and nonacademic participation rates, dollars saved, and more.
AT&T is still the world leader in finalist appearances (9) and wins (2). Did you know that only 18 organizations have been finalists more than once? How has Edelman participation over time evolved? How much has the Edelman saved in total? Do you know what it takes to win the Edelman? Read the article to learn about what factors drove their predictive model!
Institutional Perspective
The Rothkopf Rankings have become a de facto measure of institutional support for research in applied analytics. In his article, “The 13th Rothkopf Rankings: All-Time Interfaces/INFORMS Journal on AppliedAnalytics 50-Year Anniversary Special Edition,” Michael Gorman applies various metrics to authors of both academic and nonacademic institutions to understand which institutions have provided the highest input to the journal. A time-series analysis looks at how individual institutions have changed their support over time.
Do you know which university has contributed more articles than any other? Which nonacademic institution participates in INT/IJAA most often? Read the article to find out!
Author Perspective
In his article, “Interfaces/INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics Hall of Fame Contributors,” Michael Gorman analyzes individual author participation in INT/IJAA over its history. Although the Rothkopf Rankings describe institutional support for applied analytics, it is the individual authors who need the skills and desire to conduct applied research. This article looks at those contributions across a number of dimensions: refereed articles, columns, editorials, book reviews, and application reviews. A Rothkopf Ranking of authors is also provided.
Do you know who has appeared the most in INT/IJAA? Who has written the most columns, the most book reviews, and has the most accepted refereed papers? Read this article to find out!
Fifty years is a fantastic landmark achievement for INT/IJAA. I am proud of the more than 4,500 unique authors from 649 different universities and 1,050 different nonacademic institutions who have contributed. I am indebted to my eight predecessors. I am thankful for the talented and hardworking INFORMS staff who keep EiCs in line.
I would like to thank the contributors to this issue, which was conceived only one year ago. Between data creation and collection, analysis, writing, and reviewing, extremely tight deadlines were met. They deserve a special thanks for “gittin’ ‘er dun.” They are Jeff Alden, Srinivas Bollapragada, Jeff Camm, Nick Freeman, Terry Harrison, Burcu Keskin, Gary Lilien, Lakshminarayana Nittala, and Fred Murphy. Special thanks to the reviewers: the former EiCs for providing input (informal reviewing), Ron Fricker, Randy Robinson, and two anonymous referees.
One special note of acknowledgment. Although there were many contributors and supporters to the idea of Interfaces 50 years ago, Peter Norden deserves special acknowledgment. Peter passed away this year, so it is particularly poignant given that the journal that he founded survives even as he passed away. I would like to think that Interfaces or INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics is a lasting testament to his contributions to the profession.
