INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics Editor’s Statement: The Critical Role of Applied Research in Analytics

As I close my fourth year as editor-in-chief (EiC) of the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly known as Interfaces), I am excited to also close out the publication’s 50th year. (In the remainder of this editorial, I refer to the current journal as IJAA and to the historical publication as INT/IJAA.) The anniversary edition (Gorman 2020a) was a joy to produce, because it reminds us of all the great work that has appeared in INT/IJAA over the years. I encourage all of you to read all the articles, which describe the editorial history, the research trends, and the amazing contributions of INT/IJAA’s publishing authors and institutions. These articles are available to all, because the entire issue is presented with free access; feel free to download and distribute them and to share them with educators, practitioners, and researchers to help spread the word. A brief of each article and a link to that article are available in the appendix at the end of this editorial.

Each year, I produce a report for the INFORMS Publications Committee on the health of the journal that I lead. INFORMS EiCs are provided with the current year’s journal statistics and refer back to previous years’ reports to generate an understanding of short-term trends. I produce a number of statistics as part of my report and, as one would expect, little changes each year. I have worked hard to reduce the time for reviewing submitted articles and to refresh my board, improving its diversity and size, and reducing the average tenure of board members. Citations are up slightly. The acceptance rate at IJAA is down. Downloads, I am happy to say, are up dramatically. IJAA is healthy and is a major contributor to the library of INFORMS journals.

One statistic over which I have little control is the submission rate of new articles. Although, like my predecessors, I regularly discuss submission ideas with potential authors to increase submissions, the effort is considerable and the yield is often low (Lilien et al. 2020). Special issues and invited contributions such as tutorials from experts in hot areas also help to increase submissions. A year or two is such a short time frame to see changes in this metric for a journal. Over the six-year tenure of any EiC, and during the first four years of my tenure, there might seem to be little change in the total numbers of submissions from year to year.

Thanks to the comprehensive INT/IJAA database produced by some of my editorial board colleagues (Freeman et al. 2020), for the first time, we have a database of all digital object identifiers (DOIs) ever to appear in INT/IJAA. That database provides a longer-term perspective, which paints a different picture on submission rates than an EiC’s short horizon might suggest. As Figure 1 shows, the 1970s were the infancy of the journal, and the 1980s its heyday in terms of published, academically reviewed articles. However, since the 1980s, INT/IJAA has seen a long, slow slide to fewer and fewer publications. This translates directly to fewer submissions, as the acceptance rate has fallen only marginally relative to the drop in publications. (A similar pattern exists for total DOIs in the journal, but I wanted to ignore columns, editorials, book reviews, and the like for this editorial.)

Given our disciplines’ need and our organization’s desire to stay relevant and high profile outside of academic research and the classroom, this is indeed an alarming trend to me.

This decline is particularly surprising, given the dramatic and widespread boom in interest in applied analytics in the past decade or two in the world, in the INFORMS organization, and in the journal itself.

Analytics has become pervasive across industries and across the world. There are hundreds of new master’s level programs that produce more practitioners with skills in analytics than ever before, which most certainly results in larger analytics organizations and more projects related to analytics in practice. Terms such as “big data” and “internet of things” have become household terms, as has the awareness of analytics to leverage this onslaught of data.

A cursory review of Freeman et al. (2020) shows that within the published works in INT/IJAA, a much broader array of areas of application areas has evolved over the decades, from an operations and manufacturing centricity to coverage in newer areas, such as healthcare, sports, government, and education. The expanded domains of application certainly increase the total numbers of projects. And although many of these works find their homes in U.S. institutions, the internationalization of analytics has also expanded over the decades; IJAA has become a more “international” publication than ever before.

Analytics has become pervasive within INFORMS. Over the past decade or two, INFORMS has branded the organization in line with the analytics movement. The INFORMS home page (www.informs.org) reads: “INFORMS is the leading international association for Operations Research & Analytics professionals.” INFORMS’ alignment with analytics is arguably broader than operations research and management science, and by all accounts is less focused on specific methodologies and more focused on the application of a variety of methods in practice. The Analytics Section, created in 2010, has become the largest section within INFORMS and is generally more heavily represented by practitioners than most other sections, societies, and groups within INFORMS. Of course, the spring INFORMS conference centers on applied work, is geared more to practitioners, and has been dubbed the Analytics Conference.

Accordingly, we renamed Interfaces the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics in 2018 to align with the strategic direction of INFORMS and capitalize on the analytics boom. The name IJAA both expands awareness of the journal outside of the INFORMS organization and expands (slightly) the areas of interest to broader areas of methodology beyond the core recognized areas in operations research and management science. In addition, over the interval since 2010, awards such as the Innovative Applications in Analytics Award (2011) and the UPS George D. Smith Prize (2012) have been created, both of which find their formal or informal home in IJAA. The Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in the Practice of Advanced Analytics and Operations Research and the Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research, and Management Science are among the most recognized and prestigious, organization-wide awards, both of which celebrate excellence and the (real-world) impact of applied work and find their home in IJAA. The Edelman Gala was created two decades ago to promote and celebrate the relevance of analytics in the world, and the Edelman Award is likely the most marketed award at INFORMS.

So Why the Decline?

I searched for reasons why there might be fewer submissions to IJAA than in decades past. Of course, a more rigorous process and higher reviewing standards have been implemented since the inception of the journal (Lilien et al. 2020). Certainly, the level of sophistication and size of application impact have grown over time. Gorman et al. (2020) provide analyses of the evolution of the sophistication and size of the impact of Edelman Award finalist work. As noted above, the acceptance rate at IJAA has fallen recently. So, other things equal, publishing in IJAA is more difficult than at the journal’s inception, but our software has increased in processing speed and become more powerful, and data and methods more readily available to both reduce the cost of such analytics projects and increase their level of sophistication and the size of their impact.

But the answer to the question of decline goes beyond the prevalence of applied analytics in the world; it relates rather to the lack of the prevalence of application in research. According to the most recent INFORMS report on all INFORMS journals, IJAA accounted for 1.1% of the total submissions to INFORMS journals in 2020. By that measure, except for an occasional applied piece in one of our other excellent but predominantly theoretical journals, INFORMS is approximately 99% theory, 1% practice. And that practice percentage is shrinking; total submissions to INFORMS journals have grown by approximately 50% in the past eight years. Because INFORMS is primarily academically oriented, these percentages are not inherently “bad”; however, I suggest they could be better for both its academic and nonacademic members.

Why is more research not done on the application of analytics? I hypothesize that there are many reasons and list some perceptions of applied research below:

• Too hard. Real-world problems do not “fit” our models. In addition, to be published, one must often follow previously published examples of assumptions and methods. So, the contextual complications of applied analytics are often ignored in the literature in favor of following time-honored theoretical assumptions.

• Too messy. Practice provides no sterile laboratory in which to conduct experiments that include before and after analysis with clean “ceterus paribus” assumptions. Without “proof” of effectiveness, the contribution to the literature is more likely to be called into question.

• Too fast moving. Our research cycles often far exceed the challenging fast pace of organizational dynamics, politics, and the need for fast payback and return on investment. Authors may need to satisfy both managers in an organization as well as reviewers at a journal, who very well may be at odds.

• Too little return to practice. In this vicious cycle relationship, practitioners are reluctant to support the theoretical research that we produce because in its theoretical form, the results of this research often cannot be implemented. Given a choice between implementable and publishable, academic authors choose publishable. Thus, theoretical research often remains theoretical.

• Too far “out there.” Practical research is not a widely accepted area of research; theoretical research is generally more readily recognized and understood by the researchers that manage our journals. Applied research does not “fit” into our existing research paradigms, making this form of research less desirable for researchers seeking to publish in the “top” journals.

• Too unfamiliar. Practical research is generally not taught in our PhD programs, in which new researchers’ habits, tastes, and skills are formed. We simply do not know it as well as we know the established body of knowledge in the literature. In addition, it is not well structured. In general, we do not know it, so we do not teach it; thus, this area of research goes largely unexplored for generation after generation for most academics.

• Too underappreciated. Our predominant measure of research quality, the “impact factor,” is based on citations from other researchers, not on practical impact in practice. As the “end product” of the research pipeline, applied research is less often cited in “purer” upstream research. Furthermore, in another vicious cycle, authors opt to not publish in journals with low citation rates, nor to cite those same journals, which only serves to create ongoing reluctance to engage in applied research.

In summary, applied research can be risky, messy, difficult, and underappreciated; thus, researchers often opt for more traditional research methods.

Reversing the Trend

Let me try to make the case for why we should all consider engaging in more applied research. I am an economist who recognizes the principle of rational self-interest; therefore, rather than pleading for all of us to pitch in for our disciplines and our organizations, I present only the reasons that you would benefit from applied research. I focus on the academic motivations; nonacademic motivations would be quite different.

• Double the return on your effort.IJAA and any theoretical journal are NOT substitutes for each other; they are complementary. Place your theory work where it fits, then show its practical value in IJAA. Doing so will lend credibility to your work in practice and validate your assumptions. In addition, you will be able to generate two publications based on the same core work: the theory and the practice.

• Earn recognition. Researchers, departments, schools, and institutions that apply their work in practice gain credibility with deans, university presidents, employers, funding organizations, and/or potential clients. Impact can (should!) be measured by more than citations.

• Gain credibility. Students constantly harp on the need for useful, implementable, real-world knowledge and skills. “War stories” of your applied work will cause students to take notice and listen.

• Expand your horizons. Beyond your “core” areas of research, you might discover ancillary, related areas for possible future projects or important extensions to your theoretical research that are based on practical, real-world conditions, not standard assumptions.

• Join good company.IJAA is a popular outlet for some of the leading institutions in the world (Gorman 2020b) and some of the leading analytics researchers in the world (Gorman 2020c). Furthermore, IJAA is the home of some of the most recognized INFORMS awards, including the Edelman, Wagner, and Smith Awards.

IJAA is by far the world’s leading journal in applied analytics, published by the world’s leading analytics organization, INFORMS. Your work will be in good company here.

For all of these reasons, I urge each of you to consider submitting your applied work to IJAA. It will be good for you, your department, your school, your university, your discipline, your organization, and your world. I would be glad to discuss the possibility with any interested researcher; please feel free to reach out to me with ideas or suggestions.

Other Notes

Planned Special Issues

We have an exciting special issue planned in blockchain analytics, with guest editors Daniel Conway (University of Arkansas, [email protected]), Kiran Garimell (University of South Florida, [email protected]), Pramita Mitra (Ford Motor Company, [email protected]), and Chen Zur (Ernst & Young, [email protected]). Please contact me or any of the special issue editors with thoughts and questions.

Editorial Board Changes

I am happy to announce the addition of three new editorial board members: Saurabh Bansal (Pennsylvania State University), Stelios Bekiros (European University Institute), and Daniel Reich (Naval Postgraduate School). I welcome them to the board and thank them for their service!

We also have three senior and much appreciated contributors leaving the IJAA board. J. Scott Armstrong (University of Pennsylvania) is stepping down after nearly four decades, Robert E. Levasseur (Walden University) after nearly three decades, and Peter Kolesar (Columbia University) after nearly two decades! Their ongoing, long-term dedication to INT/IJAA and applied research is much appreciated and admired.

IJAA is constantly evolving its editorial board. We are looking for application-savvy reviewers and sociate editors in methodological areas such as simulation, statistics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, metaheuristics, and pattern recognition, among others. If you have passion and expertise in any of these areas, or if you know someone who you would like to recommend, please contact me.

Closing Note

I am excited to have the opportunity to act as EiC for IJAA over the next two years! My plan is to continue to promote the value of applied analytics in general and IJAA in particular.

Thank you,

Michael F. Gorman